I have a 6x8 beam under my deck. The end that is furthest from the house has been ravaged my ants and the beam is starting to crush on itself. My plan is to cut out the section from the end to the next post (about 7') and put a 2nd post on the concrete footing, and the new beam on top. I can't see why this is unsafe or a bad idea if the proper ties / braces are used. Any suggestions?

Also, I thought ants and pests didn't go after pressure-treated wood?

 

It's not a good idea to replace half of the beam. Install a new beam with new posts & new footings two feet away from it.

 

Why do you say it's not a good idea?

 

A split beam is no longer structural & probably against code, as well.

 

Pressure treated wood only has preservative in the outer 1/4" or so. Carpenter ants can find openings to make their way into the interior, where the feasting begins. Your beam also appears to have had major internal splitting, partially hastening the deterioration caused by the ants.

Structurally speaking, it's not good practice to splice in part of a wooden beam to repair it. A beam's continuity is one of the things that gives strength and rigidity to the entire deck, as it distributes joist loads down through the columns and footings. Trying to splice in a short section defeats that continuity, and creates hinge points, regardless of how tightly you try to connect the beam sections. Also, the colony of little critters doing the damage will happily move across the splice locations and continue feasting on the new wood.

The gaps between your deck's planks are too wide. I hope you don't allow women wearing high heels onto it, as they could be subject to tripping and falling with one wrong move.

 

I'll have to see how far and how the beam attaches to the house. Sounds awful.

And yes, I actually require that women ONLY wear high heels up there.

 

Pretty smug.

But here's some free advice--Keep those homeowners liability insurance premiums paid up and current. And consider raising the coverage limits, too--half a million would barely cover just one badly broken ankle, when you throw in complications from infection, broken wrists and/or arms (from trying to break her fall), lost wages, attorneys' fees, etc., etc.

A good riding buddy of mine sued a woman motorist who pulled in front of him while she made a left turn, without seeing him. He was out of work for two months, had some serious bumps, bruises, and wretched-looking road rash on one leg. He also developed a bad chest infection. Oh, and one broken ankle. Her insurance company's attorneys settled out of court for just a tad over $600,000, and paid for his attorneys, too.

 

With respect, I can't really believe you are going off on the useless tangent of deck spacing when I asked about something entirely different.

Are you one of those people who needs to prove how much you know to everyone? A few of your other posts seem to suggest just that.

I'm not ripping apart my whole deck to fix some deck spacing that has spread out over the years... get real. Every 20+ year old deck I have ever set foot on has some wide gaps.

 

Install another header the way I suggested & forget about it. That's all you need.

 

What about replacing it with a steel i-beam?