I’ve never seen a cantilever deck constructed in this fashion. As such, I need some advice/insight from anyone who may have encountered it. I recognize that the cantilever is too long, I’m more concerned with the construction and the “hanging” joists as this is a first for me. The first photo shows the whole deck, the second photo shows the cantilever in question. Any advice would be appreciated!
That is in no way considered a ‘cantilever’ so strike that word from your report!!
Don’t know who dreamed that one up, but write it up HARD, and don’t be afraid to mention “imminent failure”!!! That deck will be on the 10 o’clock news, sooner than later!
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Hey Jeff, Thanks for the info! Will definitely write it up hard. My initial reactions was “no way this is good” but, I don’t know everything so I thought I’d check. Thanks again.
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Yeah that’s a handyman special that could fail at any time, in so many ways.
How is the joist attached to the house, with nails?
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That’s just it, it’s not attached to the house, unless you count the strap that’s connected to the ledger board.
Right? How is that even still standing? The “beam” is just hanging from the joists for decoration!
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Google cantilevered beam and the “definition” is vague. “supported on one end and not the other.” We or I usually relate “cantilevered” as extended beams of the flooring structure which is the support. Personally, I wouldn’t put this structure as “cantilevered” but more as ‘suspended’ support. @rmayo is a good resource.
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That’s not a ledger board. Being a free-standing deck it is just a joist. And if it’s not attached/secured to the house that’s another huge issue.
Hey Christopher, confusion on my part; it is secured to the house with lag bolts on the “joist” that I thought was a ledger board. I’m not sure what you mean by “free-standing deck”. I thought the board connected to the house was a ledger board. What am I missing? Is it because the floor joists don’t connect to the “ledger board” that makes it a free-standing deck?
The front of that deck is not being supported by anything! Because those beams are not cantilevered, and only hanging from the joists with brackets.
The only reason it is even still there is because the force from above pushes the front of the beam down, which is then stopped by the force at the other end pushing up against the ledger. (even though it is not acting as a ledger)
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Here is are a couple of illustrations.
@dhorton2 pointed out one immediate issue, and there are more.
Tear it down. It will fail!
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That is freaking me out!
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Correct. Though the way this deck was constructed free-standing may be a loose term.
A deck ledger board would have the Joist butting up to. The joists would be perpendicular to the ledger board, not parallel.
At least the joist was bolted to the house, that is one thing they did right
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A typical ledger board will have the joists hanging from it perpendicular with joist hangers. These joists all run parallel with each other, so the ledger is not supporting anything but itself.
And with the other concern I pointed out about the beams, that joist in the middle spans a very long distance
**And, the ledger should not be installed directly over siding… UGH, that whole thing needs a 
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You still have the link to the most recent AWC prescriptive? Wait, I think I found it. @aponder Memorize this. I think this is it.
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A free standing deck is self supporting and not attached to the house.
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I think you could fix it with a minimum 6 posts and couple of beams, some lateral bracing, built-up rim band, ledger flashing, etc etc. LOL
How high is it?
Daniel,
Looks like we’ve found a deck with topboards running perpendicular to the “ledger”! What a mess.
Hey Brian, Thanks for the AWC. The deck is greater than 12 feet in height, on a slope, with erosion around the footing of one post. Yep, this one is bleeding red in the report. Thanks for the insight on the deck; it’s extremely helpful!
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It is NOT a freestanding deck. There is NO support beam at the house end of the deck. It is attached directly to the house, so yeah, another huge issue!!
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