Butt joints in a girder span are generally not permitted unless specially engineered. Having a butt joint in a girder weakens the structural integrity of the deck supports. Butt joints should be placed over a post. Recommend decking contractor for correction.
The post on this deck are in contact with dirt and are not made of pressure treated wood. I would suggest that the post be changed to pressure treated lumber or that anew footing be poured above the ground level to keep the posts from touching the ground.
It is important that deck structures have proper supports and connections. Posts and bolts in ledgers should be place at specified location according to local codes or Internachi standards. Connections between lumber are just as important and no bracket should be left out of the installation process.
Joist attachment is, more than likely, one of the most common defects discovered during a deck inspection. If joist hangers are used, you must ensure that they are installed properly. The joist should be fully seated in the hanger and the proper fasteners (most commonly nails, but certain screws are also approved) are being used. Additionally, all available fastener holes should be used to meet the design criteria set by the hanger manufacturer.
The article I chose was, Inspecting a Deck, Illustrated. It states that it is estimated that only 40% of decks are correctly built. Most commonly, deck collapses occur while occupied by people or when they are under a snow load. The cause of up to 90% of collapses is due to separation between the house and the deck ledger board.
The picture above is part of a porch’s flooring and railing. As you can see there is adequate 1/8’’ spacing between the decking boards. I also measured the distance between the rails and it is less than 3 3/4 inches. This indicates that a 4" sphere would not fit through. So it meets the safety standard.
I read the article on deck receptacles. I learned that as of 2008 decks, balconies, and porches, that are accessible from inside the dwelling unit , must have a receptacle. Homes that were built before then should not have a lack of receptacles called out as a defect. In addition I learned that decks less than 20 square feet are not required to have receptacles.
This deck is under 24 inches in height so it does not require a railing, however it is showing signs of wear and decay. The lattice is broken and allows unsafe access to the lower side of the deck. the would is also showing signs of decay and should probably be repaired or replaced as soon as possible
The image " Adjustable Post Base" show the correct way to attach a post to its concrete base. It should provide a solid attacment that cannot allow the post to slip off the base or be lifted off the base, it should also be above the ground so as to avoid moisture damage from the surround ground
This is a photo of a deck that has collapsed because the dick pulled away from the ledger. It is the most common failure in a defective deck. The two most common ways to attach a deck to a ledger is with lag screws or through bolts. Some cases its not possible to access the back side of the rim joist. In these cases most building codes state that the deck should be free standing or self supporting.
As of 2005, the NEC requires one GFCI receptacle in the front of the house and one in the rear. These receptacles should not be more that 6 1/2 feet from the ground. Balconies, porches, and decks that are accessible from the inside of the house should have a GFCI protected outlet within the perimeter of the space and should not be more than 6 1/2 feet from the surface. Balconies, porches, and decks that have a square footage of less than 20 sq feet are not required to have an outlet.
The image I used for the essay is of a set of deck stairs. These stairs appear to be proper working condition with an exception of the missing rails. Stairs with more than 4 risers should have handrails on at least one side with the handrail height being between 34 and 38 inches. The risers shouldnt allow a 4 inch sphere to pass through and the stringers should be no more than 36 inches apart for proper support.
The article I chose in relation to this essay was the Wood Decay article by Mr. Gromicko and Mr. Shepard. Some would consider it to be common sense that a wooden structure such as a deck will eventually have some sort of decay take place. Theres continuous exposure to heat and moisture as well as other factors such as the type of wood used to create the structure to consider.
However what I learned from the article is that the wood decay is a result of actions caused by various types of fungi. Decay fungi are active in temps between 77 and 90 Fahrenheit and need water, oxygen and a food source to survive. Therefore, certain states more than others, provide ideal conditions for wood decay to take place.
This is a picture of a properly milled hand rail. A rail is required to have a graspable area. If a 2 by 4 or 2 by 6 board is to be used as a railing, it must be properly milled and finished.
Decks have many areas that need to be inspected. Bolt spacing to the deck ledger should be proper, handrails should be graspable, and there should be proper infill that does not allow a 4" sphere to pass between the spindles.
This picture shows a perfect example its not a kid friendly deck what so ever its missing all the gard rails all around and also all the girders are not siting on the post like it should and also the post seems to be sitting right on the ground it should be 12 inch under the frost line in the dirt
I just found a picture about post base and didn’t know that u could use adjustable one did not know they made some for decking with its perfect to level the decks once ur done witch his perfect and makes it easier to do instead of shims.
This is an up close picture of a deck post sunk into the ground and the girder connection. Focusing primarily on the attachment method we can see the post has been notched and carriage bolts have been used so the deck isn’t only reliant on the bolt’s shear rating.
Decks as a whole are extremely common and are a good item to keep an eye on. They seem to be simple at the outset so there is likely to be many cases where homeowners will have attempted to construct their own deck without proper guidance and building methodology.
This picture depicts a deck rail constructed of branches. People can get incredibly creative with deck rails. this may be fine as long as the wood used is spaced with no segments over four inches and the wood can pass a strength test.
