I will be inspecting a property for my nephew and have already checked with the county that a permit was never pulled for the deck on this home. Two things concern me just from looking at the listing pictures (deck built 2021). The first concern is a ledger mounted to a brick façade. As if that weren’t enough problem the posts are attached at the ouside corners and center of the band board at the end of the deck. My question is how the weight is redistributed to the posts in this scenario where there is no girder under the deck joists and the posts are at the outer edges of the deck?
All comments welcome. Don’t know the actual size of the deck but 10x12 seems like reasonable guess.
I see no problems with the band to post loads as long as it is through bolted, not sure how they did that in the corners. I do not see hold down anchors for the guards.
The deck is missing bracing along the girder line though. I assume you know the age of the structure and are fairly sure that is brick veneer and not solid brick. In my state, we are allowed to attach a deck ledger board through the brick veneer into the band/rim joist of the house with 5/8 inch through bolts at specified spacing. If your state does not allow for this attachment, then your best bet would be installing posts below the ledger board for support or use these handy simpson strong tie brick veneer ledger attachment brackets.
My question had to do with the weight distribution across the three posts. With a girder weight is fairly evenly distributed between three posts which then support more than half the deck load (ignore the steps for now) Present construction adds load to the ledger which is probably not right anyway. Competent deck builders get permits and submit drawings and get footing and ledger inspections (required).
I guess I don’t understand your question. I see a double 2x10 support beam resting fully on notched 2x6 support posts with the joists attached to the support beam with proper hangers. The weight is distributed the same as if the joists were resting on top of the support beam.
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rcloyd
(Russell Cloyd, KY LIC #166164, IN LIC#HI02300068)
10
If those bolts (carriage or lag) go through the 1st floor band board it would be OK provided the band board was a 2X.
Posts and attachment are probably not a problem. Just as an exercise: 10 x 10 deck (keep the math simple). Girder and posts at 8 foot span. Ledger supports half of the span (4x10x50lbs) 2000 lbs. The girder and three posts support the rest (6x10x50lbs.) 3000lbs.
Now that the posts are moved to the outside edge of the deck they only support half the total load (2500 lbs.). 500 lbs is now added to the ledger load (2500lbs.) I wonder (may be overthinking this) if the two corner posts support less than the center post?
Yes, I think you are overthinking it The 3 posts should be supporting that beam fairly evenly. The center was installed because the span would have been too great for just the corner posts alone.
From the picture, it looks like the ledger board could be in full wood-to-wood contact with the house rim/band joist. It also looks to me like the girder/beam is resting on top of what you might call “jack posts” and are fully supported. So, structurally, perhaps okay. My immediate concerns are about durability. The ledger board should be pressure-treated lumber. From the picture, it looks like the ledger has been exposed to water. I would be concerned about whether there were “Z” flashings above and below the ledger enough to keep water out from the behind the brick–I am not seeing anything in the picture. I would also want to see the posts securely fastened to their footings, which to me means bolts.
One obvious thing I see is the footers are undersized…. Looks like a 10 or 12” sono-tube was used? There isn’t a county in MD that allows a footer that small…. Most require 18-24” for the footers…. This is what you get when no permits are pulled….
Michael is dead on with the footings. They are 12" sono-tubes. Baltimore County requires 18". It appears that the ledger is attached with concrete expansion anchors. That definitely is wrong. You can cut a lot of corners when you don’t get a permit.
The 3 posts should be supporting that beam fairly evenly. The center was installed because the span would have been too great for just the corner posts alone.
