No Ledger Board

Never saw decks fastened to homes this way.

Anyone ever see this? This deck has a 3 seasons porch built over it.
4- 2X12 on the cantilever. Looks like a carpenter built it but nailing / bolting over the siding is not allowed around here.

Looks like a disaster waiting to happen.

Home built in 1985.

I’m writing up lack of ledger board and suggesting a permit search be done.

Actually, the porch is sound and no sign of pullout from the home but after all the years I have been doing this, this is the first time I saw a deck attached in this manner. I built lots of decks and never one without a ledger.

That girder doesn’t look like it’s properly bearing on the post. Hard to tell from that high quality, HD photo :wink:

:frowning:

I am famous for my photo skills. Here’s a slightly better picture of the beam.

Definitely odd, non standard construction.
In a way there are ledger “boards”.
Not a continuous ledger board as we typically see but a small one between each pair of joists.
And as you noted installed over the siding.

I wonder if the in between ledger boards were added later and it originally was just the joist hangers on siding.

I’d be very surprised if a permit was pulled on that.

I would be willing to bet that there are no approved permit drawings.
It appears that the joist hangers are attached to/through the siding and the blocking is then bolted on, and probably through the siding… but can’t tell what any of these attachments are ultimately bolted to.

At least they used joist hangers. Hell, they might of used 16 penny nails to install them. And they saved money on flashing. :mrgreen:I never saw one like that either.

Found out Friday there was no record of a permit. Buyer is balking at buying now.

I told the buyer it can be repaired and he might want to talk to a licensed contractor…
Rest of the home was near perfect.