spacing Ledger board away from building with 4 x 4

[Charles_Wolfe]

I have a situation where I am wanting to rebuild a porch on an existing old stone home with concrete foundation basement. I am getting different recommendations from various builders. THe concrete foundation has a little variance ( a few small “Humps”) and the irregularity of the stone protrudes proud of the concrete basement below it. One idea was to attach 1 foot long PT 4x4" vertically, spaced every 16’ - 24" along the run using appropriate fastener for the concrete and then attaching a 2 x 10" ledger board to the 4x4s. Then the 2x 8 joists would sit on top of the board using stainless simpson hurricane ties. The joist span is 7 feet. I have never heard of a ledger being spaced away from the building with 4 x 4s. I like the concept for the problems it solves but I am uncertain whether it is proper. Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.
Cwolfe

[cevans (Chuck Evans, CMI)]

That standoff creates a lot of additional downward leverage on the fasteners. It’s also not clear if the ledger is to be fastened through the 4x4s or to them. Since the attachment to the house is the most common point of failure for elevated decks and the proposed solution is not consistent with the prescriptive method of deck construction. I would not touch this without a full review and sign-off by a qualified, licensed engineer. I also would not attempt to use engineered fasteners/brackets in a manner which is inconsistent with their design intent (i.e., hurricane ties for deck assembly). There are brackets and fasteners designed for your application. The proposal, while it may be “creative” sounds a bit sketchy from your description.

You may be better off building a free standing deck structure that does not rely on connection to the house for support.

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

@cevans

That standoff creates a lot of additional downward leverage on the fasteners. It’s also not clear if the ledger is to be fastened through the 4x4s or to them. Since the attachment to the house is the most common point of failure for elevated decks and the proposed solution is not consistent with the prescriptive method of deck construction. I would not touch this without a full review and sign-off by a qualified, licensed engineer. I also would not attempt to use engineered fasteners/brackets in a manner which is inconsistent with their design intent (i.e., hurricane ties for deck assembly). There are brackets and fasteners designed for your application. The proposal, while it may be “creative” sounds a bit sketchy from your description.

You may be better off building a free standing deck structure that does not rely on connection to the house for support.

Chuck is spot on with his opinion.
I also agree with his solution of a free-standing deck, which in my opinion is the proper solution for your problem.
Any other “solutions” being offered are likely by those that do not understand proper deck building.
Good luck.

[jjonas (Jeffrey Jonas)]

@cevans

That standoff creates a lot of additional downward leverage on the fasteners. It’s also not clear if the ledger is to be fastened through the 4x4s or to them. Since the attachment to the house is the most common point of failure for elevated decks and the proposed solution is not consistent with the prescriptive method of deck construction. I would not touch this without a full review and sign-off by a qualified, licensed engineer. I also would not attempt to use engineered fasteners/brackets in a manner which is inconsistent with their design intent (i.e., hurricane ties for deck assembly). There are brackets and fasteners designed for your application. The proposal, while it may be “creative” sounds a bit sketchy from your description.

You may be better off building a free standing deck structure that does not rely on connection to the house for support.

Chuck is spot on with his opinion.
I also agree with his solution of a free-standing deck, which in my opinion is the proper solution for your problem.
Any other “solutions” being offered are likely by those that do not understand proper deck building.
There’s an old saying… “Anybody with a hammer and a six-pack of beer can build a deck”!
Good luck.