The guys putting the siding on my house, tacked a PT 2×10 ledger to the sheathing and rim joist in sections where I know I’m gonna have a deck or porch on the house. I don’t want to keep the PT on there unless I have no other reasonable option. Is there any way to get something that isn’t that ACQ crap, that will hold up to weather and work as a deck ledger? I don’t care if it costs a little more.
Replies
First lesson in building a good deck:
Do not attach to house.
Decks should be freestanding. All of mine are.
An attached ledger/rim joist is an invitation for rot and sometimes disaster.
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -Albert Einstein
http://www.peteforgovernor.com
Hey, did I mention that you could hire an over-priced yet talented carpenter from Ohio to fly in and build you a deck the right way?
The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -Albert Einstein
http://www.peteforgovernor.com
But I live in Connecticut!"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
A properly installed ledger is no more an "invitation to disaster" than a properly installed window, door, chimney, or anything else.
Pigsooie?!?!?We might be related!Hasbeen is my first name, but Hogwash is the family name.++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire
Just another Arkie; done been loosed on the world.
Pigsooie said: "A properly installed ledger is no more an "invitation to disaster" than a properly installed window, door, chimney, or anything else."I agree. Around here you can't install anything else but P.T., unless you want to work out of code.A properly flashed ledger board should last years and shed water away from the house.How do people get from the backdoor to the freestanding deck? Jump? Do you install freestanding steps also?What's your problem with P.T.? As long as you don't chew on it, the copper in the treated lumber shouldn't harm you at all. And then I think you'd have to have a pretty solid diet of it and that would get pretty tiresome.
Damn near all building lumber here is HI-BOR borate. (In Hawaii) Ocean breeze and salt along with Borate treated lumber combined with crappy electro galv and some cheaper galv nails is becoming a recipe for some disoving hardware on decks. We've got bugs and rot to deal with so it is a constant battle. But for some odd reason, the SS nails don't get bought much. For the piece of mind, 300 more for SS fasteners on all exterior framing siding trim seems like a small price to pay.
A box of screw shank 16p gun nails costs the same as a tank of diesel for my F450.
Land of the boring 4/12 hip roofs...
8/4 ipe ledger? Pretty, stable, rotproof, and STRONG. Be predrilling those hanger nails, doncha know?
Bill