I plan to build a 1st floor deck over a walkout bsmt patio. I moved to a new plan in the burbs, with 500 brick houses, half with decks, all have ledgers. Nobody ever heard of a free-standing deck. Talked to the building inspector who refused to provide any help, except to say that it must conform to 2006 building code. Anyone know what it says about deck ledgers on brick veneer? Is the code book worth buying. I have a patio being poured soon, and if I can’t use a ledger, I better cancel the concrete truck.
Please help!
Replies
I believe the 2006 IRC states that the ledger needs to be positively attached to the house.
That is typically interpreted as Carriage bolts (thru bolts with nuts) not just lag bolts.
I would assume that your house is wood frame with Brick facade and I would drill thru the brick and thru the house band board and thru bolt all the way. (long bolt but definitely should work)
A while back, there was a great article in FHB on attaching Deck ledgers. Search for that as well.
Re. free standing deck, it gets a little dicey re. making sure the deck is structurally locked together so that it will not rack.
Free standing deck is perfectly acceptable but inspector might want engineering on it as the code doesnt really tell you how to build it.
Thanks JeffinPA,For a ledger I would select the best pt/syp, seal it, stagger bolts or allthread hi/lo thru ledger, spacer, mortar joints, and rim joist into those Decklok brackets, which bolt to floor joist. Bolts snugged only and then double nuts for locking.Any body think this meets the intent of the latest code?Btw, I did see one freestanding deck, he had horrible stability problems, he planned on bolting it to the house.
I would have thought that lagging through to the wooden structure would put an unreasonable horizontal force on the veneer. It might get pulled in to the wooden structure beneath it. This pre-supposes that there is a gap between the veneer and the underlying structure which I believe there is, but I'm a simple HO with a house with brick veneer.
Womble, the bolts have to be "snugged only" and not torqued down, so that "unreasonable horizontal force" is not applied to the brick veneer. The reasons for the ledger are two-fold: lateral stability and clearance underneath. CapnMac, thanks for insight. Most diy's I have met here, remodel w/o permits, partly because the town folks here are such "snobs." One phone call to the B.I. confirmed what others have said. It's a boom bedroom community, and the town folk only want to deal with pros building McMansions, not HO's like me. Even if I did the drwgs myself correctly, they might not accept. It irks me to pay for dwgs when it is my design and I'll build it.
Pix,
Dare I ask where you're located? I've run into the same attitude in my neck of the woods and It irks me to no end! The BI works for you, you pay his salary, he's there to assist you in whatever capacity you need him, short of doing the actual design for you.
He should assist you with advice and he should be able to give you some caveats as to what he's looking for (code requirements) and what will pass and what will fail, all before you start your project/design.
Aside from that issue I would lean toward a freestanding if you can make it work structurally, I think penetrating the brickwork can result in a very difficult flashing situation, but if you must go that route, the standoffs you mentioned are a good alternative.
Geoff
Where am I? It's in my name! :DIt's the way the locals pronounce Pittsburgh, PA. But I just moved out of the city to the Pitts-burb town of Murrysville. Does that make me a Murry's villian?Thanks JeffinPA, are you in PA? And, Geoff, you say this guy works for me huh? If I tell him that, what do you think he'll say? "Hey buddy I'm paying your salary."I have agonized deck supports too long, read far too much, and it just seems that freestanding decks are pretty useless underneath and have inherent stability problems. Houses need shear walls, so do decks. If the code allows ledgers, then I'll build the best ledger in town! After CapnMac's post, I getting the name of an architect who will advise and stamp my plans. With a stamped drawing I can take on any inspector! Right! And if my architect needs info, then he has to provide it, aye? Sound good?
All thread or thru bolts certainly meet the code. That is positive attachment. I would go minimum 1/2" 16" oc and you should be in good shape. See the following article"
Get Your Deck off to a good Start by Scott Grice June/July 04
p.s. Make sure that if your local inspectors are not very friendly, that they still comply to the laws of the state.
In many states, the law allows the homeowner to draft and submit their own plans for certain projects (like one story or less).
I'd also pester the inspector in a nice way to provide the appropriate info so that I can be successful with the project and in compliance with the code. I made a job out of discussing, disagreeing, and arguing with inspectors all over south jersey for years, and in the end, only once did one inspector tell me that regardless of the code, I had to build it the way he told me to build it. In all the other towns, we, together, reviewed the code book and agreed on what the code said, and ensured that our projects complied with what the code said. They all respected me, and I usually got good suggestions from them on how to be more successful.
Good Luck!! and dont roll over just cause the inspector has a badge or some type of authority!!
That's a whole bunch of questions, really <g>.
Almost a case-worth of worm cans.
Probably not a bad idea to cancel the patio pour for now. Why? Simple--patio pour is easy; getting piers that pass inspection by the BI can be hard.
Ledger on brick veneer? Easy and hard. Easy to mess up, worthwhile, if hard, work to do right.
Should you buy a code book? Dunno. Is the BI going to insist upon wet-stamped drawings (as I expect) for the permit? Then, you are better off "renting" the Code, and, more importantly, the experience of a local professional (engineer or archy).
Will that be expensive? Might be. Cheaper than red tags, stop works, or collapsed decks. Does not mean you can't do the buildign work of it yourself, just means that it can really be worth your hard-earned dollars to get some drawings done right, once.
Be a shame when the BI comes by and say, "Nope, fails--do it right." while the ready-mix truck is idling by the curb. All sorts of things that might be steered right, instead of learned, hard-knocks, on the first job of it.