I live up in NH. The roof snow load up here is rated for 90″ ground snow. I am having a 2 story garage/sunroom built, The building connects to the main house via a balcony and two deck, which were also part of this new project. I’m the homeowner, and wanted the decks constructed with sufficient pitch so that there was good drainage.
I have two questions.
1) Reading FHB, I see nailing/bolting ledger to house without some kind of spacer doesn’t allow for the water to drain and may end up causing the deck to have a short life. On my house, a row of wood siding was removed, then a 12″ wide piece of Vycor was applied, and the first ledger board was attached with nails and lag bolts. A second 2×10 rim joist was then attached to the ledger, without any kind of spacers, the the deck floor joist ran perpendicular to the rim joist. Aluminum flashing is over the top. Ok, so there is no way for the water to drain down between the house and ledger board. which means, I guess, that I will end up with something rotting out. Is there any way I can correct this short of removing the deck and starting over?
2) With the balcony/decks around the sunroom, I did something which is not done too often in New England. The 2×8 PT deck joists run into the building, and are connected to the sunroom’s 2×10 floor joists. To make the rim, short blocks of 2×10 were used, leaving a gap above the PT joists. I also used on this area a strip of 18″ PT plywood and did the rest of the sunroom with sheating.I put Vycor around the 2×8 joists, but my contractor kept assuring me the aluminum flashing we were going to lay down would keep the weather off.
Well, it’s raining and snowing, and the aluminum flashing and decking aren’t keeping the moisture out. The floor of the sunroom is dry, but the other side, which is the ceiling of the garage, is wet. Someone suggested that the Typar, which wasn’t tacked down around the joist area, could fix this leak, or that the vinyl siding would stop it. I am afraid of putting in insulation or drywall unless this area is water tight.
What’s your opinion?
Replies
The description is a bit hard to follow and visualize completely. Got any pics you can post?
Edit: see also post: 113816.15, which is talking about flashing porch ledgers.
Edited 12/12/2008 8:56 am ET by DickRussell
Ok, I'll try to take epics. Never posted pics before.