Hi all,
I have a deck on the back of my home that is 1 story high (walkout basement). It’s a rectangular deck with a 12′ span and 17′ ledger board. The ledger is not presently properly attached to the house. In inspecting the deck more closely, I discovered the ledger board is split (lengthwise) for about 5′ (starting at one end of the ledger).
Can this be repaired?
Replies
Can't help you much without more info --
What are the dimensions of he ledger?
How do you know it's not "properly attached" to the house?
How IS it attached to the house?
What is attached to the ledger? How?
Sure. It is a 2x10, PT that spans 17'. It is two pieces, a 12' section and a 5' section.. The crack in question is in the 12' section of the ledger.
The ledger has no lag screws or ledgerloks attaching it to the house.the only fasteners that I see are the nails that attach the joist hangers and the ledger itself to the house. I believe that to be improper based on reading DCA-6 as well as articles from FineHomebuilding and other internet sources. The ledger has Z flashing over the 12' section, and there is some type of back flashing behind the entire ledger.
The joists are attached to the ledger using Simpson LUS10 joist hangers. The joists are 2x10 and span 12' using nails that are not galvanized (they are already rusty). I believe the deck to be 8-10 years old. The home is only 12 years old.
Depending on how the split is positioned, you might be able to draw it closed with bar clamps and then drive LedgerLoks through it vertically to hold it closed. (I wouldn't hurt to inject some exterior glue into the joint before doing this.)
Then, of course, you need to find something inside the house to anchor to, and use more LedgerLoks to fasten it. Ideally you'd go into joist ends, or add some wood interior to the rim joist so that you have more than the rim joist thickness for anchorage.
Or you could tear off the entire deck and do it again right. (You'd pretty much have to do this anyway to replace the split section.)
(Without seeing it I'd guess the home was built "deck ready" with the 12' ledger attached. The 5' section was added when the HO decided to actually build the deck.)
I was hoping that cutting out the offending section would be the correct way! Thanks for the tip
Ledger Attachment
The ledger should be replaced, it is obviously a defect given the age of the house. Attaching the new ledger and the remaining portion of the existing will be tricky, if you read the code to the letter. In the past, a few lag bolts, beat in with a sledge-hammer would do the trick but most inspectors will not buy that any longer.
If there is any way to access the floor joists of the house, bolts and brackets are the answer. See the attached file for some applications. Make sure the flashing is intact, moving water away from the ledger board.
Good Luck!