Deck Inspections: Is Your Deck Properly Attached To The Building?
By Reuben Saltzman, Delivering the Unbiased Truth.
(Structure Tech Home Inspections)
May is National Deck Safety Month, so I'm going to start off this month by writing about the most common cause of deck collapses - improper attachment to a building. Most decks are supported on one side by the building, and on the opposite side by the earth. The photo below shows a deck collapse that happened here in Minnesota, and this is exactly how most decks collapse. The cause of collapse is quite obvious - it wasn't attached properly. Is your deck properly attached to the building? It's not always possible to know for sure, but today I'll discuss a few different ways of attaching a deck to a building. The piece of wood that connects a deck to a building is called the ledger, or ledger board. I'll be using this term repeatedly. Lag Screws Traditionally, lag screws have been t...
Comments
23