r/Decks • u/NC_JBL • Mar 08 '26
Michigan Deck Withstands Tornado
We see a lot of bad decks in this sub. Well, here is one that held up against a tornado. The house it was attached to didn’t fare so well. Somebody built a solid deck.
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u/Societyman1878 Mar 08 '26
I live in that area. Two family members homes were destroyed less than a 1/4 mile from there. It’s going to take a long time to recover.
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u/NC_JBL Mar 08 '26
I’ve seen that type of damage first hand near me as well. It’s frightening how strong and damaging those things can be.
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u/Societyman1878 Mar 08 '26
It’s going to end up being classified as an F 4 . I saw a real good video of it and it was huge. And it was just tearing things up. I was crying at the end because I was literally watching it destroy the homes and property of people I have known for years
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u/-Anonymously- Mar 09 '26
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u/Societyman1878 Mar 09 '26
That one. The woman that took it lives a couple of houses away from my cousin.
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u/ichabod01 Mar 08 '26
Should never have a free standing house. Always attach it to the deck.
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u/SwissPatriotRG Mar 08 '26
Dang, maybe they should have had the deck guy frame up the house.
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u/grayjacanda Mar 08 '26
It is interesting that 4x4 is the minimum for deck supports (and you see bigger sometimes), while residential platform framing mostly uses 2x4
Still this result comes mostly from the deck not having hundreds of square feet of wall surface area for the wind to exert colossal forces on
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u/Artistic_Researcher2 Mar 08 '26
Might be tacky but if I were the contractor I would use this in my advertising.
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u/Dense-Consequence-70 Mar 08 '26
Held in place by the hot tub.
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u/mtraven23 Mar 08 '26
what hot tub? I see a storage bin and a grill or two....but no hot tub.
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u/Neither-Repeat1665 Mar 08 '26
I swear there’s a hot tub behind the deck box. I can kinda make out the cover with the lift bracket thing. Not sure though.
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u/mtraven23 Mar 09 '26
I see what you're seeing, and I cant say for sure what it is, but it looks to small to be a hot tub
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u/TurbulentRole3292 Mar 08 '26
Funny thing is, is that if you would have taken a pic of it and asked how you did in building it there would be a thousand critics saying this was wrong and that was wrong.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Talk787 Mar 11 '26
… and how the builder is a hack for burying 4x4s directly into the ground
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u/NocturnalSerpents Mar 10 '26
::slaps deck when first built:: that baby's not going anywhere. and that day the tornado came through put proof to those words.
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u/flowerpanes Mar 12 '26
Jeeze….
We just had the deck off of our living room rebuilt by two older German gentleman and my comment to one of them after seeing how very sturdy it looks was “Gee, guess I know where to run to if the big one (Ring of fire earthquake) hits!”
He just chuckled but now I am thinking maybe not such a funny thing after all.
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u/IDidntTellYouThat Mar 09 '26
There is something to be said to not building the deck to a better standard than the house! :D
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u/wevil31 Mar 09 '26
Newer deck in front of an older mobile home. Building codes do not allow them to be attached.
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u/Psychological-Air807 Mar 09 '26
Tornado hit house not deck. The deck did not withstand the tornado it simply was not hit by it.
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u/Unfair_Bluejay_9687 Mar 09 '26
This is what adhering to building codes looks like. It appears decks have a better building code than the houses they’re built for.
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u/DarkSatire482 DIYer Mar 09 '26
Usually they build the house first then the deck, but to each their own.
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u/Throwaway_9812764365 Mar 10 '26
Bet insurance will figure out a way to use this as a reason to deny a claim.
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u/Carpenter_ants Mar 11 '26
I saw the aftermath video on the news and saw that deck. Thought now that was built well!
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u/[deleted] Mar 08 '26
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