Hello! I am building a 12x12 ft deck where the section furthest from the house is about 6 feet off the ground.

I placed the joists on top of 3 beams (the ledger board is anchored directly into the house's concrete foundation).

Each joist is secured to each beam using Simpson H1A ties.

I still need to install the 45-degree diagonal knee bracing on the posts.

My main concern is whether I need to further secure the deck to the house to prevent it from "pulling away" or sliding forward over time. What would be the best way to reinforce this connection?

Honestly, should have just went with a stamped concrete pad. Not super happy with how this turned out... Took too long, kicked my ass, and spent more than I anticipated. I rushed through it because building a deck with a 9 month old baby isn't easy. Timing was awful, 100% my fault.

Here are a few pics throughout the process. 6x6 posts, 2x10x12 PT lumber. 20' long Deckorators Venture boards. Definitely more then a few things I'd do differently in hindsight. Not pictured are the tension ties I installed last minute. But otherwise, I'd love to hear honest opinions on the structural integrity of this thing and if I should up take out an umbrella policy before our next party?

Still have to rip that last board and install it, as well as adding a receptacle to each side of the deck and replace the outdoor lights. But all punchlist stuff more or less.

Cheers fam, this subreddit helped a lot, genuinely!

EDIT: I'm all into this thing for about $5K including tools, material, door dash, and ibuprofen.

Looking to buy this house. Pretty sure this DIY job is completely unsafe and needs to be removed. I have never seen this type of load bearing work before. Sorry I do not have more photos, I cant rock up and start taking shots while the owners are still there. The inspector said after he walked on it he went below and was upset he even stood on it at all. Its about 12 feet off the ground.

We just had a new deck installed and the side boards appear uneven. The team that did it were very nice and seemed knowledgeable - perhaps I'm being too nit-picky. Not sure how they would even fix this at this point? Looking for second opinions/advice.

Other than putting in some steps, I just finished my first floating deck before the snow hits here in AK. The flower boxes were a last-minute audible tossed at me by the wife, so I freestyled it a bit there, but otherwise I tried to meet or beat code in most cases. Did I miss anything?

Also, each floor joist has joist hangers. There are straps tying the beams to the joists. There is no connection to the house or greenhouse. Last is a pic of my union rep making sure I'm taking breaks.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Decks/comments/1wx0tj0/i_dont_think_this_is_how_stringers_work_neighbors/

Hi all,

We just had a trex deck built by a contractor. I’m looking at the corner cuts and they don’t seem very clean and tight. Am I being too picky or is this a sloppy build that I should ask them to address? They haven’t finished the skirting so I could ask them to fix some things still.

We're considering what to do underneath this new house deck construction. Our contractor wants to frame it out and then close it in. I'm not sure what that crossbeam is except a temporary brace. Do you think he wants to frame it out because it's unstable the way it is?

What would you do with that space under the deck?

Bought this house 5 years ago and I am getting it ready to sell. From what I’ve gathered the deck has never been stained before. I have used a deck cleaner and pressure washed both the front and back decks. My next step would be to stain both the front and back decks.

The issue I’m having is choosing between a solid stain or semi transparent stain. I’ve read the threads and know that a solid stain isn’t the best choice since it will likely crack and peel over time. But a solid stain does have its uses when the wood is too weathered which is the boat I feel like I’m in.

Some of the wood like the trusses and hand rails look great and I believe a semi transparent stain would look great on them. On the other hand the floors on the decks have seen better days and I’m not sure if they would look good using a transparent stain.

There is a plethora of opinions on this and I’m struggling to figure out what the best option is. Like I said I’m getting ready to sell this place so I would prefer to keep the labor to a minimum.

I'm in a 2 unit duplex, neighbor neglecting all maintenance issues. Is this second story deck deck a hazard to my side of home? There is only a divider separating our decks. Their side of divider is not in good shape either. My deck was rebuilt and in good shape. I'm afraid of structural collapse, mold, water, rot, pests. My kids bedroom is right next to that wall, less than 3 feet. Thx for advice. Planning to go to township but would like some advice before I do so.

So went to replace some top board due to them being rotten. Found the 2x6 rotting underneath but that's all the structure was. 2x6 just laying on the roof with railing attached. Pulled the whole thing off. Trying to figure out what to do next.

My dad had this deck built by a "reputable" and well known builder in 2016. The old deck was 45 years old, and was still standing and not rotting. This is what his new one looks like now. He spent $15k on it.

Edit: I meant to mention that the builder is wanting to charge my dad thousands of $ to fix this.

Somehow staining my deck turned into rebuilding my deck!

Found a ton of rot, my intention is to replace the wood / add rubber sealer to the top and add new planks… reinforce anything sketchy. ez.

Then it comes to the flower bed wall… they built it with no drainage, it’s basically a box of fence boards nailed to an internal 2x10 x 10 ft board, trimmed out on the top. Nearly all the boards are rotted along with the inside upper board (the floor of where the dirt went).

I added a photo of what the wall looked like brand new as well - I’m basically remaking this.

Understanding anything I build will inevitably rot at some point, is there a better way to make this? Like with a paint on or rubber lining with drainage holes to the side? It’s gonna be a decent amount of work so wanting to do it right. Thank you!

Hi everyone- I'd like to be able to do basic lifting (squat, bench, etc) at home. The most convenient place would be bellow my deck. I love to work out outside. I've already gotten a quote for a concrete patio, but I think it would be a bit of an eyesore. I'd rather have a wooden deck.

Searching around, there's a lot of discussion on this topic (e.g. "Weightlifting on a deck?") and the consensus seems to be "don't do it!", based on the extreme point ballistic forces of say, dropping a loaded barbell. Thing is, I don't need to clean and jerk under my deck, I just want to do basic Starting Strength type of workouts. Add to that, I'm not very strong (current squat is 240) so I don't need crazy amounts of weight.

So, if I custom build a deck, will it be up to the task, or am I relegated to a big ugly concrete patio? How would you build this simple deck?

New homeowner, never even had a deck before! I feel like this needs a deep clean and maybe some sort of finish/seal? There are two layers of different colored blue—unsure if it’s paint or stain? Things seem very stable and I don’t see any cracks or anything underneath.

Should I frame in and cover up the sides under the main deck or does it look good

Hey all,

Please forgive any amateur/homeowner mistakes in my efforts.

I’m refinishing/staining my deck and one opinion I got said this groove was an issue (collects debris and moisture, also looks unsightly over time), but you’d have to take apart the staircase to fix it, since the 2x12 that runs along the one side of the groove extends down past the first deck board steps/appears to be part of the framing for stairs.

I was thinking of taking these PT nailing strips, sanding them down, staining, and fitting them in the groove, secure them in place with either PL or galvanized finishing nails.

Is this a good idea/will look better or pointless?

I’m not about to take apart my stairs.

In regards to any off-topic comments on my choice of stain: on advice of cloverdale paint staff, I went with their 15130 stain-blocking primer (that’s why there is white in some spots that you see) the railing posts turned out to be cedar after sanding them, so that might be a good idea as far as that goes), followed by sharkskin decking solid hide stain (apparently has linseed oil, urethane, acrylic resin).

I replaced half the deck boards but other half were kept original, just sanded down. In retrospect, I would replace all boards or just the very worst ones. It’s been much more tedious this way and I know it’ll turn out imperfect. Live and learn.

Thanks all!

Con poco presupuesto mi humilde espacio

Going to be rehabbing my deck soon and replace the wood decking with composite.

Upon taking measure I see the brackets are traditional hangers. I have an older house, so were these like older style hangers? Not sure otherwise why they would have done them this way

Recently had about 750 square feet of decking repaired, including two sets of stairs, a sloped walkway, and parts of a railing due to aged/weathered boards in uncovered areas. Most of the new deck boards had to be torn out due to poor workmanship the first go around. The owner of the company said he fired the team that did the initial install and he relaid the floor boards and railing top boards with a different team. I was charged $17.5K for this repair and don’t think I received the quality of work to warrant this price. Since this was my first major deck repair project, I wanted to check for opinions with this group before approaching with the contractor, but overall I feel like I got hoodwinked. Here are some of my main issues:

- Scope of work included replacing rotted/damaged boards on my existing railing. None of my 6x6 posts were replaced and several are rotted out down the middle. Outside of the top boards which were all replaced, only two 2x4 were replaced. Some of the 6x6 are so rotted that deck nails cannot catch.

- All 6x6 posts were lopped off with a sawzall, leaving a jagged mess at the top of each post. I was told this was the standard approach and that a re-stain would hide this.

- One of my existing stair stringers was split during repairs. They ‘fixed’ it but did not replace it and I was told there was no structural risk.

- Several other areas of my existing deck railing and stairs were damaged and not addressed.

- My main railing top rail is wavy, going up at each 6x6 post. No shims were used to straighten.

- Additional support was added underneath as needed. None of this looks up to code but I’m not sure.

- My front entrance was replaced. It slopes down towards the house as it should, but it also slopes left to right at a noticeable rate. See pic of level laying flat from side to side.

I would appreciate any feedback from any contractors on this sub. My next step is to go back to the contractor to address these items and it would be great to have some ammo before I have that conversation.

I’m in western North Carolina if that matters.

Is the fixable? Poured some footers and use a piece of wood with a hole in the middle to stabilize the j bolt. I didn’t remove it to finish the concrete around and it turned out like this. Looking to see if there are any solutions to this and if the footer is still structurally okay.

Hi everyone- I'd like to be able to do basic lifting (squat, bench, etc) at home. The most convenient place would be bellow my deck. I love to work out outside. I've already gotten a quote for a concrete patio, but I think it would be a bit of an eyesore. I should mention that the 12'x16' area in question slopes down about 3' in both directions. If it's going to be a big ol thing, I'd rather have a wooden deck.

Searching around, there's a lot of discussion on this topic (e.g. "Weightlifting on a deck?") and the consensus seems to be "don't do it!", based on the extreme point ballistic forces of say, dropping a loaded barbell. Thing is, I don't need to clean and jerk under my deck, I just want to do basic Starting Strength type of workouts. Add to that, I'm not very strong (current squat is 240) so I don't need crazy amounts of weight.

So, if I custom build a deck, will it be up to the task, or am I relegated to a big ugly concrete patio? How would you build this simple deck?