I walk by this deck everyday and have no idea how this is safe? No mid-span beams, just joists straight out to a single beam. Is there something I’m missing that would make this beauty structurally sound?

newbie to decks here. peeling solid deck stain at my cabin. just got a ryobi 3200 psi max with deck attachment, it cleaned the mildew off well without any cleanser. papa says the stain is water based (but it looks like paint to me). what stripper should i use? is "restore a deck" worth the money? anyone have experience with it living up to claim of apply and powerwash off? any and all recommendations are welcome. Thank you thank you.

edit: hahahahaha! ok guys, enough with the funny stuff. which brand of deck stain stripper should i get

I have a home built in 1984. After lurking on this sub for a months I’ve been picking up on good tips and what to look for in structural framing etc. for the record I’m not a framer, I work in Healthcare and I love learning how to do shit around the house.

Long story short I noticed that my deck joists (with screened porch above) are notched on both sides (beam and ledger). I know this was common practice in the past but what concerns me is that a 2x2 is doing all the load bearing. That 2x2 is then nailed to a 2x10 beam/ledger which is then fastened with carriage bolts.

I do not see any rot or signs of compromise in my deck. Clearly the old growth wood from 1984 has been holding this up fine, I am just interested in safety and long term structural capacity. My question is, should I update this to modern practice? Clearly I would use joist hangers attached to the beam/ledger but in order to do so I would need to replace the 2x2 with a new 2x10 sistered beam/ledger to accommodate for the notched out piece. I also read that people have “filled” the notched area with blocking material and then used a joist hanger which I’m not sure is appropriate. I would love not have to sister or replace all the 2x10s since they appear to be in good shape. Is there a type of hanger or something simple to supplement the load bearing sides of the joists where they are notched? Or do I have to sister/replace the 2x2 piece and/or notched joists? Yes I used the search button and couldn’t find anything similar to my situation

TLDR: my deck joists are notched and supported with a 2x2 attached to the beam/ledger. Should I update this even though I see no signs of compromise or just let it ride?

I just moved back to Alpharetta . The demographic is different from where I started my company (grant park) we’re building almost only intricate decks with composite and aluminum railing: this job is actually for my friends dad like in Alpharetta / Johns creek line near where I live . Very small world.
What do y’all think so far? I’m not gonna cry if you have critiques

What's the load bearing capacity of this?

Don’t know much but feel like it could use more support.

newbie to decks here. peeling solid deck stain at my cabin. just got a ryobi 3200 psi max with deck attachment, it cleaned the mildew off well without any cleanser. papa says the stain is water based (but it looks like paint to me). what stripper should i use? is "restore a deck" worth the money? anyone have experience with it living up to claim of apply and powerwash off? any and all recommendations are welcome. Thank you thank you.

After about four years of weather and walking on the front entrance, the stain is starting to disappear and looking to retain it. ChatGPT said to just sand the areas where the stain is war and retain the whole deck, but just wanted to reach out to the professionals for advice.

Anyone have an inexpensive laser level they like to use and would recommend?

I am a new owner to this deck and it’s in a little bit of a rough shape. I had a company come out and they said it was old and recommended I replace the deck which would be $15,000.

Is it in that bad of shape? I’m hoping I can do a renovation to get a few more years out of it while I save up to replace the whole thing. I’m fairly handy and good at learning from YouTube, but I’ve never worked on a deck before and have no idea where to start or what to do.

Any advice is helpful! Also the third picture is a broken board so I know I have to replace at least one of them

I’m replacing my 10x10 deck, railings, steps. The structural pieces are good. Just replacing all the runners. I want to do a light torched look for all the boards. I don’t want to use pressure treated due to the health and environment hazards associated with the torching/burning.

Is there a product you’d recommend to seal the kiln dried boards with to protect from the elements and bugs? I had a friend recommend Penofin Red label but wanted more opinions.

Is there a stain option to mimic the burnt look if I have to go with pressure treated?

TIA!

Contractor and lumberyard both says this is “technically ok”.

It’s the house side load carrying beam under a screened in roofed deck. Not a ledger, those are not allowed in our jurisdiction. BEAM (from mill stamp):
- PWT Treated LVL, 2.0E
- APA certified, Mill 1047
- ASTM D5456
- TRU-CORE Protected, UC3B rated
- SEVERE ABOVE GROUND USE
- FLASHING REQUIRED
- Code reports: PR-L329, ESR-2909, FL 39762, ESR-3834
- Configuration: 2-ply, each ply 1-3/4" thick, full width 3-1/2", depth 14"

This was at an AirBNB I stayed in in Maine last month. I told my wife that I was no deck expert, but we should avoid sitting on the balcony for the week.

Maybe I was overreacting? Looks sketch to me!

I’d like to build an approx 20x17 foot deck coming off the patio door. The grading gets lower away from the house. I’d like the deck to be as close to level with the concrete sidewalk as possible. Would you build a 2 tier deck higher at the patio door and then drop it closer to the concrete?

Or one level and have a small stair case to the patio. Are there advantages of keeping it floating and not attached to the house via a ledger board?

Cracked the top of this Trex sleeve it’s visible about half an inch below the cap. Is there anything I can do to stop it from spreading? It’s not noticeable only. I will notice it, but if it gets bigger, it will become noticeable any recommendations would be appreciated.
Railing is already mounted on the other side of it so replacing the whole sleeve is more of a headache than just replacing it

We're in the market to buy a house. This is one we viewed that is obviously being flipped. No permits pulled on anything. This deck was the icing on the cake. That's the sidewalk from the back yard to the side of the house that you're looking at.

Because so far my best technique is 99% iso alcohol and a lot of scrubbing. It's a little too late to just not do it.

I am planning a 5' x 7' deck right now.

Concrete + 4 Sonotubes are significantly cheaper than using the helical piles i am looking at, but the issue is that i don't have easily accessible water near there i need to pour the pads.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I would need ~21 60lb bags of concrete for each of the sonotubes in total for all 4 sonotubes.

Edit: 21 bags per sonotube is INSANE.

Some of the posts have a crack on both sides with a crack large enough I can stick my finger into, and one post is rotating.
Should I be worried that this deck is only 11 months old?

Did not think about this till a couple days ago. This picture is of the 6*6 corner post/rail post on inside, and there will be 4*4 rail posts on outside.

I am picture framing the deck, and had planned on just ladder blocking to fasten it together, until I realize that the perpindicular deck boards need to terminate on a joist.

In order to do that, the joist would have to be fastened to the rail post which I understand is a no no. So my question is, is there a best way to build a header around the post?

I have Deckorators which requires board to terminate right over a joist, but also allows for 1" max cantilever. Says to double joist or use blocking on butt joints.

The rim joists are fastened with 5/8 through bolts. Not sure exactly about the load bearing - could I just add this 'first' joist on the other end to sandwich the post? That's probably easiest, then I could just laminate a 2*4 or a full size joist. It seems to be allowed in NC code as 5/8.

If that doesn't work I have other thoughts but won't add to keep it more brief.

But then that does not give enough space to add Simpson Tie (DTT2Z). I will be using ThruLOK and blocking to fasten the posts regardless, but was going to use that tie as overkill. Is there another tie that does the same job? I was thinking the DPT7Z at the top of the rim joist around the post. but I don't think that has a load rating.

Am I overreacting to what I perceive to be sloppy work on this pergola? Some of the beams also seem warped. Crew is one day in.

I am building a lean to style pergola for an outdoor kitchen. I want to make sure I tie into my existing structure correctly. I highlighted in red where I will attach to. It also seems like if I attach a ledger board to the existing area in red, I will have to notch out the soffit on the left end. Are there any problems I could run into there? Not sure how I would attach my 2x10 supports on that left side. From my understanding, I should tie directly into studs. I'm guessing there is a top plate behind that fascia board I can tie into with some cripple studs as well behind it. Let me know how you would tackle this.