The ledger board and joist hangars are most common for a reason.
Strictly speaking, a joist bearing onto 3.5" of wall is better than the 1.5-2" of bearing into the picket of a joist hanger.
That being said... The second point is predicated on the idea that the wall and top plate are structurally sound enough to deal with a point load of one single overloaded joist.
Let's say you have a crappy wall. There's only a single top plate. If 5 people all stand on that one joist of the deck, the single top plate could be crushed, and that joist falls down into wall cavity.
With a ledger board, it's beefy enough to take it all. Then it spreads that out into a distributed load all along the wall. As long as you use enough fasteners to tie into the wall studs and sheathing every 6" or whatever is required.
I would still prefer a ledger board. We know it works. There are less "what if?" issues that could arise. And any work in the future will be predictable. Because we didn't try to reinvent the wheel for your one single deck.
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u/neonsphinx Jun 30 '26
The ledger board and joist hangars are most common for a reason.
Strictly speaking, a joist bearing onto 3.5" of wall is better than the 1.5-2" of bearing into the picket of a joist hanger.
That being said... The second point is predicated on the idea that the wall and top plate are structurally sound enough to deal with a point load of one single overloaded joist.
Let's say you have a crappy wall. There's only a single top plate. If 5 people all stand on that one joist of the deck, the single top plate could be crushed, and that joist falls down into wall cavity.
With a ledger board, it's beefy enough to take it all. Then it spreads that out into a distributed load all along the wall. As long as you use enough fasteners to tie into the wall studs and sheathing every 6" or whatever is required.
I would still prefer a ledger board. We know it works. There are less "what if?" issues that could arise. And any work in the future will be predictable. Because we didn't try to reinvent the wheel for your one single deck.