# Sweet deck



## raider1 (Jun 7, 2010)

Here are a few pictures of a deck I just finished inspecting, enjoy.

















The "cantilevered" joists are just toe nailed into the beam.

Chris


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## vegas paul (Jun 7, 2010)

What's that stringer attached to?


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## raider1 (Jun 7, 2010)

vegas paul said:
			
		

> What's that stringer attached to?


I could not tell, the face of the riser is covered with trex. My guess is at best a couple of face nails. 

Chris


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## ccbuilding (Jun 7, 2010)

You didn't walk up those steps when you did the inspection did you? I think that would classify for hazard pay.


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## vegas paul (Jun 7, 2010)

I guess the treads & risers support the stringer!


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## raider1 (Jun 7, 2010)

ccbuilding said:
			
		

> You didn't walk up those steps when you did the inspection did you? I think that would classify for hazard pay.


Unfortunately I walked down the stairs from the deck before I saw what was underneath. 

As soon as I walked down the stairs I could tell that there were some major issues as the deflection on the stairs was scary. 

Chris


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## raider1 (Jun 7, 2010)

vegas paul said:
			
		

> I guess the treads & risers support the stringer!


That is a very good possibility.

Chris


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## rshuey (Jun 7, 2010)

Looks like it is ready for the hot tub!


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## fatboy (Jun 7, 2010)

lovely..........and they walk among us........and can breed..........


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## RJJ (Jun 7, 2010)

Fatboy! LOL! Yes and they are multiplying rapidly!


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## raider1 (Jun 7, 2010)

RJJ said:
			
		

> Fatboy! LOL! Yes and they are multiplying rapidly!


Yes and they are building decks in Utah.   

Chris


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## pwood (Jun 7, 2010)

chris,

 good thing it doesn't snow in utah! if you added snow loads to other dead and live loads ,this thing would be a disaster waiting to happen. did you final it? :mrgreen:


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## High Desert (Jun 7, 2010)

No snow in Utah? Have you ever been there?


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## RJJ (Jun 7, 2010)

HD: Yes and Park City get a good amount.


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## JBI (Jun 7, 2010)

Utah gets mega-snow... tends to be real fluffy stuff from what I'm told.

To their credit (the deck builders) they did use three stringers instead of two... that should keep the stairs together when they collapse.


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## raider1 (Jun 8, 2010)

pwood said:
			
		

> chris, good thing it doesn't snow in utah! if you added snow loads to other dead and live loads ,this thing would be a disaster waiting to happen. did you final it? :mrgreen:


Here in North Logan we have a ground snow load of 53 pounds per square foot. 

I wrote up a 2 page report of violations and red tagged the deck.

The unfortunate thing is that the homeowners have already paid the contractor and thought that the contractor had gotten all of the necessary inspections on the deck.

The only reason I got a call out to the deck is my City sent out a letter to the homeowners stating that the permit for the deck/sunroom had not had any inspections called for and the permit had been pulled 90 days prior.

Chris


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## pwood (Jun 8, 2010)

i have never been to utah before but i had a suspicion that it snowed there. i figured with all the salt there the snow would melt as soon as it hits the ground:mrgreen: we throw salt on our sidewalks to melt the stuff! our ground snow is 58 p.s.f. here and as high as 400 p.s.f. 30 miles from downtown! the deck looks like a tear down and do again. the owner will probably just use it and let the permit expire without addressing the corrections. then what do you do? expire the permit and put it in the  parcel file?


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## FredK (Jun 8, 2010)

Only 2 pages of corrections?????   But we been doing it this way forever.


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## raider1 (Jun 8, 2010)

pwood said:
			
		

> i have never been to utah before but i had a suspicion that it snowed there. i figured with all the salt there the snow would melt as soon as it hits the ground:mrgreen: we throw salt on our sidewalks to melt the stuff! our ground snow is 58 p.s.f. here and as high as 400 p.s.f. 30 miles from downtown! the deck looks like a tear down and do again. the owner will probably just use it and let the permit expire without addressing the corrections. then what do you do? expire the permit and put it in the  parcel file?


I live far enough away from the Great Salt Lake that we don't have much random salt on the ground.  

This is definitely a tear down and redo deck. I don't see any way to fix the problems with the deck still up.

The owner is very upset with the contractor and wants this done right. Their only recourse is most likely taking the contractor to court.

Chris


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## Glennman CBO (Jun 8, 2010)

That so called "cantilevered" part looks like they built the deck too small, and had to add 14 or so inches to the side of it, and they just toe nailed it on!


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## JBI (Jun 8, 2010)

My first jurisdiction had a townhouse community with original balconies (circa 1970's) that started rotting by the mid-90's. Some 'contractors' were cutting off the old, leaving 12" - 18" stubs and adding new 6' joists to them with no additional supports... must've done a couple of dozen before they got caught. The balconies were on the backs of the units which offered privacy by design, so we had a hard time finding the problems. Weekend warriors without permits, "but we were just replacing what they had, so we didn't need permits, right?" "WRONG!!!"


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## Mac (Jun 9, 2010)

HAR! I love the "only replacing what was there" excuse. My usual response is "So your building a new deck"

How ya dooin JBI?


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## raider1 (Jun 9, 2010)

Glennman CBO said:
			
		

> That so called "cantilevered" part looks like they built the deck too small, and had to add 14 or so inches to the side of it, and they just toe nailed it on!


That is exactly what happened. According to the owner after the deck was built the contractor realized that the end was too narrow to build the stairs onto and had to widen the deck to accommodate the stair width. 

Chris


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## vegas paul (Jun 9, 2010)

So Raider, what was the "fix" provided in response to your correction notice?  I'd be interested in comparing the before/after pictures, not to mention the excuses from the "contractor".


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## raider1 (Jun 9, 2010)

vegas paul said:
			
		

> So Raider, what was the "fix" provided in response to your correction notice?  I'd be interested in comparing the before/after pictures, not to mention the excuses from the "contractor".


I have not heard a word from the contractor yet in response to the correction notice I left with the owner.

I will keep everyone updated when I hear from the contractor.

I feel a call to the Utah Department of Occupational and Professional Licensing might be coming in the next few days.  

Chris


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