RenovateDSM.com - Framing and Carpentry - Comments

Deck Design

RenovateDSM — Thu, 13 May 2010 08:20:41 -0700

As always when dealing with challenging circumstances that are beyond one's knowledge or skill level, my recommendation is to involve a professional - someone who has prior experience with similar projects. It is difficult to give specific advice on a detail without being able to see all the conditions firsthand.

Be particularly careful if this is a structural detail rather than an aesthetic one. There are many issues to consider when determining structural details, and you don't want to experience the consequences of a mistake!

I assume you are confronting this detail question because you are building the deck yourself. It's not rocket science, but thinking through the details and implementing them well does require a certain amount of experience. My suggestion would be to get the name of a contractor who has deck-building experience from a friend. Let this person know that you are doing the work, but would like some advice on detailing - negotiate a price that seems fair to both parties for an hour of the contractor's time for specific advice and even a sketch of how to construct the detail.

You may need to draw out this detail as part of your building permit application.

Good luck!

attaching deck frame to wood piers?

Anonymous — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:30:08 -0700

We are building a deck with attached pergola and we're trying to figure out how the deck frame will best attach to the wood piers. The deck is not a simple rectangle which makes it even more challenging. We have wood posts extending 8' in the air beyond what will be the deck floor. We need to somehow build a wood box around each post to make piers that white decorative columns will sit on top of. We cannot figure out how to best make the deck frame meet up with those wood boxes around the posts. Any ideas???

Footings

RenovateDSM — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:47:59 -0800

There is no such thing as a standard distance between footings - there are simply too many variables to account for. My recommendation would be that you work with a design professional who can account for your local code requirements, design parameters, and individual site conditions.

Some of the variables that need to be considered include:

Load requirements (how much weight will be supported)
Size of the posts that will support the deck/sunroom (typically 4x4 or 6x6)
Size of the beam between the posts that will support the floor
Span between the house and the beam
Height of the deck/sunroom from grade
Fasteners (how will the beam support the joists and how is it attached to the posts)
Attachment to the house
Soil conditions
Design features (stairs, roof, pergola, benches, etc.)
Size and depth of footings

This probably isn't the reply you were looking for, but designing a structural element such as a deck is not something that a novice should do without strong guidance. Every year we hear about people being injured or killed when decks collapse.

footings

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:09:50 -0800

Can anyone tell me the standard distance between footings to support a deck that may later be converted to a sunroom?