Deck ledger board failure - GIF

[Jon]

Deck ledger board failure. Commonly listed as the most frequent cause of deck failure.




Previously:

Trimming a wooden deck - GIF
Trimming a long deck while on a skid steer - GIF
Deck screw box with built-in deck board drilling template - photo
Automatic rising deck chair - GIF

[kb4mdz]

This is why we built our deck (c. 1995) as complete free standing, not attached to the house but butted right up against it. Way easier engineering, therefore permitting. Our town even held a 'Deck Seminar' for people wanting to do it themselves, and the question was answered before it was asked: Why all these regulations, for a simple deck? A: Before these rules, "... anybody with a nail gun could build a deck. And a lot of those failed, sometimes badly."

[Frank S]

This is why we built our deck (c. 1995) as complete free standing, not attached to the house but butted right up against it. Way easier engineering, therefore permitting. Our town even held a 'Deck Seminar' for people wanting to do it themselves, and the question was answered before it was asked: Why all these regulations, for a simple deck? A: Before these rules, "... anybody with a nail gun could build a deck. And a lot of those failed, sometimes badly."

If a deck can not withstand the load of a single pallet of shingles then it is unsafe for humans to party on
A friend of mine built his house with a deck cantilevered from the third floor, the original intent was to build in a hot tub into the deck as well. but after the engineering study came back it was deemed the additional several thousand pounds of water coupled with the possibility of as many as 25 guest on the deck possibly dancing could cause the deck to rack the house in the direction of the load the hot tub idea of being included in a deck which was cantilevered was scrapped as a steel tower structure under the tub would be required to support the weight. A tower structure could not be architecturally designed in to fit the wanted appearance of the house which was to look like the bow of a boat extending out over the pond below

[hemmjo]

I count 12 layers of shingles in that stack. 3 bundles per layer. Typically 3 bundles per square(100 sq.ft.)except for some architectural shingles which are 4 bundles per square. Common weight is around 240lbs per square. I am guessing that stack contains 12 Square @ 240 per sq = 2880 lbs total weight. Stacked that close to the house, almost all of that is on the ledger board rather than distributed between the posts and the ledger.

Typical design standards specify 40lb per square foot as the minimum for EVENLY DISTRIBUTED live load. At 2880 pounds, spread over about 9 square feet, that stack represents 320lbs sq ft. Eight times the the design load for a common deck. Even assuming it was built properly to begin with.

I would never pile a stack of roof shingles on a deck, even if I knew it was built properly.

[meyer77]

IIRC the deck load was 100 lbs psf when I was a building inspector in NJ.
I have seen ledger boards just nailed to the rim joist not lagged in.
My friend in PA had the front porch floor fail because the contractor who built it just used masonry nails and nailed it into the brick!
Lucky no on was on it when it failed.

[odd one]

I call out improper ledger attachments all the time on home inspections. It is scarry how many poorly built decks are out there. I will typically find something incorrect with a deck or wooden porch on new construction 20-25% of the time. Deck screws in hangers or no hangers or ledgers typically seems to be the most common deficiency on homeowner/handyman built decks.

[sossol]

Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of was all the work of hauling those shingles up 10 feet being wasted when they fell back down to the ground?

Neil

[hemmjo]

I call out improper ledger attachments all the time on home inspections. It is scarry how many poorly built decks are out there. I will typically find something incorrect with a deck or wooden porch on new construction 20-25% of the time. Deck screws in hangers or no hangers or ledgers typically seems to be the most common deficiency on homeowner/handyman built decks.

I have seen many contractors commit the same errors.

[odd one]

Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of was all the work of hauling those shingles up 10 feet being wasted when they fell back down to the ground?

Neil

First think I though was that is an expensive lesson that he probably​ will not repeat.

[Hoosiersmoker]

First think I though was that is an expensive lesson that he probably​ will not repeat.

If he can still walk!