Another deck overload accident on the news

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toolmanmike

toolmanmike

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Too many people and too much weight on a wooden deck and it will collapse and injure people. Geez people.....use your head! Rant over.
 
We ran one a few weeks ago where they put an inflatable pool on the deck, filled it and had kids and grown ups in it.
 
When we built the deck at the rear of our house in Macon, I built it "Post and Beam" Style. All of the posts coming out of the ground are Pressure treated 6x6's and all of the beams spanning the posts are Pressure treated and doubled 2 x12's, posts are on 4 foot x 4 foot centers, and are in 12 diameter sono-tubes 4' into the ground. I made the ledger board that connects it to the house rim joist of the house is made of doubled 2x12's also, and is bolted trough the (doubled) Rim joist with twenty two 3/4" x 8" grade 5 bolts and washers and are double nutted.

One of my neighbors who was helping me build it called it "Dry Dock for the USS Nimitz"

Mind you that this deck is only 42" off the ground. I built it nearly 16 years ago, and it still has no "bounce in the deck. Now creaking, twisting, or rotting, either.

I use thompson water seal on it twice a year, and that includes the underside of the deck, and the exposed posts and beams.

Also there are no nails in the entire deck. Everything is screwed together, and the large joints are mortise and tenon, with pinned dowels. Galvanized joist hanger were used where needed with coated 3" screws.

It took me nearly 3 weeks to build it, with 4 friends helping at various times, and it cost far more than it should have, but, so far everything is as it should be.

According to an engineering firm in town that I did a lot of business with before I retired, the deck is over-built to the point have having a greater floor load capacity than the number of people that can fit in it's square footage, even if each person weighed 200 lbs. lol

The deck measures 21' deep by 33' wide (693 sq.ft.) and averages 42" high.

The reason I over built it so much is that I was using it to practice some of the post and beam techniques we were going to use to construct a 55' x 85' barn later that year. It was good practice, and I was able to work out some of the issues I would have later with the barn, while standing on the ground, instead of 30 feet in the air.

The bullet proof deck was a bonus, and it's still as strong as the time we built it. In fact, it's stronger then the house it's attached to.
 
Nice, ^^^ I love "overkill" when building something like that! Drives me nuts when people actually go the 'other way' and under build. What are they gonna save?? A hundred bucks? Two hundred? Use smaller lumber, fewer framing members, and add to that poor design... End up with something that started out lousy and gets much worse very rapidly!
 
I guess yall will be diving under the deck when a tornado comes through. lol


Frankie said:
When we built the deck at the rear of our house in Macon, I built it "Post and Beam" Style. All of the posts coming out of the ground are Pressure treated 6x6's and all of the beams spanning the posts are Pressure treated and doubled 2 x12's, posts are on 4 foot x 4 foot centers, and are in 12 diameter sono-tubes 4' into the ground. I made the ledger board that connects it to the house rim joist of the house is made of doubled 2x12's also, and is bolted trough the (doubled) Rim joist with twenty two 3/4" x 8" grade 5 bolts and washers and are double nutted.

One of my neighbors who was helping me build it called it "Dry Dock for the USS Nimitz"

Mind you that this deck is only 42" off the ground. I built it nearly 16 years ago, and it still has no "bounce in the deck. Now creaking, twisting, or rotting, either.

I use thompson water seal on it twice a year, and that includes the underside of the deck, and the exposed posts and beams.

Also there are no nails in the entire deck. Everything is screwed together, and the large joints are mortise and tenon, with pinned dowels. Galvanized joist hanger were used where needed with coated 3" screws.

It took me nearly 3 weeks to build it, with 4 friends helping at various times, and it cost far more than it should have, but, so far everything is as it should be.

According to an engineering firm in town that I did a lot of business with before I retired, the deck is over-built to the point have having a greater floor load capacity than the number of people that can fit in it's square footage, even if each person weighed 200 lbs. lol

The deck measures 21' deep by 33' wide (693 sq.ft.) and averages 42" high.

The reason I over built it so much is that I was using it to practice some of the post and beam techniques we were going to use to construct a 55' x 85' barn later that year. It was good practice, and I was able to work out some of the issues I would have later with the barn, while standing on the ground, instead of 30 feet in the air.

The bullet proof deck was a bonus, and it's still as strong as the time we built it. In fact, it's stronger then the house it's attached to.
Click to expand...
 
Aren't decks and ferry boats supposed to be overloaded???
 
so when this deck collapsed, how many dogs did it kill?
 
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