Quote:
Originally Posted by james t kirk
I'm glad you were not hurt, however, I don't think you should be entitled to a dime.
I'm looking at that photo and all I see is one 4 x 4 Pressure Treated column. No evidence of any X bracing. I imagine that there were two 4 x 4 pressure treated columns for the enitre deck. (One at each front corner and the back side of the deck was tied to the house (which is a mistake in itself)). If that is the case - here is a list of structural deficiencies associated with the deck:
1. Columns are overloaded.
2. Improperly sized and spaced columns
3. NO X bracing of columns means that the structure is laterally unstable since it is not a fixed connection, but a pinned connection.
4. Deck improperly connected to adjacent structure (railway spikes - I mean come on. Railway spikes are way too monsterous to use as nails in conventional construction. They will simply split any dimensional lumber into tooth picks.
5. No railing around perimeter of deck - you admit as such. I cannot fathom how you could not have installed a railing - 3 year old or not.
6. Deck planking appears to be 1 x 6 boards in the flat which is substandard and overloaded for your application. At minimum, deck planking should be 2 x 4 when laid in the flat.
7. Outside Ring Joist shows no evidence of proper joist hanger.
All of the above from one photo and 2 minutes.
Deck was improperly constructed right from the get go. You bought the house, you should have had a home inspection done at the time of purchase which should have pointed out that the deck was improperly constructed.
Either way, I see it as your problem
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I'm not an engineer. with that said
1.the issue isnt the columns being overloaded. they stayed just fine. they were cemented into the ground. it had 2 4x4 columns.
2. they were 4x4 columns. I dont know what they are suposto be. ( i didnt build it)
3. It had X bracing on the underside of the floor. (If thats what you mean)
4. It did have rail road spikes holding it to the house. It had 4 of them. i will take a picture and post it later. I know its not right but it might have been 27 years ago?? i dont know
5. I dont know what not having railing has to do with the deck falling?? i do admit that i never put it up. as i stated before we nover went out there. only the dogs. the door stayed locked so my daughter couldnt get out there. I never put them up due to lack of funds.
6. yes they were 1x6 boards. they were the composite material. ok so i used the wrong boards. but the floor didnt fall through.
7. i dont know what a joist hanger is. so i cant comment on that one.
I didnt BUY the house. the house was my mother in-laws house. when she passed away 4 years ago my wife thought it would be a good idea to take over the loan and sell our house (WRONG... but thats beside the point). we assumed the loan and all other things.
If its my problem then im ok with that but my thing is that all we did with the insurance is transfer it into our name. how is it my fault that the deck fell??? i didnt know it was held in with railroad spikes.
when i replaced the floor on it 3 years ago all seemed ok (but im not in construction work). how often do you hear of a deck falling off of a house???? every time i hear about it on the news its usually because they had 45 people on the deck. not 2.
---------- Post added at 01:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 PM ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by cj2112
I seriously doubt that railroad spikes were used. This is a railroad spike:
Is that really what they used? |
yup, thats what it looks like