Wayne Whitney wrote:
Hello,

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm rebuilding my porch deck.
Most of the deck joists are in good condition, except they are pitched
slightly wrong. I'm wondering if it would be workable to simply
sister on a 2x4 to the side of the existing joists, which are rough
2x6s for the 6' span. I would set the top edge of the 2x4 to the
desired pitch, which be anywhere from 0" to 0.5" higher than the top
of the existing joists. So the 2x4s would basically just be nailers
to accept the porch deck and transfer the load to the existing joists.

Any problem with doing this?

Other than quite a waste of material and that it just sounds "kludgey"
to me, the only real potential problem I would foresee might be that
you'll create a water trap between the two pieces that might lead to
early (as compared to if it weren't there) failures since it won't dry
easily between the two pieces. Could put a cap over them, of course,
but that's yet another step in the process...

If the house end were at the proper and same level, I'd probably go to
the trouble while I was doing it to make the outer rim the proper level
and re-hang them correctly, but that's just my nature -- if I'm going
to the effort, how much more effort would it actually be to fix it
right?

Alternatively, if it is only a 6-ft run, I _might_ consider shimming
the low ones as I have bandsaw and jointer to make the tapered cuts a
pretty straightforward operation, but still seems like the coward's way
out...

IMO, YMMV, $0.02, etc., etc., etc., ....