.. *Could you bolt the ledger board thru the brick facade all
the way thru whatever is behind the brick, into the sill plate or the
joists right above the sill plate? * It might take 8 or 10 inch long
bolts, and if there was any future lateral pulling, you would need to
make sure the sill plate was anchored to the top of the foundation,
not just resting on the top. *It should be secured, but I don't know
how careful your builder was and how closely you watched him during
the building proces.. *.

What I was originally concerned about even before we built the house
was tightening down the ledger and maybe fracturing the masonry since
there is an air gap behind it; and frankly bricks are mostly hollow
these days. I thought maybe I could overbore holes and install a
spacer/washer arrangement to put the stress on spacer, not the
bricks.

When I started looking into that is when I found out that most codes
and architectural standards that address decks on brick just forbid
attaching it. The code concerns don't address compression of the brick
wall. They address:

- Stress on the brick itself. The brick and airspace behind it are
3"- 4" thick. With a lag screw screwed into the sill, you are dealing
with a torsional load. The lag screw is fixed at the face of the
sill and the weight of the deck is 3-4" away with the bolt weighing on
brick....a rather brittle substance.

- Moisture. The real big deal that constantly came up was water
intrusion. Apparently brick, as a rough, porous material, is hard
enough to seal without boring holes every 16" or so. The concern is
that, even with flashing, moisture is going to get in behind the
flashing, through the holes and attack the sill.

I spoke with our son this evening. He is a construction
superintendent for a commercial contractor. He is bringing a
compactor up in the weekend or two. He thinks some serious pounding
out a foot or so from the foundation wall will tighten things up quite
a bit.

Ron