In article
,
Evan wrote:

On Feb 17, 8:11*pm, wrote:
On Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:11:02 -0800 (PST), "



wrote:
On Feb 16, 1:26 pm, Higgs Boson wrote:
On Feb 15, 3:35 am, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 2/15/2011 4:08 AM, wrote:

I have a small deck built in stacked 8 inch concrete blocks. I first
put in concrete pads in the ground, then stacked three 8 inch
concrete
blocks on top and built the deck on them. This deck was fine in the
summer, but when winter came, I found it was too close to the bottom
of the storm door on the house. Just the smallest amount of ice on
the deck and we cant open the storm door. As soon as the ice and
snow
is gone, I want to lower the deck about 2 inches. I can easily lift
it with a jack. My idea is to remove the top 8 inch block and
replace
it with a 6 inch one in all four corners. But, do they make 6 inch
blocks? I know 8" is the most common, and they make 4" ones. But I
never seens 6" ones. I suppose if nothing else I can make some solid
ones with a wooden form and some Redi-Mix.

Thanks

It might be easier to install a strip of electric heat tape to melt
the
ice around the door threshold. Perhaps there is enough room under the
threshold to install some heat tape?

TDD

Nobody is paying attention to what seems (to this non-techie) a simple
solution. You all got off on rebuilding the deck according to code.
AFAK, the guy is only trying to get his ****ing door open in winter.
What am I missing?

HB- Hide quoted text -

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it sounds like the deck isnt attached to the building, and thats a
safety hazard. 3 8 inch blocks is high enough for someone to get hurt
if the deck comes off the blocks.

and at home resale time a home inspector will make it into the end of
the world.... but it might just end the sale

If he rebuilds the deck now or has it rebuilt to code, he can do the
work himself or a handyman can.

push this off to home resale time, and buyer will demand registered
everything

1. Its a trailer house

2. The deck is attached to the house with two L-brackets, one on each
side.

3. The deck cant pull away from the house because the bottom steps in
front have eye bolts under the bottom step with rebar driven in the
ground.

4. I'm not worried about resale value. *I dont plan to move.

5. I'm not woried about inspections, it's a farm house and when this
trailer first arrived I only had concrete block steps. *The inspector
only checked to see if I had a smoke detector, said they dont inspect
trailers any more than that.

6. How could I put heat tape in treated 2x6 deck boards.

7. The deck is still too high. *I built it level with the house floor.
The threshold is an inch above the floor. *Deck lifted a little during
the winter. *Ice dripped off awning above door, froze on the snow, I
could not get out the door. *Had to use rear door.

8. *Deck is only 7x10 feet. *I built it on the lawn and set it in
place with the tractor. *Steps were added later.
I can lift with tractor again, or just jack it up an inch to change
blocks. *Step stringers will have to be cut off 2" on bottom. *Not a
problem it's all screwed together.

In #1

Being a trailer doesn't exempt it from being permitted and
inspected as a deck, because that was something you
added to it that was not certified by the state approved
inspectors at the assembly plant where the trailer was
constructed... The deck was added after the trailer was
set up and it was not part of a designed package...

In #2

L-brackets with screws are NOT structural supports...
You need to bolt a deck to substantial structure along
the entire 10' length of the deck next to the house with
lag bolts to wood or using carriage bolts to the metal
frame of the trailer...

In #3

If you think that a couple of rebar driven into the ground at the
steps will hold back the deck in the event of a piece of motorized
equipment crashing into it, you are going to be quite surprised
when you are sued for personal injury and possibly charged
with criminal negligence for building an unsafe and substandard
entry to your home...

In #4

Cool, if I were you, I would be more concerned with retaining
ownership of the trailer and the land it sits on if you have a
negligence judgment levied against you in civil court, medical
expenses are quite large with crushing injuries, forget it if your
dimwitedness resulted in an amputation... Pain and suffering...
Etc. Etc. But as long as you know it is a possibility that you
could lose the family homestead over such things, its your life...

In #5

Yup, it is inspected to the regulations of the state of delivery
as it is rolling off the assembly line where it was put together,
all the local inspector has to do is verify the life safety devices...

In #7

If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have built it like
that...

In #8

That is the whole ****ing point man... You can lift it with the
tractor,
that means that the deck has not been properly built and installed
according to building code... I dunno where this "deck" is located,
but if you are in tornado country, I am sure that a tornado would be
able to lift it and then its a deadly missile which could penetrate
anything and anyone around it...

Your deck needs to be supported by footings dug into the ground
at least four feet for frost, that have a bell end to the footing to
lock
it into the ground... The deck support post needs to then be bolted
to the footing, then the posts bolted to the structure of the deck,
so as to permanently attach it for safety...

Your "construction" is an accident waiting to happen...

You have been warned... Just hope that it isn't someone you
love who gets hurt when you loose the incredibly stupid lottery
you are playing right now...

~~ Evan

good grief. You do 100 things every day that are 1000 times more
"dangerous" than what you're scolding the OP for. It's not a
cantilevered second story deck, for god's sake. Leave him alone already.