The primary cause of deck failures is the attachment method to the
house. This piece is usually called a ledger band and failure of
the fasteners or spitting of the board have killed and injured a
fair number of people in the past few years.

I cannot follow your description of your concerns. As others have
said minor surface cracks are not unusual or dangerous on lumber
that is exposed to the elements. I am talking about weather
checking, not load imposed cracking. If you see anything moving
when someone is on the deck, get more concerned, seek a
professional, stop using the deck.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Bill" wrote in message
...
Hi all,

My second floor deck has taken a turn for the worse. Living in
MA all
the contractors seem to be taking the winter off and I think I
will be
needing to secure this deck myself. With that said here are the
particulars.

It is a second floor porch approximately 10' length x 5' depth.
The
front of the structure is supported by 2 vertical beams
measuring
approximately 4" x 4". The front top of these 2 beams are cut
out to
insert the following horizontal. 3 boards (each about 1" x 12"
x the
length of the porch) nailed together and standing on the edge.
These
3 are secured to the vertical beams by nails in the back of the
cutout.

The issues are 1)The horizontal boards are leaning forward in
the
cutout at one end. 2) The vertical beams are beginning to
crack.

Somehow I need to get additional support and / or repair this.
Will
some one please rough out for me the steps I need to take so
that I
can do this. Is there any equipment that I can rent to make
this
easier? I know that I am over my head with this but really
believe
that I will be looking at a collapse if I don't get it taken
care of.

Thanks in advance,
Bill