I am looking to build a deck on the back of my house. The house is on
a hill and has a sliding glass door from the basement to the back
yard. There is also a sliding glass door from the kitchen to where
the deck will be. I am having conflicted ideas of how to go about
designing the deck.

The basement wall is 96" from the ground of the back yard to to top of
teh poured concrete, there is then two 2x4's with a double 2x10 on
top. There as about 12" from the top of the basement sliding glass
door to the top of the poured foundation. There is then about 15"
from the top of the foundation to the bottom of the kitchen sliding
glass door.

I am not sure if i should attach the ledger to the foundation wall or
attach into the double 2x10s of the house.

I would prefer to attach to the foundation and build a stair at the
kitchen door. However when I add the beams at the far end of the
deck, i will only have about 76" of clearance to walk under.

I can raise the deck an extra 12" or so by attaching the ledger to the
2x10s. I have concernes with attaching the deck to this section of
teh house because it does not appear to be a sturdy as the foundation
would be.

Is there any way to attach a ledger to the foundation, but then have
the joists run above the ledger somehow?

Thanks for any help & suggestions.


Patrick

On Jun 7, 8:04 pm, wrote:
I am looking to build a deck on the back of my house. The house is on
a hill and has a sliding glass door from the basement to the back
yard. There is also a sliding glass door from the kitchen to where
the deck will be. I am having conflicted ideas of how to go about
designing the deck.

The basement wall is 96" from the ground of the back yard to to top of
teh poured concrete, there is then two 2x4's with a double 2x10 on
top. There as about 12" from the top of the basement sliding glass
door to the top of the poured foundation. There is then about 15"
from the top of the foundation to the bottom of the kitchen sliding
glass door.

I am not sure if i should attach the ledger to the foundation wall or
attach into the double 2x10s of the house.

I would prefer to attach to the foundation and build a stair at the
kitchen door. However when I add the beams at the far end of the
deck, i will only have about 76" of clearance to walk under.

I can raise the deck an extra 12" or so by attaching the ledger to the
2x10s. I have concernes with attaching the deck to this section of
teh house because it does not appear to be a sturdy as the foundation
would be.

Is there any way to attach a ledger to the foundation, but then have
the joists run above the ledger somehow?

Thanks for any help & suggestions.

Patrick

My first question is why you think the double 2x10's would not be
adequate to support the deck ledger. Are they resting on the
foundation? If so, then they would certainly support a deck ledger.
Yes, you can attach a ledger to the foundation and rest the joists on
the foundation. But it is seldom done, at least where I live, in a
non-seismic zone. a single ply 2X is probably inadequate. When I
have done this, the engineer specced 4x12's---and that's some serious
work, bolting a 4x12 ledger to concrete. Then, you should put
blocking between the joists above the ledger. Much easier to hang the
joist off of the ledger with joist hangers IMO.

On Jun 7, 8:04 pm, wrote:
I am looking to build a deck on the back of my house. The house is on
a hill and has a sliding glass door from the basement to the back
yard. There is also a sliding glass door from the kitchen to where
the deck will be. I am having conflicted ideas of how to go about
designing the deck.

The basement wall is 96" from the ground of the back yard to to top of
teh poured concrete, there is then two 2x4's with a double 2x10 on
top. There as about 12" from the top of the basement sliding glass
door to the top of the poured foundation. There is then about 15"
from the top of the foundation to the bottom of the kitchen sliding
glass door.

I am not sure if i should attach the ledger to the foundation wall or
attach into the double 2x10s of the house.

I would prefer to attach to the foundation and build a stair at the
kitchen door. However when I add the beams at the far end of the
deck, i will only have about 76" of clearance to walk under.

I can raise the deck an extra 12" or so by attaching the ledger to the
2x10s. I have concernes with attaching the deck to this section of
teh house because it does not appear to be a sturdy as the foundation
would be.

Is there any way to attach a ledger to the foundation, but then have
the joists run above the ledger somehow?

Thanks for any help & suggestions.

Patrick

Your project is more complicated than you think. You will probably
have to pull a permit to build it, so prepare properly and have an
architect/engineer whip up a set of plans. In the long run you'll save
time and money and get it right. HTH

Joe

I have to ask. What is there now..? Do these doors open up to a drop
off?

wrote in message
ups.com...
I am looking to build a deck on the back of my house. The house is on
a hill and has a sliding glass door from the basement to the back
yard. There is also a sliding glass door from the kitchen to where
the deck will be. I am having conflicted ideas of how to go about
designing the deck.

The basement wall is 96" from the ground of the back yard to to top of
teh poured concrete, there is then two 2x4's with a double 2x10 on
top. There as about 12" from the top of the basement sliding glass
door to the top of the poured foundation. There is then about 15"
from the top of the foundation to the bottom of the kitchen sliding
glass door.

I am not sure if i should attach the ledger to the foundation wall or
attach into the double 2x10s of the house.

I would prefer to attach to the foundation and build a stair at the
kitchen door. However when I add the beams at the far end of the
deck, i will only have about 76" of clearance to walk under.

I can raise the deck an extra 12" or so by attaching the ledger to the
2x10s. I have concernes with attaching the deck to this section of
teh house because it does not appear to be a sturdy as the foundation
would be.

Is there any way to attach a ledger to the foundation, but then have
the joists run above the ledger somehow?

Thanks for any help & suggestions.

IMHO, I wouldn't load up the ledger board with any significant weight from a
large deck, but rather use it just to tie the basically free-standing deck
structure to the house to dampen vibration and twisting. (A large totally
free-standing deck that tall can make people stepping onto it from the
more-solid house feel like the deck is moving.) Rather than hang the deck
joists from a massive ledger board, put another main beam and row of posts
to match the one on the yard side, a foot or so back from the house wall,
below the joist level. Use the rim joist on the house side as the ledger,
held away from house an inch or more with standoffs, to keep siding from
rotting, with suitable flashing on the standoffs. As to what level to put
the deck- you want the deck 'floor' to be no more than a normal step (a few
inches) below the sill level of the sliders. Anything more will require a
huge top step for people to stand on to open and close door.

Like I said, IMHO. Unless house wall is framed for the load of a large deck,
adding all that weight can do nasty things to wall if deck frost-heaves, or
gets a lot of wind load and picks up and starts fluttering like a leaf.
Even if wall can take the downward load, sometimes it can't take the
sideways loads or vibration from a load-bearing ledger board.

aem sends....