Tall Deck Construction Question
 

I was reading a Q&A on buildng a tall deck which contained the
following exchange.

*** Begin Included Text ***

Q: My house has brick veneer over insulated stud walls. I am going to
build a raised deck off the second floor bedroom. It will be suported
by four posts, Should I attach the deck floor to the house wall?

A: It is probably better if you do not attach it securely to the house
wall. With tall wooden posts, the deck suface may move up and down
more than the house wall throughout the seasons.

To provide a more stable feel to the tall deck, screw steel angles to
the house wall. Screw another set of angles to the deck several
inches below the other ones. Connect them with long bolts to allow
some vertical movement.

*** End Included Text ***

Can I assume that the bolts are to be left loose to allow for vertical
movement? How loose? Regarding the "stable feel" the author mentions
- would that be present because the loose bolts would supposedly
limit the horizontal movement somewhat?

Is this a common construction method for tall decks?

Tall Deck Construction Question
 

On Dec 3, 8:20 am, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I was reading a Q&A on buildng a tall deck which contained the
following exchange.

*** Begin Included Text ***

Q: My house has brick veneer over insulated stud walls. I am going to
build a raised deck off the second floor bedroom. It will be suported
by four posts, Should I attach the deck floor to the house wall?

A: It is probably better if you do not attach it securely to the house
wall. With tall wooden posts, the deck suface may move up and down
more than the house wall throughout the seasons.

To provide a more stable feel to the tall deck, screw steel angles to
the house wall. Screw another set of angles to the deck several
inches below the other ones. Connect them with long bolts to allow
some vertical movement.

*** End Included Text ***

Can I assume that the bolts are to be left loose to allow for vertical
movement? How loose? Regarding the "stable feel" the author mentions
- would that be present because the loose bolts would supposedly
limit the horizontal movement somewhat?

Is this a common construction method for tall decks?

No, and the reasoning isn't logical. Wood moves seasonally due to
changes in moisture content, in width and depth, not length. The
other factor is wood's coefficient of thermal expansion - which is
totally negligible in the normal range of climactic conditions.

There's far greater risk of movement due to insufficient footing depth
and consequent frost heaving - and that can happen, in the same
amount, regardless of the post length.

R

Tall Deck Construction Question
 

On Dec 3, 7:54 am, RicodJour wrote:
On Dec 3, 8:20 am, DerbyDad03 wrote:





I was reading a Q&A on buildng a tall deck which contained the
following exchange.

*** Begin Included Text ***

Q: My house has brick veneer over insulated stud walls. I am going to
build a raised deck off the second floor bedroom. It will be suported
by four posts, Should I attach the deck floor to the house wall?

A: It is probably better if you do not attach it securely to the house
wall. With tall wooden posts, the deck suface may move up and down
more than the house wall throughout the seasons.

To provide a more stable feel to the tall deck, screw steel angles to
the house wall. Screw another set of angles to the deck several
inches below the other ones. Connect them with long bolts to allow
some vertical movement.

*** End Included Text ***

Can I assume that the bolts are to be left loose to allow for vertical
movement? How loose? Regarding the "stable feel" the author mentions
- would that be present because the loose bolts would supposedly
limit the horizontal movement somewhat?

Is this a common construction method for tall decks?

No, and the reasoning isn't logical. Wood moves seasonally due to
changes in moisture content, in width and depth, not length. The
other factor is wood's coefficient of thermal expansion - which is
totally negligible in the normal range of climactic conditions.

There's far greater risk of movement due to insufficient footing depth
and consequent frost heaving - and that can happen, in the same
amount, regardless of the post length.

R- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Building a deck like that without permits, plans and and inspection
you risk having to remove it later. The city and inspectors are there
to help, Ive just been through a porch redo where initialy we were
told to remove and replace it at 60,000, we cleared the violations
finaly for 3000.00 .

Tall Deck Construction Question
 

On Dec 3, 9:06�am, ransley wrote:
On Dec 3, 7:54 am, RicodJour wrote:





On Dec 3, 8:20 am, DerbyDad03 wrote:

I was reading a Q&A on buildng a tall deck which contained the
following exchange.

*** Begin Included Text ***

Q: My house has brick veneer over insulated stud walls. �I am going to
build a raised deck off the second floor bedroom. �It will be suported
by four posts, �Should I attach the deck floor to the house wall?

A: It is probably better if you do not attach it securely to the house
wall. �With tall wooden posts, the deck suface may move up and down
more than the house wall throughout the seasons.

To provide a more stable feel to the tall deck, screw steel angles to
the house wall. �Screw another set of angles to the deck several
inches below the other ones. �Connect them with long bolts to allow
some vertical movement.

*** End Included Text ***

Can I assume that the bolts are to be left loose to allow for vertical
movement? How loose? �Regarding the "stable feel" the author mentions
- �would that be present because the loose bolts would supposedly
limit the horizontal movement somewhat?

Is this a common construction method for tall decks?

No, and the reasoning isn't logical. �Wood moves seasonally due to
changes in moisture content, in width and depth, not length. �The
other factor is wood's coefficient of thermal expansion - which is
totally negligible in the normal range of climactic conditions.

There's far greater risk of movement due to insufficient footing depth
and consequent frost heaving - and that can happen, in the same
amount, regardless of the post length.

R- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

�Building a deck like that without permits, plans and and inspection
you risk having to remove it later. The city and inspectors are there
to help, Ive just been through a porch redo where initialy we were
told to remove and replace it at 60,000, we cleared the violations
finaly for 3000.00 .- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

or worse a deck collapse, with a high one people can die

Tall Deck Construction Question
 

DerbyDad03 wrote:
I was reading a Q&A on buildng a tall deck which contained the
following exchange.

*** Begin Included Text ***

Q: My house has brick veneer over insulated stud walls. I am going to
build a raised deck off the second floor bedroom. It will be suported
by four posts, Should I attach the deck floor to the house wall?

A: It is probably better if you do not attach it securely to the house
wall. With tall wooden posts, the deck suface may move up and down
more than the house wall throughout the seasons.

To provide a more stable feel to the tall deck, screw steel angles to
the house wall. Screw another set of angles to the deck several
inches below the other ones. Connect them with long bolts to allow
some vertical movement.

*** End Included Text ***

Can I assume that the bolts are to be left loose to allow for vertical
movement? How loose? Regarding the "stable feel" the author mentions
- would that be present because the loose bolts would supposedly
limit the horizontal movement somewhat?

Is this a common construction method for tall decks?

No and the two other respondents (so far) have good points ... if you're
contemplating the same thing as the poster you quoted, the key for
stability is the footings and sufficient lateral bracing and adequate
piling dimensions (a 4x4 isn't sufficiently stiff at those lengths).

--

Tall Deck Construction Question
 

On Dec 3, 9:06 am, ransley wrote:
On Dec 3, 7:54 am, RicodJour wrote:





On Dec 3, 8:20 am, DerbyDad03 wrote:

I was reading a Q&A on buildng a tall deck which contained the
following exchange.

*** Begin Included Text ***

Q: My house has brick veneer over insulated stud walls. I am going to
build a raised deck off the second floor bedroom. It will be suported
by four posts, Should I attach the deck floor to the house wall?

A: It is probably better if you do not attach it securely to the house
wall. With tall wooden posts, the deck suface may move up and down
more than the house wall throughout the seasons.

To provide a more stable feel to the tall deck, screw steel angles to
the house wall. Screw another set of angles to the deck several
inches below the other ones. Connect them with long bolts to allow
some vertical movement.

*** End Included Text ***

Can I assume that the bolts are to be left loose to allow for vertical
movement? How loose? Regarding the "stable feel" the author mentions
- would that be present because the loose bolts would supposedly
limit the horizontal movement somewhat?

Is this a common construction method for tall decks?

No, and the reasoning isn't logical. Wood moves seasonally due to
changes in moisture content, in width and depth, not length. The
other factor is wood's coefficient of thermal expansion - which is
totally negligible in the normal range of climactic conditions.

There's far greater risk of movement due to insufficient footing depth
and consequent frost heaving - and that can happen, in the same
amount, regardless of the post length.

R- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Building a deck like that without permits, plans and and inspection
you risk having to remove it later. The city and inspectors are there
to help, Ive just been through a porch redo where initialy we were
told to remove and replace it at 60,000, we cleared the violations
finaly for 3000.00 .- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Building a deck like that without permits, plans and inspection
you risk having to remove it later.

Thanks for the response, but I don't see anything in the Q & A that
says this deck is going to be build without permits, plans and
inspection.

This isn't my deck - I'm simply curious about the construction method
- but for the sake of argument I'll tell you what I did before I built
my deck, which is 6' off the ground.

I looked at various raised deck plans and I asked a lot of questions,
including whether I should attach it to the house. I then submitted a
set of plans that I was pretty sure were going to pass first time -
which they did. I'll give the questioner the benefit of the doubt and
assume he is simply gathering the information required to put together
his permit request.