deck debacle

[Cooler]

Do note that sistered joists will rot a lot faster than single joists as water gets trapped between the boards.  Use roofing rubberized tape to cover those joists before laying down the decking.  It is easy to do and does not cost much.

$21.00 for 50 feet from Home Depot.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Nashua-Tape-.../206495170

[RichK]

The joists and beams are all pressure treated. The rotted lumber in the pics was planking on the original upper deck that got reused as framing when composite planks were installed about 8-10 yrs ago. That makes the rotted pieces about 25 years old. Some were in contact with the ground for the past 8-10 years. I guess the deterioration should not have been a surprise.

[crokett™]

If it were me, while I had those joists out I'd dig out a few inches of soil before I put the new ones in. What likely contributed to the rot is the ground contact.

[Cooler]

I slowly "repaired" my deck (as it would not be permitted if I rebuilt it).  As of this date everything except 6 feet of  ledger board has been replaced. Those 6 feet are under a room addition and removing it was too scary.

The house was built in 1953 and I started to repairs in 2000 and completed them in 2003.  The deck was made entirely of Douglas fir.  The only joists that were severely rotted were the sistered joists; the rest were still in reasonable condition.  The railing was terrible as the water would get trapped in the corners of the X frames. 

The deck is 12 feet above ground giving the wood plenty of opportunity to dry out between showers.  I imagine a ground level deck would have a harder time.

[MstrCarpenter]

Just something to consider; "ground contact" rated P.T. would last a lot longer than I would need it to. The tape is a good suggestion too; not nearly as messy as Black Jack and 2" wide 90 weight felt!

[RichK]

All good recommendations. Any additional thoughts from anyone on the deck being free-standing vs attached to garage with a ledger? Crokett makes a good argument for the garage ledger. Attaching a ledger with sleeve anchors seems unlikely to be pulled off the garage by beams nailed into post holders bolted into concrete. The nailed beams may shift, but not the ledger. Make sense?

[crokett™]

Attaching a ledger with sleeve anchors seems unlikely to be pulled off the garage by beams nailed into post holders bolted into concrete. The nailed beams may shift, but not the ledger.  Make sense?

Yes, but if you're talking about only being worried about pulling the ledger off, even if all that happens is joists separate from the ledger thats still bad.    Unless you know that the footings for the beams are below the frost line (you could dig down beside one and check) I would not attach a ledger.    If the footings aren't below the frost line they can heave with the frost.    Full disclosure I'm not a fan of ledgers anyway.  I dont like putting holes in houses, and you have to worry about water getting behind the ledger.  A free standing deck has none of those worries.

[Cooler]

I recommend a palm nailer.  Tight quarters make for difficult hammer swings.  A palm nailer makes quick work of that.

Hot dipped galvanized nails only.  Do not use "cold galvanized" or "impact galvanized" nails.  That galvanizing does not have good adhesion.  Very often the zinc will break off the heads just from hammering them in.  If it does not specifically say "hot dipped" it is almost certainly cold galvanized.

There are some very expensive screws that you can use, but the palm nailer and nails will prove faster and cheaper. 

Do not use regular construction screws. 

Screws excel at tensile holding.  That is screws are very hard to pull out of the surface that it is screwed into.  But screws are not acceptably strong in shear strength which is what the Stimpson joist hangers requires.  If you are inclined to use screws, then buy the Stimpson screws.