Throwing lumber at it

[Yadkin]

Another deck project. This couple hired a deck/ fence builder to build this upper (main level) deck. No plans, just a plan sketch. No wind load calculations in a 140 wind zone, Exposure C. He's failed inspection 4 times. Instead of hiring a professional for guidance, he keeps hiring unlicensed crews to throw lumber at it- different sub every time. The guy doesn't even bother to show up at the site.

The result is a ridiculous forest of posts that block the views from the lower deck.

I advised the couple to call him, then email, a stop work order. Keep it upbeat, he's not fired (yet), tell them that they have hired an engineer, who will develop a repair plan. The goal here is to get the subs paid so we don't have an issue with them later.

[Yadkin]

The intent of this glass railing is to take advantage of the million dollar view. The skylines of Winston-Salem and Charlotte are visible on a clear day.

However the contractor's execution is lacking here. There is no way that railing will hold a 200# lateral load. At a minimum he'll need a top rail.

[Don Rickles]

As a start, a beam running parallel to the building 2'0" away from the buildings foundation is MISSING.. The cantilevered joist exceeds length. And NO notching of rail post!!!

Deck is shit on a hill

[Big bob]

You're still driving around taking pictures being a Karen.

[Yadkin]

Originally Posted by Don Rickles

As a start, a beam running parallel to the building 2'0" away from the buildings foundation is MISSING.. The cantilevered joist exceeds length. And NO notching of rail post!!!

Deck is shit on a hill

I kinda hate jobs like this. Very difficult to model mathematically because of all the crap. I'd have walked away if the owners weren't so nice. In their 30's, just had their second baby. Cute little elderly dog, mostly blind.

[Frankie the Fink]

You will be weeks on end unfornicating that clusterf-ck..

My cheap-azz neighbor had some jackleg Disney employee cobble together a pier a few years back for $18,000 dollars; the clown set the lakebed posts in concrete like he was building a privacy backyard fence instead of "jetting" them in. Other equally bad techniques too. Built it about 18" too low so that the deck spent several weeks a year during the rainy season underwater.

Dumb ass; it tilted sideways in a hurricane due to lack of foundation cross-bracing, my pier (with the boat) has been through 7 hurricanes:

YouTube

[DJ_Critterus]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

You will be weeks on end unfornicating that clusterf-ck..

My cheap-azz neighbor had some jackleg Disney employee cobble together a pier a few years back for $18,000 dollars; the clown set the lakebed posts in concrete like he was building a privacy backyard fence instead of "jetting" them in. Other equally bad techniques too. Built it about 18" too low so that the deck spent several weeks a year during the rainy season underwater.

Dumb ass; it tilted sideways in a hurricane due to lack of foundation cross-bracing, my pier (with the boat) has been through 7 hurricanes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2zM1_iDcnY

so, your neighbor is a friend without pier?

[KenHorse]

Originally Posted by Frankie the Fink

You will be weeks on end unfornicating that clusterf-ck..

My cheap-azz neighbor had some jackleg Disney employee cobble together a pier a few years back for $18,000 dollars; the clown set the lakebed posts in concrete like he was building a privacy backyard fence instead of "jetting" them in. Other equally bad techniques too. Built it about 18" too low so that the deck spent several weeks a year during the rainy season underwater.

Dumb ass; it tilted sideways in a hurricane due to lack of foundation cross-bracing, my pier (with the boat) has been through 7 hurricanes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2zM1_iDcnY

So this is a pier review or is it a judgement by his piers?

Then again, it may once have been a paradox

[vettemed]

Originally Posted by KenHorse

So this is a pier review or is it a judgement by his piers?

Then again, it may once have been a paradox

A pieradox?

[Kevin68]

I had a deck similar to that at my previous house. I had the wood piers and beams replaced with steel and welded to the steel beams of the house. They pulled the bottom covering off the house and ran the deck joists about 12' under the house and bolted them the floor joists for the house. Piers were welded to a steel plate set in a 24" concrete block to bedrock (~2-2.5'). Although the engineer only had gussets at the corners I put them on every pier for symmetry. If the deck came down, the house was coming with it.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by KenHorse

So this is a pier review or is it a judgement by his piers?

Then again, it may once have been a paradox

Originally Posted by vettemed

A pieradox?

[Don Rickles]

Originally Posted by Kevin68

I had a deck similar to that at my previous house. I had the wood piers and beams replaced with steel and welded to the steel beams of the house. They pulled the bottom covering off the house and ran the deck joists about 12' under the house and bolted them the floor joists for the house. Piers were welded to a steel plate set in a 24" concrete block to bedrock (~2-2.5'). Although the engineer only had gussets at the corners I put them on every pier for symmetry. If the deck came down, the house was coming with it.

A deck should be able to stand on its own following today’s building codes. Mechanically fastened and braced from movement in any direction up down away from the building or side to side. Then to include lateral bracing to the existing structure. That deck shown above, needs a lot of attention.

[GTOguy]

Waiting for Big Bob's advice.

[Steve_R]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Waiting for Big Bob's advice.

Oak stumps and old anvils.

[jw38]

Call Piers Morgan.

[Big bob]

Originally Posted by GTOguy

Waiting for Big Bob's advice.

He should stop driving around annoying construction sites being a Karen. We have all seen his incompetence that he has posted.

[GTOguy]

Not to worry, people. Yad's GOT THIS.

[Big bob]

Originally Posted by Steve_R

Oak stumps and old anvils.

What do you put your anvil on?

[GTOguy]

Originally Posted by Big bob

What do you put your anvil on?

I've been to several old ghost town and mining sites in the southwest and have seen perhaps half a dozen anvil stumps. Usually cedar or pine due to the elevation and location, but oak in lower elevations. Many nails, usually the cut type of pre-1910, and sometimes even remains of strapping. Never an anvil....those were taken to the next boom camp. Here's one made from the end of a huge beam.

[KenHorse]

Originally Posted by vettemed

A pieradox?

pairofdocks