Had a whole deck collapse on me at a job site in Raleigh last month

I was up on this two-story deck in Raleigh, felt it start to shift under my feet. The guy who built it used regular nails instead of screws on the ledger board, and the wood was all rotted from water getting in. I jumped off just before it gave way, lucky I didn't break an ankle. That day made me start pulling apart every old deck I work on to check the connections first. Any of you guys run into decks that looked solid but were totally sketchy underneath?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy727d ago

Jumped off right before it gave way, that's insane man. I heard about a guy who didn't get that lucky, had a whole deck pancake on him in Charlotte last summer. He was just standing there one minute, then the ground gave out. Nails on a ledger board are just asking for trouble, I've seen that exact setup fail before. Water gets in between the wood and the house and rots it out from the inside like a sponge. You can't even tell until it's too late, the paint looks fine but the wood is dust underneath.

sanchez.mary7d ago

Yup, always use lag bolts not nails, learned that the hard way cleaning houses.