Joist Covering.

red_cedar

I have been working on my deck for a while now. I buy the material in stages. ( spread out the out of pocket cost ). Now I am ready for the deck boards of PT wood. Joists are also PT wood.

Is there a real benefit to applying some kind of water proofing membrane directly on the joists before the deck goes on?

If there is, I was thinking a EPDM cover tape membrane. An Ice and watewr shield is normaly not effective after UV exposure.

Its a pretty big deck apx 1100 sq ft. so doing something like the joist covering will add a considerable time and some material investment.

Tell me what you guys think, its my own home, but I dont want to overkill where its not that important.

Mike Finley

I wouldn't do it. As long as the joists are PT I don't see the point.

RobertCDF

Cover your double joists and your beams just to keep water from getting between them. But each joist is a little overkill.

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

Bone Saw

WORD

Bone Saw

AND WORD

Unless you live in seattle and your deck is on the north side of your house on a heavily wooded lot, its not worth the time or material wasted. another thing that I like to do that is cheap insurance is put 1 1/2" galv/flat washer under every joist/beam intersection, toenail through it, hurricane tie, you're golden

Paulsan

I have always put 2 inch wide strips of 15 lb. felt on top of deck joists. It takes very little time, and in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons.

kklick

I've done alot of deck repairs and have never really seen the tops of the joists rotted out. I've torn up deck boards that were rotted clear through and the joists were fine. I see no need for any membrane.

Mike Finley

Not to poo poo on anybody that wants to use a membrane, but I'm thinking the fasteners used to attach the deck boards to ACQ are more of an issue to spend some time considering than worrying about the ACQ framing rotting.

maj

Dang, I was just going to say that Mike....

Last year I built a deck with all ACQ, all fasteners were ACQ compliant GRK fasteners. With in 6 months the deck was literally falling apart. The deck boards were loose, the bench seat backs fell off, and the skirt boards around the bottom were laying on the ground. I replaced all the screws with stainless steel and that's all I use now when using screws on ACQ.

All joist hangers and post bases must be ACQ compliant also. Nails should be double hot-dipped galv.

Mike Finley

WTF? You've gotta be kidding??! That is crazy!

onhitch

how high above the ground is your deck?

JustaFramer

ACQ is a bull**** PT it should be outlawed in wet conditions. All these lib's rallied against arsenic wood now look at what you get.

Mike Finley

Maybe the stainless steel industry had something to do with it!

RobertCDF

Good point Mike, I just spent $450 on stainless lags, washers, hangers, and nails. And that was kind of a small order.

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

Mike Finley

You know, I kind of wonder why nobody is offering a rubber dipped hanger. I've seen a lot of stuff about wrapping the joists where they contact hangers if you don't use SS hangers which are out-rageously expensive, but why doesn't Simpson or somebody just offer a dunked cheap galvanized hanger? Seems like it would be pretty cheap and effective too. You would still need to use SS fasteners but those are at least relatively cheap compared to $10 and up SS hangers instead of one for $1.35.

RobertCDF

I got my SS hangers for about 4.35 EA when you buy 10 or more from http://www.mcfeelys.com I think that is a reasonable price. I am still wondering about powder coating hangers, hurricane clips, LS70's and stair straps. I just dont know if it would be better or cheaper.

__________________
Robert Shaw
Colorado Springs Custom Decks
Colorado Custom Decks
Custom Composite Decks

red_cedar

as far as hangers go, wouldnt painting them before hand work?

The screws I plan on using are called deck mate or something like that. A coated screw from Home Depot. Suppose to not rust at all.
The frame has been sitting for about 8 months. The fasteners that I have used to date
some hot dipped nails with some coated screws show no adverse effects . ( I removed some of them )
The lag screws I used for the ledger board attached to the house had a pilot hole drilled then filled with it with silicone, then counter sunk it just enogh to coat it with silicone. then put the bolt in. Grace ice and water is behind that. The flashing is a 26 gauge steel with the kynar 500 coating. ( underside is coated as well. The exposed carraige bolts along the outside are stainless steel.
The entire railing system will be composite

The deck iself is about 14 inches off the ground. ranch home

N.E.Bldg&Rest.LLC

This ACQ is getting out of hand, Who is going to be liable for all these structures falling apart ???

I was just reading on the Simpson site If you are going to use stainless steel fasteners then all of your hangers and brackets must be SS also.

You can't mix the two because SS makes the galvanized metal corrode quicker DO NOT mix SS and Galvinized.

__________________
"Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all."

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)

Bone Saw

Word, over the winter I went back through every job folder since 01-01-04 and highlighted on my suplier invoices where all the zmax bracketry was, all the double hot dipped galv nails and bolts/nuts/washers were, all the stainless and weatherexIII screws were, I have even gone back to a few customers involving acq and inspected, removed and inspected screws brackets and ledger hardware, so far looks good, but wanted to make sure I had those items specifically specified in the invoicing for future reference. Can't wait for timbersil to be available

__________________
Custom Decks & Carpentry LLC.
Chester County Custom Decks
Custom Deckbuilder Mainline
Philadelphia Deck Builder
Custom Decks & Carpentry on Facebook

Cole

That is a good online order site.

Bookmarked for me.

__________________
Tulsa's Leader in Outdoor Living Construction | Facebook | Tulsa Pergola Builder | Tulsa Outdoor Kitchens