No Rim Joist!!!

Oregon_Rob

I started to build a deck today and was cutting off the siding to attach the ledger and found that their was no rim joist! The builder used engineered I-joists with just plywood in place of a rim joist or fiber strand board.

This deck is one story off the ground and is 8'x32'. Has anyone ran into this before and is the only solution to add another beam close to the house and essentially make this a free standing deck?

Rob

concretemasonry

Make the deck free standing.

Not any uncommon choice between hanging it and going free standing, but free standing is better.

You will eliminate all the problems associated with water leakage, rot, flashing and whatall that are associated with trying to use the house for support. Just make sure you have bracing.

Toothpick

Yes, About 15 years ago I can remember building them that way. It was when I joist were still trying to gain acceptance yet I guess and this was there way of trying to be competitive with 2x10 /12's. Along with the plywood rims they were commonly space 19.2" centers. Looking back it's like "what were we thinking".

mickeyco

I'm a big proponent of free standing decks, less chance of failure, but depending what code your under and how strict the AHJ is, you may still be required to have it attached to the house in some fashion. Another factor is cross bracing required by several jurisdictions out here on free-standers and this might be a problem for you if the cross bracing will interfere with something. Also with free-standers you need to meet uplift requirements. If you are running your deck joist in the same direction as the existing house joist you might be able to run them in to the house, over the top plate, and sister them to the I-joists with squash blocks, but what a mess to flash, if they were dimensional lumber Simpson makes a bracket that works well for ledgers without a rim/band joist. You might also consider running your beams the same direction as the home's joists, putting them on top of the top plate out to your posts and another beam, then running the deck joists the other direction. I've heard others complain about the footings close to the house always sink because of loose back fill, I've never had a problem but I put gravel under the footings for drainage and heaving. It sucks when what looks like a simple job goes south, good luck with it.

RYANINMICHIGAN

By top plate don’t you mean mud sill? I am not a fan of cutting holes in the rim joist if I do not have to. Just run a second beam 2 feet or so form the house and Cantilever the deck back to the house. No problems.

mickeyco

No I meant top plate, Oregon Rob, said the " deck is one story off the ground", so I just assumed top plate. I suppose if it was 1 story up from a walk out basement with a cement or block foundation going up one story it could be a mud sill. The problem with a cantilever is you have to increase hold down for up lift protection, and most jurisdictions require some sort of attachment of the deck to the structure/house. Additionally the connection to the house will eliminate obtrusive cross bracing and reduce uplift, the other problem with placing posts and cross bracing is that there might be windows or doors on the lower level that they will run in front of, might be a problem. On "cutting holes in the rim joist", Oregon Rob said there was no rim/band joist, I prefer free standing attached to the house but if I have to use a ledger I prefer through bolt with plates but in a pinch or spec'd, lag screws. I've seen a relatively new product, ledger lock screws, they have an ICC-ESR Report, but I don't think they were rated for CA of ACQ but I think that has changed and I plan to try them some time in the future.

RYANINMICHIGAN

I should read slower. I stand corected.

Oregon_Rob

Thanks for the help.
Just and update, the deck is one story off the ground and over a garage, so posts near the house are not desirable. The owner has opened up the drywall ceiling inside the garage, so that we can get to the area directly behind the problem area and we will come up with a plan for “Blocking” that will let us lag the header in.