Slight Overkill?

wolffhomerepair

HO gave me a copy of a deck design he did online. It is for a 22x16 deck 24" from ground. This program is calling out posts 4' on center with 3 beams 6.5' on center perpendicular to house. That I'm ok with as it matches my plan. But his calls for doubled 2x12 for the beams and 6x6 for the posts. It also calls out a live load of 61psf. Does that seem like a waste of lumber to anyone else? Also no hot tub or anything heavy was designed into these plans. I could understand the 6x6 if it was to be notched but it calls for bolting to the side of it.

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TNGHomes

I would say that is definatly overkill, I would imagine that 4x4 posts are as effective as a 6x6 post at 24" in hieght-but then again Im no engineer. It is probably some Deck software offered by Home Depot or Lowes.....they want to get that money....

wolffhomerepair

Actually the program is offered by a composite decking manufacture. So who knows.

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TNGHomes

Im building a 27'x16' deck 12" off the ground and I am using traditional 4x4s at 6' intervals. Inspector has no problem with it so I would imagine you would be okay, however at least the HO is giving you a plan with 6x6s as opposed to you specing them in and the HO looking at your price against others who would use 4x4s.

AtlanticWBConst

Is the 6x6 to be notched on one side so that the beam sits on top of the post, but 1/2" of the post, protrudes up the side of the beam and is bolted into the beam?


See the illustration here:

http://nashua.qscend.com/filestorage/51/70/151/Deck.pdf

(Note this town 'reguires' a minimum of a 6x6 post be used)

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RobertCDF

Dont just bolt to the side! Do what Atlantic had posted or just sit it on top of the post and use simpson hardware.

It does seem like a silly lay out to me. I would rather use bigger lumber and dig less holes. Sure you can use 2x6 lumber for the joists with beams 6.5' apart but then you are digging a bunch of piers.
I would rather use 2x12 for joists and cantilever the joists over the beam 2' and have just 1 beam. Once you start tossing more beams into it the piers can get out of hand. See This thread to better understand the reason how the piers can get out of control.

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

Same Old

4x4 post look like complete crap on every deck I have seen. Sometimes it's not the structural minimum that is the concern. I would never spec 4x4s for deck posts. They just look really, really bad.


really bad.


seriously, every time.

Same Old

Also, you should read about deflection limits. Higher end homes are typically built with stiffer floor systems. Higher design loads and lower deflection limits such as L/480 instead of L/360.