Stoned

C.C.R.

I'm building a deck on a customer's house. I've done hundreds of decks. So, in no way is this my first deck. But I definately don't want it to be my first deck to fall down!
The curve ball is she has a field stone foundation and the door is only about 10" above foundation. Because I want a 7" step into the house(to avoid any water damage down the road from snow and water splash) I'm able to catch the bottom plate with one lag but that's only about 2" of meat on my ledger board.(2x10). I'm wondering what is the best way of connecting bottom half of ledger. Lags and shields into the stone foundation is one way but I'm questioning the integrity of the cement between the stones (about 1 1/2 - 2 1/2" grout lines). Or lag into bottom plate catching what I can of the ledger and putting posts/footings underneath(not looking forward to this option).
Any suggestions from you deck gurues that may have had a similar sitituation would be greatly appreciated.

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RYANINMICHIGAN

So you are building a deck 3 inches off the ground? What are you using for joists? I would not mess with the foundation, and don't here in Michigan. I would go free standing but I don't see how you can ventilate a deck basically on grade. I have routinely put decks right up under the threshold on the door with now problems with Water or snow. Remember I am in Michigan so I know all about deep snow.

RobertCDF

Most people dont want the step down onto thier deck... Never had a problem yet with them right up to the door. If I were you I would use 2 lags in each joist bay into the bottom plate and 2 more into the foundation with redheads or if it is a block foundation then use these Toggler Just make sure you are drilling into the hollow part of the brick.

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C.C.R.

NO the deck is not 3" off the ground. Maybe I didn't explain it well. The finish height is about 48" off ground. The problem is the house is about 100yrs old. codes being differant back then (if they existed at all) they only used 2x6(full) floor joists plus bottom plate etc. equals roughly 10" and the house sits on a stone foundation. What I'm looking for is the best way to connect the bottom half of my ledger board (can't hold a 300sqft. deck up with the top 2" of a 2x10) to the STONE foundation we're talking roughly 100 yr old mortar.

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RobertCDF

I changed my mind based upon the 100 yr old stuff... Free standing is the only way to go.

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lgoode

I struggled with this problem at my mom's house, built in 1820. What we ended up doing is finding spaces between the foundation blocks that we could fit 3/4 allthread through. On the inside we ran it through blocks of 2x6. This made a good secure connection. We put composite decking spacers on the outside to hold the ledger off the stone, and then drilled thru holes in everything, added nut and washer, and tightened it all up with good results.

C.C.R.

that may work. Have any of the 2x6 blocks, on the inside, cracked?

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Grumpyplumber

Fish outta water here, but I was thinking the same thing, but with steele plates rather than 2x6.

Danno6102

I vote freestand. That foundation & mortar is 100 years old. I would not rely on it. My house is 107 year sold & some of my stone footings are 2' thick plus in spots. Finding a path through those stones & buying a 2' concrete bit seems like more of a pain than augering a few more holes & dropping in some crete.

C.C.R.

whent out and bought a bosch rotary hammer. Drilled into center of stones( mostly granite) and put in 6" long 1/2" redheads. Plus 6" lags into bottom plate.

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Chris G

Did you have a problem with the field stone being uneven and attaching a flat board to it? Just wondering if you had to shim spaces.

Also, I'm just thinking that horizontal or pull out resistance of a piece of stone, (not the redhead) might not be that great. As much as sinking a few posts INTO the ground may not always be a great idea, the lateral support might alleviate some pull on individual pieces of stone that the redheads are sunk into. If that is even an issue. Or maybe even a few post on piers close to the ledger to help out. Just a thought.

RobertCDF

Never even thought about using ledger lock instead of lags... I bet you could get 2 into each joist bay and into the sill plate without a danger of cracking the board. Kind of late now unless you want to go and put 1 more into each jost bay.

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Colorado Springs Custom Decks
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lgoode

Back to the project at my mom's and using the threaded rod through gaps in the granite foundation - so far so good. These are some pretty substantial pieces of granite, probably 2' thick. On the inside, we did use the composite as blocking as well, it seems to be working well. I'll have to get under there soon and make sure everything's all snug still.
Sounds like the solution you found was a good one. Marty

C.C.R.

Well a good number of the stones were sticking out more than the actual house so I found the biggest discrepency (1/2") and simmed the top of the ledger board out that much and just cut shims and blocks were I needed them to keep the ledger board plum.

Rob I did actually get two per bay : one in granite and one in wood,
both 1/2" X 6"

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C.C.R.

Well don't forget this is a foundation (at least a foot thick) and I hit a stone about every 16", securely. . But, you're right a couple of posts couldn't hurt. Never saw a deck fall down becuase of too much support.

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