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Splitting Porch/Deck 6x6 post

21K views 31 replies 15 participants last post by  Fourthgeneration  
#1 ·
Just put this porch in last October (2021) and noticed today that this 6x6 has a substantial split occurring. I know treated lumber will split/check to a degree, but this one makes me a little concerned. Should I be concerned about the structural integrity of this post? Anything I can do to help strengthen the post? Thanks.
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#9 ·
Let’s not act like the sky is going to fall down and baby puppies will die. That little roof system is not going anywhere. A lot of that roof load is on the ledger, and the man has hangers on his rafters up there too. Those 2x and through bolts won’t even see the full roof load, plus you know the 2x were 99.9% nailed on first then the through bolts were added. So you have what, at least 8-10 through bolts plus nails?

say it’s ugly and hack and anything else but let’s not get into side loading and engineering shear values at 83 degrees Fahrenheit at a certain barometric pressure.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hey now....., wow, and hold yer horses BC.

Look, if you can get past inspections with telling the city that load, great and good for you. But I can 100% guarantee you I could not build that and expect to not be redoing ALL OF IT.

There is a big difference between doing something correct and professionally and that will stand the test of time and, well.... this framing job. But like I said, if this gets er don around your parts, go for it.

You know, he has 6x6 columns. Why didn't he notch the tops so the 2x beams rested on top of them and then 1/2" dia. through bolt them to the remaining 6x6 post. It would have cost him nothing to do that correctly and is the same amount of materials. Well except for the lag bolted to the end side of the 6x6 for the ceiling and rafter joists. Those should have been sitting on top of the beam. But, now we have this mish mosh and have no idea how the rafter ends with some odd birds mouth cut are attached to the ceiling joists and how that is then attached to the split beam.

And I have no idea if it will actually stand up forever. For all I know this porch is located in Fairbanks Alaska with 80 psf snow loads and 160 mph wind speeds.
 
#14 ·
Hey now....., wow, and hold yer horses BC.

Look, if you can get past inspections with telling the city that load, great and good for you. But I can 100% guarantee you I could not build that and expect to not be redoing ALL OF IT.

There is a big difference between doing something correct and professionally and that will stand the test of time and, well.... this framing job. But like I said, if this gets er don around your parts, go for it.

You know, he has 6x6 columns. Why didn't he notch the tops so the two 2x beams rested on top of them and then 1/2" dia. through bolt them to the remaining 6x6 post. It would have cost him nothing to do that correctly and is the same amount of materials. Well except for the lag bolted to the end side of the 6x6 for the ceiling and rafter joists. Those should have been sitting on top of the beam. But, now we have this mish mosh and have no idea how the rafter ends with some odd birds mouth cut are attached to the ceiling joists and how that is then attached to the split beam.

And I have no idea if it will actually stand up forever. For all I know this porch is located in Fairbanks Alaska with 80 psf snow loads and 160 mph wind speeds.
Each rafter and ceiling joist is hurricane hangered to the 2X header. Might help a little lol.
And no, not Alaska, Ohio. Just had an F1 tornado with 85mph winds roll through last week and it survived. So it may last till next year lol.
 
#27 ·
I had a customer with a 20 foot long x 8 foot wide porch cover once.

It was literally one flat 2x4 nailed to the top of two 4x4 posts. Then the suntuf was laid on that.

It held up to 2 feet of snow. It bent, but it didn't break.

Lots of stuff done wrong, but last forever.

Not that porch I mentioned, it was too wrong, but lots of other stuff. 2x4 porch rafters held to a house by 7 penny nails. See that all the time.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
 
#30 ·
The girder carrying the load of the roof is improperly relying on the sheer strength of lag bolts... this method was changed a long time ago and the proper way to do this is to make girders bear directly on posts and secured with post-to-beam connectors. Or if this is the road you want to take using a bolts-thru connection you should provide additional "cleats" under it for additional support, something like this.
 
#32 ·
10- 20 pipe clamps , 2.5"angle irons , exterior rated glue & screw?.
remove Clamps and pray.
wrap with cure treated mitered 1x 8s?

great stuff foam painted to match treated......
Like original Star Trek faux alien rocks.....

A redundant load path created by using cleats would be nice, especially under deck cases.
The cleats could add some architectural interest with some simple added detailing, maybe some routering?
or knee brace / cleats for multitasking.