Deck Construction

Decks fail in two places: the footings and the ledger. Everything else is carpentry. In this part of the Carolinas the frost line is 36 inches, so that is the minimum depth for a footing. A footing that stops at 30 inches heaves every winter until the deck racks out of square. We dig, the holes get inspected, and then we pour.

The ledger is the board bolted to the house that carries half the deck's weight, and it is where most collapses start. It has to be through-bolted or structurally lag-screwed into solid rim framing on a staggered pattern, never nailed, and it has to be flashed so water sheds out over the siding instead of running down behind it. We have torn off decks in this area where the ledger was attached with sixteen-penny nails and the rim joist behind it had gone soft. From the yard it looked fine.

Pressure-treated southern yellow pine is the cheapest and most common material. It moves a lot in the first year and it needs sealing. Cedar is more stable, costs more, and greys out unless you maintain it. Composite does not rot and never needs finishing, costs roughly double in material, and still sits on a pressure-treated frame — the boards are the composite part; the frame is what actually holds you up.

Guards are required once the walking surface is 30 inches above grade, have to stand 36 inches tall on a residential deck, and cannot have any opening a 4-inch sphere passes through. Stairs need a graspable handrail. None of that is preference. An inspector will fail the job, and more to the point it is the code that keeps a kid from going through the rail.

We pull the permit, schedule the footing, framing, and final inspections, and hand you the signed card at the end. A deck built without a permit becomes your problem at closing, when the buyer's attorney asks for the certificate and there is not one.