Walking down some deck stairs I noticed quite a bounce! So much bounce that I worried about half way down that I might be injured. I really expected the stairs to collapse. Experiencing a deck stair collapse many times as I have, you don't want to do it again. Here's what I saw when I got to the bottom:
I saw totally unprofessional work! Frightful work. Work done by someone who should not be fooling with deck stairs, or decks for that matter.
The left picture has an interesting array of lagged 2x6's where the stairs really should be connected. They obviously weren't through bolted, and in the wrong place.
The similar array underneath was nailed on! And the stair stringer improperly connected to that!
Seeing it come loose the "carpenter" nailed some 2x4's underneath to shore it up! NOT!
The poorly handmade stair stringer above was in fact through bolted to the post (which was merely resting on the ground), but bolted in the wrong place! So it snapped. The other stringer was bolted to nothing!!
Physics and gravity works every time. It worked in this case too - another fine example of 7-11 construction. But they painted it real pretty to sell the house.
My recommendation: If you ever go down some deck stairs that bounce a bit too much, or A LOT TOO MUCH, there's a reason!! Call a home inspector. I'm sure he will be able to tell you why!
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