There were so many things about this deck, I could call it a comical deck, but the comedy won't last long.
It is comical for two reasons:
1. Flipper has apparently never built a deck.
2. There was a final County inspection of the house with an Occupancy Permit.
Here are two examples of my problems with this deck:
Wonderfully erratic, the nails used for the decking are indoor nails. Their pattern is haphazard. This deck is less than one month old and already they are rusting. As they rust, their attractive pattern is even more evident. Also, as they rust they will damage the wood into which they are nailed, even though it is pressure treated. This will eventually fall apart. There were galvanized nails used elsewhere, but I guess they ran out.
The attachments and stairs are frightful. The decking joists and beams are 2x6" stock. The deck is about 3' high. The exterior beams are doubled, but merely resting on, and toe-nailed into, the deck posts. These exterior beams have been screwed into the perpendicular joists coming from behind and somewhat resting on top of the post.
That exterior stair stringer is not notched, to accommodate the weight of the person walking on the treat, and is toe-nailed into the beam. The stair tread (the horizontal board you stand on) is attached on each side with one nail, two into a center stringer, and a few nails from the back.
There were many other things. I don't want this to turn into a deck lesson, but it would be comical if not so dangerous.
AND THE WHOLE THING WAS APPROVED BY THE LOCAL JURISDICTIONAL AUTHORITY.
Should I contact them?
My recommendation: this deck could be offered by any home inspector association as a Continuing Education test deck to see if their new members could identify all the things wrong with it. And yet the Flipper and the County seem to think it is okay. It is not! Home inspectors can identify for your clients when things are wrong. Your inspector, however, might be a lone wolf...
Comments(23)