Solid Not Sturdy

Words are unique in that they can cause understanding or create confusion. The English language is peppered with words that sound exactly alike, are spelled differently, with often entirely dissimilar meanings. Coarse and course, wait and weight, heel and heal. To add a little more spice, the meaning of words changes depending on use. To further complicate language, certain words are interpreted as basically having the same meaning, yet actually have different definitions.

Two words I find frequently used while inspecting are solid and sturdy. Now these two words would appear to mean about the same thing. In fact one definition of sturdy says in part, to be solidly made. Webster's gives the following definitions;

STURDY

1. a :  firmly built or constituted :  STOUT
   

SOLID

1. a :  being without an internal cavity  (solid rubber ball)

It is discernable that the words do in fact mean different things, but could in certain instances share a level of commonality.

When speaking of houses and their construction, sturdy would be the appropriate word to describe a well built home. All though solid is used interchangeably with sturdy, by definition a solid house would be one that is without rooms. A solid house would not provide shelter, but boy would it hold up to mother nature.

Typically a solid component is desirable when building. For example a solid piece of lumber would be the choice for building deck guardrail posts. That is until the invention of a solid plastic post.

Plastic or composite decking products, (composite means plastic and usually ground wood), are fairly new on the building scene, appearing sometime in the late 1980s. Like any material there are advantages and disadvantages. The biggest benefit stated by the manufacture's of composite decking is said to be less maintenance.

During a recent inspection, I found a large multi-level deck at the rear of the house. The deck surfaces were of composite decking material. This included the entire guardrail system. Now typically, or I should say what I am accustomed to seeing are composite balusters and rails with wood posts with composite sleeves. What struck me as odd when viewing the deck framing from below was the absence of guardrail posts.

Since the guardrail posts are the anchor points of the guardrail system, it is critical the posts be adequately fastened to the deck structure. The diagram demonstrates a preferred method of attachment using bolts and anchors. The detail to note is the placement of the post relative to the deck framing. The post has been placed fully against the framing. This allows for a strong connection. Building industry standards require a guardrail system to withstand up to a 200 pound dead load. I do not posses some special tool to measure or otherwise determine if the guardrails meet the required standard, other than by simply pushing and pulling.

Because my curiosity was piqued by the lack of visible anchoring of the posts, I looked above to see what might be holding them in place. Conveniently there were nice prefab trim pieces for the bottom of the posts that were not fixed in place. Sliding one up, what did my wondering eyes see? Four tiny deck screws and nothing else. The screws were set at angle into the 5/4 decking.

Performing the push pull test, yes I realize its not very technical, yet I believe it garners the desired information. You can see the "strength" of the guardrail in the short video.

While these guardrail posts are solid, the guardrail system is definitely not sturdy.