Decks

Where decks actually fail

Owners, and sometimes boards, judge a deck by its surface: are the boards splintered, is the stain peeling, does the color match the building. None of that tells you whether the deck is safe.

The connection most often blamed for deck collapse is the ledger board, the horizontal beam that attaches the deck to the building itself. When a deck is fastened into siding or trim instead of properly bolted through to the building's structural framing, it can look solid for years and then fail all at once, often under a crowd of people rather than routine daily use. Exact fastener sizes and hold down capacities for ledger connections depend on which building code edition your jurisdiction has adopted; check with your building department or a licensed contractor before relying on any single number.

Guard rails are not optional

Elevated decks need a guard: a railing tall enough and strong enough to stop a fall, not just a decorative rail. Model building codes commonly require a guard once a deck is more than 30 inches above grade, and set a minimum guard height, a minimum load the guard must resist, and a maximum gap between balusters so a small child cannot fit through.

The exact height, load rating, and baluster spacing your association must enforce depend on the version of the code your state or city has adopted, and on any local amendments. Treat this as the shape of the requirement, and confirm the binding numbers with your building department before approving or rejecting a request. This is exactly the kind of detail an architectural review committee should ask a contractor to confirm in writing, not estimate by eye.

Some states require a professional look

California now requires that condominium associations have a licensed structural or civil engineer or architect inspect exterior elevated elements, a category that includes load bearing decks, balconies, and stairways elevated more than six feet and supported at least partly by wood, together with their waterproofing.

"at least once every nine years"

Source: Civil Code Section 5551, California Legislative Information

The inspector must examine a statistically significant sample of these structures, not just the ones an owner has already complained about. Most states have no equivalent statute yet; check with your own state's licensing board or building department to find out whether a comparable inspection law applies to your community.

Putting it off costs more than one owner's repair bill

Deferred maintenance is not a separate category of repair, it is ordinary maintenance that should have happened and did not. Left alone, a damaged deck does more than get uglier: it can let water into the building envelope and create a real safety liability, not just a cosmetic one.

For condominium associations, the stakes reach further than one owner's deck. Fannie Mae treats certain conditions as grounds to make an entire project ineligible for financing, including:

"any mold, water intrusions or potentially damaging leaks to the project's building(s)"

Source: Selling Guide B4-2.1-03, Ineligible Projects, Fannie Mae

A deck repair the board keeps pushing to next year's budget can end up freezing every owner's ability to sell or refinance, not just the unit attached to that deck. Whether the association or the individual owner pays for that repair is set by your CC&Rs, not by this lesson.