2x4 engineered floor joists holding deck header

[Bruce A. King]

New house under construction with a full basement.

All of the deck header bolts are bolted through the ends of these 2x4 engineered floor joists. The other end is designed the same so it does not appear that anything special was designed into these joists for the deck load. The bolts are too short and not staggered but I am wondering if anyone has seen this method before. I recommended either verifying on the plans or obtaining an engineers letter of approval as well as noting the other issues.

The buyer has plans to replace/add on to the deck so the loading could increase in the near future. Not sure what size deck is planned by the builder.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Everything that I've ever seen called for a minimum of 1/2 through bolts. It appears that are larger than that. The floor joists probably have limits on piercing, just like I-joists do, but you don't know what those limits are. I suspect that the size of the pieced joists are OK, and I'd be shocked if this substantially weakens the joists, but you may want to recommend that they get it OK'd by the manufacturer.

Regarding the lack of staggering, I hardly ever see it staggered and I've never seen a ledger split. If it's not split, it's probably not reasonable to recommend that it be replaced.