"Deck Inspections" Course

This thread is dedicated exclusively for those students currently enrolled in the InterNACHI course titled, “Deck Inspections” located at How to Perform Deck Inspections Course - InterNACHI

Students are free to pose questions and comments here and join in the conversation with other students. The thread will be monitored by the course program manager.

Contact: Director of Education, Ben Gromicko ben@internachi.org

Thank you.

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This earth to wood contact (ok so it is pressure treated but normally these are 4x4 Here on the west cost these would only last about 5 years.

Tie Downs
Most of the decks are small (depressed area, low income housing and such). Most have low decks. The recommendation for blocks with tie downs and attachments mechanism. I would be calling out almost 2/3eds of the decks on all inspections?

Most decks are built with 4x4 upright post which are approved by the state building inspector? The course state 6x6. I will have to check with the building departments to find out the regs on how tall the 4x4 can be.

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Every area will be different. Imagine what they need in Florida. Talk to your local AHJ to find out what is required in your area.

Starting the course now.

In the category From the ground up, under heading Footers and Posts, is this statement below, I am not sure I am reading it right… Is it saying you may NOT put a footer in undisturbed soil???

The image above depicts a free-standing deck (not attached to the home or building). The footing near the home may not be placed on undisturbed soil. Some codes consider soil to be “undisturbed” if it hasn’t been disturbed in more than five years. Because of its location, a footing near the home may likely be resting on disturbed soil.

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Hi, Nick –

Ben and I discussed this and agreed that, as written, the passage is a little unclear, so here’s the revised passage that we’ve inserted in the Deck Inspection course:

The image above depicts a free-standing deck (not attached to the home or building). The footing near the home may not be placed on undisturbed soil. Some codes consider soil to be “undisturbed” if it hasn’t been disturbed in more than five years. The inspector may discover that, because of its location, a footing near the home was not placed on undisturbed soil, which may result in incremental failure of the deck’s support, as the footing is likely to sink lower and lower into the poorly bearing soil.

Let us know if you have any further questions, and thanks for bringing this to our attention!

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Dang it!

We got our “undisturbed” a little mixed up with our “disturbed” – one little typo may have caused some confusion for our member-students. So, we’ve taken another shot at revising the text above:

The image above depicts a free-standing deck (not attached to the home or building). The footing near the home should not be placed in disturbed soil. Disturbed soils are those which have been altered as a result of grading or construction, etc., giving the soil variable characteristics. Some codes consider soil to be “undisturbed” if it hasn’t been disturbed in more than five years. The inspector may discover that, because of its location, a footing near the home was not properly placed in undisturbed soil. A footing placed in undisturbed soil is desirable because that soil is more compacted and solid. Placing a footing in disturbed soil is less stable and may result in incremental failure of the deck’s support, as the footing is likely to sink lower and lower into the poorly bearing soil.

Hope that clears up any lingering confusion!

this all seems quite disturbing…just sayin…

Ready to start

starting now

Time to do Deck Inspections, was going to do HVAC, that will be next.

Getting started on this Deck Inspection course!


The *Deck Inspector *logo is available for use by all InterNACHI certified members who successfully complete this course, including its final exam.

good course, I enjoyed it.

one more down!

Starting another one!

starting

Starting the course now.

In the course it talks about how the ledger board is supposed to be directly attached to the band joist and how you shouldn’t attach the ledger board over siding as it will make for a weak connection. I was searching the internet and came across this product called Stratton brackets where you literally drill through the vinyl siding and into the band joist and attached these brackets to the house where the ledger board can then be lowered onto the brackets. I was just curious if anyone has seen these before, if they are considered an ok method of attachment for a ledger board and if it is commonly seen in the field?

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On to the next one…