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Understand Free-Standing Deck Joist Fastening

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Hm, why would we frame like this? 🤔

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What happens here

After the rim joist has been positioned, understand the reasoning behind its placement. For a free-standing deck, the rim joist (and thus the entire deck frame) is intentionally set approximately 2 feet away from the main house foundation. This spacing allows sufficient room for workers to access the back side of the individual deck joists that will connect to this rim joist. This access is crucial for securely nailing or screwing the joists into place, ensuring a strong and stable deck structure. The alternate method, toenailing, would be used for joists where direct access is not possible, but direct fastening is preferred for strength.

Goal: Learn the proper technique and reasoning for attaching joists to a free-standing deck's rim joist.

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[screaming] [groaning] >> Why we doing it like this? Doesn't make any sense, right? Well, this is a free standing deck. You can see we have the beam 2 ft away from the house because we're up against the foundation. We do it like this so we can get some nails into the backside of these joists. The rest of them will be toe nailed, but that way we can get some nails in there, get it squared, put it into place, good to go. You can do it like this or you can do it the wrong way.

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