Why Most DIY Deck Frames Fail (And How to Succeed)

What's going on everybody? Welcome back to the channel. This video is going to be a little bit different. We're going to answer some of the questions that we get all the time on deck framing and we're going to try to deliver a lot of knowledge here, not waste a whole lot of your time and get to the root of some of the decisions that we make around here when we're framing a deck. So, make sure you hit subscribe. Stay tuned. [Music] First thing that we're going to get into is a freestanding deck versus a deck that's attached with a ledger board at the house. And both are completely fine, but you're going to have to think about a couple things before you make that decision. We usually go with a ledger attachment whenever it's possible. When we have a good situation at the house, if we're coming right below the door threshold, we are going to meet the band board of the house and we can attach directly to that with our ledger. This is going to do a couple things. It's going to eliminate a row of footings near the house, which will save you money. It'll save you time. The other thing that it's going to do is provide a lot more stability, especially lateral stability with the build. By connecting to the house and the house's foundation, you're going to stiffen up the entire structure. We also do freestanding decks a lot. A freestanding deck is going to be where you have a beam about 2 ft away from the house that's going to actually support the deck and then you push your joist to can lever towards the house. In the end, it looks the same as a ledger attached deck, but it's actually not connected to the house. It's completely self-supported. We're going to decide on a freestanding deck when we have a situation that maybe we're going below the threshold of the door. Maybe we're doing two steps out of the house and now we're up against the house's foundation. If we have poured concrete walls, that's no problem. We can do a ledger there with appropriate concrete anchors. But a lot of times, especially around here, we're going to encounter cinder block. Cinder block is not something that you want to attach to. So, we always go with a freestanding deck in that situation just to make sure we have adequate load support at the house. Freestanding deck is going to be a great option for you, especially when it's low to the ground. Where you might encounter an issue is if you're going higher up off the ground, you're really going to notice that lack of lateral support and you'll have to do some diagonal bracing in there to keep everything nice and tight and square. Also, by doing a freestanding deck, you don't have issues with flashing at the house. 90% of problems with a deck are going to be at the house and ledger attachment. Now, if you flash it properly, you're not going to have any of those issues. But every time we demo a deck, we notice some rod at the house because it wasn't flashed properly. If it's a freestanding deck, you're not going to have that issue at all because it's not actually attached to the house. So, in summary, freestanding versus ledger attachment, I prefer to do ledger attachment whenever possible because it's going to provide a more stable connection. It's going to add lateral stability to the whole structure and it's going to eliminate quite a bit of footings depending on the size of your deck which just makes everything go a lot faster. Next up, we're going to talk about the loads on your deck. So, this is something that you're going to need to consider when you are sizing your footings, your beams, your joists, all of that. For most residential decks, the code and all the charts that you'll see online are for 50 lbs per square foot. So, that incorporates the live load and the dead load. The live load on the deck is any force that's going to be exerted on it, like wind, weather, people moving around. And the dead load is the weight of the people that are going to be on it, the furniture, and the weight of the structure itself. Usually, it's about 40 lbs per square foot of live load and 10 per square foot of dead load. That may vary depending on where you live because snow loads can be so different. So, if you live in an area with a lot of snow, you might have a higher dead load that you'll need to check for. The other thing that you're going to want to consider for load requirements on your deck is are you going to be putting something like a hot tub? A hot tub is very, very heavy. So, you're going to want to make sure that you have additional footings just supporting the weight of the hot tub. If you put a hot tub on a regular deck that wasn't designed for it, it's not going to be good and it's not going to support the weight of that filled with water and people long term. So, make sure you have that figured out. And if you have any issues or questions about that, you're going to want to talk to an engineer or an architect just to make sure you're safe. But if you're doing a standard deck and you're not doing anything like a hot tub, you can refer to charts online and consult with your local building department. Next up, number three, we're going to talk about footing. So, there's two typical types of footings that we use and most builders are going to use, and that's concrete footing versus a helical pile. I'll talk about the pros and cons of both and why most of the time we choose helical piles. So, we'll start with concrete. Concrete is what you'll see on probably 90% of decks and when done properly, completely fine. So, a concrete footing obviously starts out with a hole in the ground. And depending on where you live, you'll have a different frost depth. Where we are, it's about 32 in, but check with where you live. And if you're in a warmer climate somewhere, it might only be 12 in or less. But if you're in a really cold climate, it could be 4T, 5T. Um, so definitely check with that and make sure that your footings go below the frost steps. So, with a concrete footing, you have to dig the hole. That takes labor. It takes time. Then you're going to need a footing inspection on that. So, an inspector will need to come out, look at the hole, and make sure that you're deep enough for the frost depth, and you're good to go to pour the concrete. So far, we don't have a lot of costs involved with the concrete footing, just the labor to dig the hole and wait for the inspector. A lot of times, you will use a cardboard sauna tube. That costs about $20. And then for our area, 32 in, we're going to need about six bags of concrete to fill that hole. So, now we're at $20 for the cardboard form. And we've got about six bags of concrete, about six bucks a piece. $36. So, we're at $56 so far. Now, on top of that, you're going to need an attachment to attach your post to that. You're going to need a Jbolt that you can wet set in the concrete or a concrete anchor that you can install after it's cured. That's not very expensive. So, it's going to cost you maybe a couple bucks. But then you need a base plate. Those for a 6x6, which is typically what we use, are going to be about $22 or so. So, right now we are already up to $78 for a concrete footing. and we've got a lot of labor invested into that. Now, I'm going to talk about helical piles. You've probably seen us use them if you follow us, but it's a long helix on a steel pipe and it gets drilled into the ground at a certain torque. Two reasons we really love these. Number one, they're super quick. We sub them out, so they're installed. They don't need an inspection because they're installed to a certain torque. An engineer will certify that they've been installed to that torque, and you don't need to get an inspector out, so you can start building right away. The other thing I really love about them is that they're installed to a certain torque, so you know for sure that you're getting the bearing capacity that's needed at that footing. With a concrete footing, it's a little bit of guess work. You're digging the hole, you're compacting the soil at the bottom of that hole, and you're just hoping that it has an average bearing capacity for your area. You pour the footing, and you're not going to have any settlement. But there's a lot of areas where that could not be the case. If you have a new construction home and the footing is too close to the house, you're in the overdig zone. So that's where they've dug out for the foundation and they've backfilled that hole once it's completed. That's going to take years and years to completely settle and compact. So if you're just digging down 3 ft and trying to do a concrete footing there, the soil underneath of that has not been fully compacted yet. So you're going to have some settlement over time. If you're going to do a concrete footing, make sure that you're really tamping the bottom of that hole and make sure that you're hitting virgin soil. So undisturbed soil. If you have a new house, the grade of the whole backyard might have changed. So, it can be really hard to know whether you're hitting virgin native soil there and getting the bearing capacity that you need. Now, one of the perceived downsides of helical piles is the cost to get them installed. On average, a helical pile installed is going to be about $275 to $350 per pile. That might seem like a lot more than that $78 we talked about for the concrete footing, but on our crew, we're saving at least a few days. Number one, we're subbing these out so we don't have to actually install them. And we save at least two or three days on every project by not having to dig the holes, wait for the inspector, schedule concrete, and then wait for that concrete to cure. So, typically, best case scenario, if we dig for concrete footings, it's day three or four before we can actually start building. With helical piles, we can get them installed in the morning, have them installed in a couple hours, be framing by lunchtime on day one. So, for us, it's more cost upfront, but we are certain that it's going to stand the test of time because it's been driven to a specified torque and we know that it's verifiable and we can get moving so much faster. Time is money, especially when you're building a lot of decks. So, that's why it's super important to us. If you're doing this as a DIY and you don't mind the extra labor, maybe going concrete is the right choice for you. But, those are the two prominent options for a deck project. The next thing that we're going to talk about is the actual material you use for framing the deck. So over the last decade or so, more and more options have become available over your standard pressuret treated option that has been the standard in years past. Now we have options like steel, composite framing, even lvl framing, and then you have pressuretreated. A lot of different options out there. There's pros and cons to all of them. We still frame all of our decks out of pressuretreated. We use prow wood. And I'll give you a few reasons for that. I'll give you the pros and cons. Number one, it's tried and true. We know that it's going to hold up for the expected lifespan of the project. And the other thing is it's very cost effective. So some of the other options like steel or composite are going to be five to even 10 times the price of pressuret treated lumber. And with some of those, especially like composite, you're not going to get the same spans that you would with pressuretreated. Now, there is an option of steel. Some builders prefer to build with steel. We've never built with steel. It is a much more expensive option, but you can get longer spans with that material. But there's going to be a much bigger learning curve using a new material. You have to use different types of fasteners, different types of hardware. So, especially if this is your first time, you know, going with pressuret treated. It's very accessible. It's cost effective, and you know that it's going to last for the expected lifespan of the deck. Now, here we'll start with the beams. So, the beams are going to be one of the main supports of your deck. It's going to connect all your footings together, and it's going to be the support for your joist when you go to install them. To determine what size you need, you only need to think about a couple things. You need to think about the clearance that you have. So, it's a very low deck. You might not have the clearance to go with say a 2 by12 beam because you don't have the height there. The other thing is how many footings do you want to do and how much lumber and how heavy do you want to make the beams and the joist for the project. All of these charts can be easily found online. You can look up beam and joist span calculator. It'll have span tables and easy reference to figure out what you need for your project. For us, most of our decks are built out of 2x10s, and we prefer to do 2x10 joist and 2x10 beams. It just makes the material order a lot easier if we're using all of the same thing, and it just simplifies it so we don't need to separate things into different piles and keep everyone on the same page. Now, for our beams, we like to triple them up. We like to do a laminated 2x10 beam. So, we'll take three 2x10s, laminate them together, and that will construct our beam. That's going to allow us for further spans between our footings and just a lot more support. You can also do a doubled 2x10, double 2x8. You can check these charts and find out all the information that you need for what size and how far they can span. Now, when it comes to the joist, you can also reference those same charts and it's going to tell you your allowable span. We'll put a link to one of these charts down in the description so you can reference it, but they're very easy to use and very handy. It's also going to tell you different types of lumber that you're going to use. Depending on your area, you'll have different species and what they're rated for. So, your allowable span is going to be dictated off of a few things. It's going to be number one the size of the lumber and how far apart they're installed. So you can do 12 in on center, 16 in on center, 24 in on center. You're going to want to reference also the material that you're going to use on top for what that spacing should be. We always install on 12in centers because we're using composite decking. It's not mandatory by the manufacturer, but we find it just provides a stiffer structure and it's only a couple extra boards, so we find it to be super worth it. This leads right into my last point, which is code compliance and what the process is going to be when you're building a deck. So, in most municipalities, you're going to need two types of permit for a deck structure. You're going to need a zoning permit just to tell you whether you're allowed to build it in that spot at all. So, a lot of houses have setbacks where you might not even be allowed to build a deck. Once you determine that you can and you pass your zoning, then you go to construction and you're going to have to submit plans for it. and they're going to check all of these things for you, your spans, your lumber choice, all of that, and make sure that you're within those code requirements. A few things to think about when you are making sure that you're code compliant and making sure that you're building a structure for code compliance is things like railings. If you are over 30 in off the ground, your structure is going to need a handrail around the perimeter. Now, if you're installing a handrail, you want to make sure at the framing stage that you're preparing for it. 90% of the time are aluminum and we're installing them directly on top of the deck surface, but we need to make sure there's solid blocking underneath to lag into. So, make sure that you think about what your railings are going to be, whether you need railings or not. And make sure that you plan for it in the framing stage because there's nothing worse than a really loose railing. It just makes the whole project look and feel like crap. Another important part of co- compliance is going to be your stairs. The most common thing I see people fail for is their riser height. So the more steps you have, the more difficult this becomes in a way. You can't have a variance of more than 38 of an inch between riser height. So say you're shooting for a 7 and 1/2 in riser. If you go one is 7 and 1/4 and one is 7 and 3/4. Anywhere in that span, technically you fail because you're out of that 3/8 of an inch variance between risers. This might not seem like a lot and you probably won't have anyone fall down them, but there is a very noticeable cadence when you're walking down steps and even a little bit of a discrepancy can disturb that cadence and can cause a safety issue. So, really be particular about your riser heights and make sure that you're within that 38 of an inch variance. Another thing when it comes to stairs is if you have three or less risers. So, if you have a low deck and it's only say 22 and 12 in off the ground, that's three 7 and 1/2 in risers. you're not going to need a graspable handrail if you go to four risers. We would be somewhere around 28 inches if you have a seven inch rise. So that could put you in a situation where you're below 30 in for the deck. So you don't need a handrail around the deck structure, but you would still need a graspable handrail going down the stairs. I always like to try to avoid this because you don't want railings on the rest of your deck and you just need it going down the stairs. it looks a bit out of place, kind of like a disturbance visually in the whole project. So, either try to cut that down to three risers so you don't need one going down the stairs or put a railing around the whole project and it's just going to tie everything in a lot nicer and always a good idea to have railings around the deck because it's also going to allow you to maximize your furniture placement. You can back stuff up right to the railing and not feel like you're going to fall off. So, those are the most common things with code compliance that I see are issues with deck building. But make sure that you check with your municipality. You want to make sure that there's no special codes or anything like that and you don't have any surprises, somebody showing up to your backyard and saying, "This isn't right. You got to take it down." So, make sure you check with your township, your municipality, and everything is above board because once it's built, you want it there forever to last and not have to tear it down because of some bureaucratic nonsense. That's all I got today for our deck framing tips and our most common issues that we see. If you're new to the channel, we have a ton of videos about deck building. You can check them out on our channel. Hopefully get some tips and some inspiration on the design end of it. But if you're attempting a deck for your first time, good luck. If you're a seasoned pro, hopefully you learn, I don't know, maybe something here. Trying my best here. That's all I got for you today. Make sure you hit subscribe. Stay tuned. And until next time, this has been Premier Outdoor Living.