Is your deck safe?
As certified home inspector it is important to look closely at the deck on a house during a home inspection. The number of deck failures seems to be on the rise, because every year we hear on the news or read in the newspaper about decks falling and people getting hurt. There are actually many problems that contribute to deck failures but probably the most prevalent problems are poor construction or the decks age.
Whenever you hire a home inspector to look at a home you should be concerned about how safe the deck is. Here is a list of things that should be looked at on a deck during a home inspection.
1. The first thing to look at is the hand rails; check the hand rails to be sure they are strong and properly supported
2. Balusters, make sure the baluster opening is not too wide, 4? between them is the accepted width
3. Porch posts check and make sure the posts are not rotted and are braced properly. Look at the post footer and make sure the bottom of the post is secured properly
4. Check to see if the deck is secured to the house properly. There should be lag screws or bolts holding the deck to the house. If the lag screws are missing and the deck gets overloaded it can fall
5. Look for missing joist hangers on the joists, if they are missing this is something that can easily be added after construction
6. Age of the deck is a very important thing to consider; if the wood on the deck is rotten it will need to be replaced. If the deck has a lot of water damaged wood it will be best to replace the entire structure
7. Check the deck flashing; many people do not understand how important the flashing is. If the flashing is missing where the deck is secured to the house water can get behind the ledger and cause the joist that is holding the deck to rot. If the wood that is holding the lag screws is rotted away the deck can collapse. If there is an unfinished basement or crawl space you can look inside at the structure and see this type of damage.
8. Steps cause more falls and injuries than any other part of a deck. Make sure the steps are solid and strong. The steps should be the spaced the same height to prevent tripping and the deck boards should be secured properly.