Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Deck Problem - Is Builder Liable?

My home is about 8-9 years old with a deck that was built by the original homebuilder. The warranty from the builder on the deck was 1 year.

After I bought the home a few year ago I noticed a problem. See the below detail. This is definitely a bad situation and an accident waiting to happen.

I was about to pay someone to fix it for me, but then wondered - if this is bad construction by the builder, are they liable and can I make them fix it?

I'm only a beginner DIY'er so please forgive the lack of technical detail. Here's the problem:

- My deck is a Trex deck.
- The entire front railing (which runs about 25 feet across) is starting to bend and fall pull away from the deck.
- A closer inspection shows the "footer" or "header" the railing is attached to is simply "face nailed" to the front of the deck!
- I'm thinking this whole railing should be resting on some sort of support.


1) Here's the only real picture I have of my deck (notice my 1 year old in his walker). The red arrow points to the upper part of area in question.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/DeckPhoto.jpg


Here's some diagrams I drew up to illustrate:

2) The part in red is what I'm calling the "header" which the entire railing is attached to. incredibly this piece is not resting on anything, but instead the nails that are holding it to the rest of the deck. There is no support underneath. I beleive the term is "face nailing". This seems to be bad!



http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/DeckFront.jpg




3) As a result, the weight of the entire railing is causing it to pull away from the deck and actually bend. Here's a drawing of what it looks like if you were standing above my deck:


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/DeckAbove.jpg

The deck is about 10 feet above ground. I've spent some time putting in any kind of support bracing I can find to temporarily hold it up.

A friend came out who used to work for a builder and said it's bad workmanship. It needs to be taken down and reinstalled properly. I was going to pay someone $1,300 to do that rather than try it myself.

Then I was thinking, warranties are on good workmanship. This is bad construction and the builder should be liable?

Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated.

thanks!

Diagrams are good, but a picture would have been better. You said the band board is not resting on anything. What is holding your deck up? Is it post and beam? Have you considered carriage bolts to hold the band board to the vertical framing members? Post a couple of pictures of the affected area.
To answer you short, no you don't have any standing against the builder 8-9 years down the road and 7-8 years after the warranty expired, so cowboy up and let's get this fixed.
Let us see some more pix and we can offer some advice as to how to correct it.

Yep as chandler said...
Now, if you want to wait until it falls off and someone gets seriously injured..then find a bloodsucker who will take the case..oh, and you'll probably get sued by the person as well..thats another matter.

Also, it was probably inspected and approved at time of construction..so the builder would have an out, IF he's still in business under the same corporate name.

Get those detailed pics and let the Pro's tell you how to "Do It Right" (to steal from Mike Holmes). It might be as simple as putting some bolt or braces in.

Thanks for quick and direct feedback - thats just what I was looking for. Definitely no use in going after the builder at this point. Oh, but they're still around -- ever hear of Toll Brothers? :-)

Ok, so I just have to figure out if I can do this myself - I'd hate to pay a grand if I can do this reasonbly well myself.

Ok, I'm big on the pictures. Not sure how many I can put in one link , but here goes:

I have a pretty large, two part deck.


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck1.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck2.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck3.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck4.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck5.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck6.jpg

[continued below]

[continued from above]


http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck7.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck8.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck9.jpg

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck10.jpg

And finally looking from above - notice the gap growin there...
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a290/bheron/Deck11.jpg


Again, thanks so much for the quick and informative feedback. I figure to fix it the entire rail must be dismantled and removed, then put back on with the proper bracing (and better than the junk I threw on there).

Or is this a professional job?

Looks like the whole deck is pulling away from the house. Due to wrong joist hangers and not enough nails.

Posts/beam connection needed. (post caps)

Diagonal bracing on posts needed. (angle braces, or brackets)

Handrail posts lagged or bolted? (need through bolts past rim frame)

Need solid blocking at every joist space over beam. (prevents overturning)

Need graspable handrail at one side of stairs. (1-1/4"-2"--------34"-38" above nosings.

All code minimum violations. Be safe, G

In every other joist bay, install a 4x4 cut to the height of your joist and bolt them to the joist flush with the outside. Then, using 5" x 1/2" lag screws, reattach the band board and the associated trex trim first by drilling a pilot through it and into the newly installed block. Then installing the screws and drawing it all up tight, a little per bay at a time.

Ok, I think I follow that pretty well. Sounds basic enough. -

- what should I bolt the 4x4's to the joists with? same type of lags?

- i guess I'll need a pretty good drill to drill the pilot hold for the lags?

- i use a bolt on the other end of the lag to "draw it up"?

- so, essentially, one at a time, as I install and tighten the lags through the band board, it should "draw up" and close the gap?

I like it. Sounds like a great plan and something I can do myself.

thank you!!! :)

I would use carriage bolts on the joist-to-block attachment point. I would just use lag screws to do the pull down. Be sure to use a washer under the head of the lag so it won't tend to countersink before it pulls. As I said, do it slowly one bay after the other so you get an even pull down. Just for info, I would offset the carriage bolts so they won't interfere with the lags that will be going in at 90 degrees to them. You don't want them hitting each other.