I want to rebuild the deck in back of my brownstone. In addition to a deck on the roof of the one-storey extension, there is a small deck adjacent to the extension that serves as a landing for stairs coming up from the year. This small deck is supported by posts and a header which is lag-bolted to the masonry exterior of the house.
The house has a rounded bay and this is where the header is attached. The existing header is actually two 2x8s, one which runs straight across the front of the bay, and a shorter one toe-nailed to the first one and angling in on the side of the bay. Between the two headers, there places to get a lag bolt into the masonry every foot or so.
When I replace the deck, I think it would be better to make a curved header that follows the arc of the bay. I think I could use a plywood form, 8-inch strips of marine plywood and waterproof glue to laminate a header that would resemble a curved 2×8 which could be neatly bolted to the masonry using 1/4 inch plywood washers to allow drainage.
Does anyone have experience with this type of lamination?
Replies
There was an article in FHB a couple months back showing a curved deck and it was gorgeous! Lots of good information in the article with some excellent pics as well. You might want to check it out.
Sounds great! Do you know an architect or engineer that could provide a letter that the inspection dept. would likely want.
Hey snow,,we do a lot of Lams on decks,,,I get the 2x CCA ( or I do now next year I will have to find something else) material riped to 1/4 or 3/16 depending on the extream of the bend ,make a form with plumed in stakes,use a narrow crown stappler and tack the first one to the form,butter the next one with TightBond 11,stapel it,,on and on until I get an 11/2'' or so,,and use shop built clamps,,1x4 two holes,and bolts,,as close as I can get them,,leave it in the clamps for a day or so,and you are done Dude,,,,John Hyatt,,deckmastersllc,,,
The purpose of a header is to suppport the weight above it. You can do this with an arch but not a curve. The curve is done in trin materials.
To convince yourself, take some cardboard or plywood scrap about three feet long, cut into a curve shape, and support it up in the air at the two ends only. Watch it rotate so the curve is facing down. It won't even hold its own weight up, let alone the weight of a roof and snow.
Snowbird, just a thought, install a conventional header, face it with your laminated curve, thru bolt the two, something to think on, if it thinks good do it, if it don't, then don't do it. Jim A Jensen
would still need to use criples to make sure the real header takes the load.Excellence is its own reward!
Thank's very much for your reply. This is the kind of thoughful input I need.
You seem to be saying that an arch (which has a straight line "footprint") will support weight if supported only on the ends, but a curve (like an arch laid on its side with a curved footprint) won't support weight if supported only on the ends. Understood.
But the masonry wall which the header must attach to is itself curved, so a straight header can only be attached at one point (straight line tangent to an arc). In practice, you can actually get a couple of lag bolts a foot or two apart through the straight header and into the curved masonry wall, but then you need another segment of straight header joined to the first header at a slight angle to keep the header within a boltable distance from the masonry wall.
What I have now is a straight header attached to a joist in a "T" joint, and then a smaller header screwed into the angle of the "T" like a brace. There are probably other ways of framing what you might call an "articulated" or "segmented" header, in which two or more straight headers wrap around the curved masonry wall. Doesn't the "segmented" header have exactly the same problem you describe for the curved header? If supported only on each end, it will obviously fall down in the middle. The only purpose of the curved header is to let me bolt it onto the masonry regularly along its entire length rather than only in those narrow areas where the straight headers almost touch the curved wall. If the bolts are fairly closely spaced (12 to 18 inches) doesn't each little 12 to 18 inch length of the curved header behave like a straight header, but without the weaknesses of framing together multiple segments of straight header?
What do you mean by "cripples"?
Thanks again for your help.
cripples are short stud stock. They would go up from straight header to the rafters, each of which would vary in the distance it sets above the header as they continue out to the finished curve.
maybe it's be cause I'm taking cold medicine or because my stuffy nose is robbing my brain of ozygen, but you've lost me. Maybe a photo would help. I'll try later when I can think more clearly.
Excellence is its own reward!
Here's the picture. Attach the deck to the house. The house is curved.
Try again, the picture poofed!
This prospero thing is rediculousExcellence is its own reward!
Snowbird, in your post, you mentioned "the only purpose of the curved header was so that it could bolt to the curved wall", if I understood you correctly, then your are talking about a ledger. If that is the case , then curve and bolt away, pay attention to your bolt size, pattern and spacing in regards to the load it may be carrying.Jim J.