Replies

1. 
   georgeolivergo | Jun 13, 2002 05:45am | #1

   interesting that you bring this up shel, we just were talking about this today. I think the line gets even more blurry than before when you're talking about uncovered porches.

   but anyway, I think it has to do with the direction of the flooring in the house itself. as porches might be considered part of the house, the joists will run in the same direction, and the flooring oriented perpendicular. that doesn't work for all plans but I think it does for most if you consider that most houses are longer than wide, and the joists will be parallel to the front of the house, usually. hey, lot of maybe/usually's in there!

   now consider a deck that's ledgered off the back of a house -- the joists will be parallel with the side of the house, so the decking parallel to the front of the house. of course not all decks are ledgered off the back but it's very common, right? So there you go -- one way for porches, one way for decks.

   personally, I like an unbroken line for the front edge of the porch -- whatever

   best, GO

2. 
   Piffin | Jun 13, 2002 07:04am | #2

   I'm assuming you call a deck an uncovered space and a porch to be roofed over.

   On a deck I always frame parallel to the house and run the boards perpendicular so that most of the water will be shed away from the house. We allow a pitch of 1/4" to the foot and surface tension lets it roll away.

   Excellence is its own reward!
3. 
   OneofmanyBobs | Jun 13, 2002 03:30pm | #3

   On a deck you run them parallel to the house because

   the deck is usually wider than it is deep and the

   joists end up being shorter that way. Needless to

   say, this assumes you gap the deck boards so the water

   runs through.

   On a porch, you run the boards perpendicular because

   you use T&G decking and you don't want water to collect in

   the joints.

1. 
   JDRHI | Jun 13, 2002 05:42pm | #4

   Bingo...Bobs got it!

   Running porch decking perpendicular to house and following the pitch away from home is the intent.J. D. Reynolds

   Home Improvements

   "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"