We have been asked to inspect the second-story deck on a recently-purchased home to see if the homeowner can safely start entertaining on it. House was built in about 1996.
One of the issues of concern is a three-ply beam. As opposed to having used a wider deck plank to cover the entire beam, whoever built it used a 2X6 and a 2X2 on the outer edge. I have attached a picture. It looks to me like a pathway created for water to get between the outer ply and the center ply.
Is there any way, absent disassembly, to determine if there is rot inside a multiple-ply beam?
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From your picture, the railing is not adequate and for sure not to current code. The underside of the triple shows water damage between the outer and inner plys. My advice is tear out entire deck and start over. Or, get some more liability insurance (lots more)
No, the railing is clearly not adequate. It's pretty mobile. That is one of the issues for discussion with the homeowner.
I didn't upload the pictures of things like deformed LUS210-2 hangers end-nailed into the ledger and other end of the beam.
The folks who built this house didn't do very right by the deck. However, it has lasted 25 years or so.
The deck looks a mess and I would be astonished if it wasn't rotten inside. You can try drilling holes into the beam and see what you hit That deck would scare me enough that in the owner's best interest I'd block access and make sure to tell them in an email, so you have a record, that it's not safe. I did this with a deck once, actually sent them 3 emails, 3 weeks before the deck fell.
Even if there is no rot there is still too much wrong in that picture. The triple beam is rolling outboard. One of the members is not bearing on anything. There are multiple wide checking/cracks. Connection from triple beam to column is not adequate.
Runaway. Runaway.