Joists
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The Joists
- Distances: Joists are all 16" on center
- Size: 2x10x16 boards were used for all joists
- Position: The joists rested on top of the beams. All joists were placed crown up! Joists were cantilevered 42" over beams on both sides.
- Attachments: Joists were toe screwed to beams to hold in place. I also used 2 hurricaine ties where the joists intersect the beams.
- Doubling Up: Several of the joists that span the stairway on cantilevered end were doubled up for extra support for the stairway.
- Blocking: 2X10 blocking added between east joist at the center of the joist span
To Start - Added the rim joist frame
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- 1. Positioned the 2 side rim joists and then toe screwed them to hold them in place.
- 2. Added 2 center joists that the deck transition board will attach to
- 3. Added the 2 end rim joists. The one closest to house was inside the side joists while the one furthest from the house was outside of the side joists. Each end joist was made of 2 boards. The boards broke over the center joists that were added in step 2.
Once the frame was in place I made sure all the corners were square and then I attached the joists to the beams with hurricaine ties. I used 2 ties per joist/beam intersection.
The siding cleat
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By a recommendation from BestDeckSite.com I decided to add the ability to gain future access to siding on the house behind the deck if ever needed. This most likely will never be used but it was easy to add so why not plan for the possibility. I kept the rim joist away from the house by about 4 1/2". The cleat was made from a 2X6 and a 2X4. I screwed the 2 boards together and then attached the cleat to the rim joist by screwing it from the inside of the rim joist. I then marked each screw and placed a quick note to myself or someone in the future stating how to remove for siding access.
Another siding cleat angle
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To gain access, all that would be needed is to remove a couple of the deck boards and then take out the screws from the cleat and you'll have a good 4 1/2" to work with to add/remove/repair siding
Setting more of the joists in place
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Setting the rest of the joists went pretty smoothly and was uneventful. I cut each joist to size and then attached to the end rim joists with screws. I used a rubber sledge hammer to "guide" each joist into place so that they were straight. I also made sure to put the crown up when adding each joist.
After all the joists were in place I went back and toe screwed each joist to the beams and added 2 hurricaine ties to each joist/beam intersection. I used clamps to bring the joists down to the beams when required (because of crown) and then added the screws/ties while clamped.
More Shims
Being a perfectionist I added shims to all gaps between joist and beams. Thankfully there weren't very many, the boards from The Home Depot were really good quality, straight and true for the most part. There were just a few imperfections where there were small gaps so I shimmed them.
Some more joist pictures
The "Hurricaine Ties"
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Dogs will be dogs
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Yours truly
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