Earthquake Safety For Second Story Deck

Most of us love to barbeque on the deck on a warm summer evening, especially if the deck is high and the view is good. Modern decks are, in general, well constructed and safe, but even in newer homes, constructed to modern standards, there are decks which are just a little scary. Such as this one.

The new owners of this house called me out to evaluate their deck, which is about 20 feet in the air. Although the basic construction of the deck framing (joists and beams) is sound, it was not adequately braced against lateral forces such as earthquake. In recent years, there have been a number of failures of decks, some resulting in injury. Invariably these failures were caused by inadequate connection of the deck to the building it serves.

CSES provide design calculations and documents necessary for obtaining the building permit needed to bring this deck into code compliance – an more important by far, to make it safer.

So, happy barbequing!