How do I know if my deck ledger is bolted or nailed?

Look at the heads of the fixings going into the house, usually visible from underneath or from the side. Hex heads, washers or large structural screw heads in a regular pattern indicate an engineered connection. Smooth round heads scattered irregularly usually mean nails, which rely on friction and loosen over years of freeze and thaw.

What does missing flashing on a deck actually cause?

Water sits in the joint between the ledger and the wall and rots the band joist of the house behind it. That is a structural part of the building rather than of the deck, which is how a deck problem becomes a house problem. Flashing costs very little at build time and is awkward to add later.

Is it cheaper to repair a deck or rebuild it?

Repair, usually, when the frame is sound — new decking and rails on a good structure costs a great deal less than a rebuild. It flips when the frame itself is failing at the ledger, the post bases or multiple joists, because the repairs then stack toward the price of a new structure anyway.

Do you build new decks?

No. A new deck is permit work and licensed builder scope in Michigan, and that license is not held here. Repair, board and rail replacement, stair work and teardown are taken on; new construction is referred. Anyone telling you a new deck needs no permit is telling you something that surfaces when you sell.

My deck sways side to side. Is that dangerous?

It is worth getting looked at promptly. Lateral sway normally means bracing that is missing, loose or has failed, and bracing is what stops a deck racking under a moving load. It is usually a repairable fault, but it is not one to leave through a summer of use.

Can you take an old shed away?

Yes. Teardown and haul-off is ordinary work and it is priced on volume and access rather than on the building. Say whether you want the slab left or lifted, because that changes the job considerably.

The Ledger Board Is the Part of Your Deck That Fails | Lansing, MI

Nobody photographs the part that matters

When somebody sends photographs of a deck that needs work, they are nearly always photographs of the surface — a split board, a gray patch, a loose nail head. Those are real and they are worth fixing. They are also the cheapest part of the structure and the part least likely to hurt anyone.

The part that hurts people is the connection between the deck and the house. It is called the ledger, and it is the single most common point of serious failure on a residential deck.

What a ledger is and why it carries so much

A deck attached to a house usually has posts along the outer edge and no posts at all along the house side. That side hangs off a board bolted flat to the building — the ledger. Which means roughly half the weight of the deck, and half the weight of everybody standing on it, is carried by whatever fixes that board to the house.

When a deck collapses, it very rarely snaps in the middle. It peels away from the building, the house side drops, and the whole thing hinges down. That is a ledger failure, and it tends to happen when the deck is at its most loaded, which is to say when a lot of people are on it.

Nailed versus bolted

This is the distinction worth knowing. A ledger fixed with nails, including the kind fired from a nail gun, is relying on friction along a smooth shank. Nails loosen as wood shrinks, swells and freezes across years of Michigan weather.

A ledger fixed with through-bolts or proper structural screws into the band joist of the house is a mechanical connection that does not rely on friction. The difference in capacity between the two is not a refinement; it is the difference between a connection that holds and one that is slowly letting go.

If your deck is older, or was built by a previous owner, or went up without a permit, the fixings are worth knowing about. You can often see them from underneath.

The other half of the problem: flashing

A ledger is a horizontal board bolted tight against the side of a house, directly under a door, usually under the point where rain runs off. If there is nothing over the top edge directing water out and away, water sits in that joint.

What it rots is not just the ledger. It is the band joist of the house behind it — a structural part of the building, not of the deck. That is how a deck problem becomes a house problem, and it is why a ledger that looks fine on the deck side can be bolted to something that has gone soft on the other.

A piece of metal flashing tucked up behind the siding and over the top of the ledger prevents all of it. It costs very little when the deck is built and is awkward and expensive to add afterward, which is exactly why it gets left off.

A ten-minute check you can do yourself

None of this needs tools. Get underneath if you safely can, or look from the side.

Look at the fixings into the house. Round smooth heads in a scattered pattern suggest nails. Hex heads, washers or large structural screw heads in a regular pattern suggest something engineered.
Look for metal over the top of the ledger where it meets the wall. If you can see a bare horizontal joint between board and siding, there is probably no flashing.
Push a key or a screwdriver into the ledger and the board behind it, especially at the ends and under the door. If it goes in easily, that is rot and it matters more than anything on the surface.
Look at the post bases. Posts sitting directly on soil or on a patio slab with no standoff rot from the bottom, and the bottom is the part nobody looks at.
Stand in the middle and shift your weight. Side-to-side sway usually means missing or failed bracing.

What is worth repairing and what is not

Decks are unusually repairable. Boards, railings, stair treads and even individual joists can be replaced while the structure stays. A deck with a sound frame and twenty years of tired decking is a good candidate for new surface and rails, and it comes out a great deal cheaper than a rebuild.

The judgment flips when the frame is the problem — ledger rot into the band joist, post bases gone, joists failing at multiple points. At that stage the repairs start stacking toward the cost of the structure, and good money is going onto a bad frame.

That assessment is worth having before you spend anything, because the two paths diverge quickly and the surface is not what decides it.

Where the line is on new work

Repair, replacement in kind and teardown are ordinary work. A new deck is a different matter: it is permit work in most jurisdictions around here, it is inspected, and in Michigan building one is licensed builder scope. Haslett Handyman does not hold that license and does not pretend to — so new deck construction is referred rather than quoted, and anybody who tells you a new deck does not need a permit is telling you something that will surface when you sell the house.

Before you call anybody

Photograph it from the side and from underneath, not just the top. The top is the least informative view of a deck.
Do the screwdriver test at the ledger and say what happened.
Say roughly how old it is and whether you built it or inherited it.
Say whether anything moves — sway, bounce, a soft post base.
If it is a shed, say whether you want it repaired or taken away. Those are different visits.

Want it looked at? Send photographs from underneath if you can get there safely, and say what the screwdriver test did at the ledger. Somebody assesses the frame before the surface and puts a fixed price in writing, including telling you plainly if the honest answer is a rebuild rather than a repair. Coming out is free and there is no trip charge. Decks & sheds · Get in touch.