We have recently purchased our first home & are slowly learning how to maintain it.
The previous owners built a small steps/deck access area to the back door & the recycling bins are kept under this "deck". We noticed that there is insulation visible between the siding & the concrete foundation. Can anyone tell me if this is normal? Should we leave it, or should we do something about it? If so, what sort of product should we use to seal it? Here are some pictures I took:
This is common poor quality workmanship often found on newer homes these days.
What I do not like is the method or lack of method to attached the deck to the wall. You should see bolts holding the joist into place. And these bolts should be near the bottom of the joist to prevent shear from excessive loads occurring below the fasteners. While I doubt this would occur on a deck as small as this it is another common mistake that the building departments allow to go on every day, or until you hear of a deck failure in their area. This method of attachment would never happen near our shore communities and primarily due to deck failures when kids have parties in the summer on them.
Could you when you get a chance photograph how the deck is fastened to the house? Hopefully with bolts?
There's a new provision in the 2009 IRC as follows:
R502.2.2.3 Deck lateral load connection. The lateral load connection required by Section R502.2.2
shall be permitted to be in accordance with Figure R502.2.3. Hold-down tension devices shall ...»
provided in not less than two locations per deck, and each device shall have an allowable stress
design capacity of not less than 1500 lb.
These are meet with a simpson DTT2 bracket and some all thread.
http://www.strongtie.com/products/connectors...