Getting a hot tub. Questions about my deck...

[sld]

You've gotten some good advice about beefing it up. As it is now I wouldn't put anything on it.

 

[vtsnowedin]

At the rate we are going the poor guy will have to remove his deck, sell his house,divorce his wife then move to 200 acres of Ag land and buy a 125 HP cab tractor. :laughing:

 

[mark02tj]

At the rate we are going the poor guy will have to remove his deck, sell his house,divorce his wife then move to 200 acres of Ag land and buy a 125 HP cab tractor. :laughing:

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Well, almost, but not quite!! 5 acres is enough to take care of. And I just finished installing my diverter valve and grapple thumb on my bucket yesterday so I'm not wanting to give up my 3520 just yet!! :laughing: Plus, I can't afford to get rid of this wife (not that I'd want to; she's a keeper!!) - the first one cost me enough already!!

They're supposed to deliver the tub tomorrow, but I'm going to call them today to have them hold up for a few days. At a minimum, I'm going to double up on the joists and I think I'm going to replace the joist hangers as well. I will also pull out one of the lags to see how long it is and maybe replace those as well.

 

[radioman]

Well -- my eyes may be deceiving me from the side view- but it looks slightly bowed down already. I'd put up a line from each end to confirm this or not. Where on the deck are you planning to put it? On the right sloped hill side? if so can you add some support beam in the middle with posts to spread the dead water weight? I wouldnt worry too much about the weight of the tub itself at delivery time. I would worry about the water combined weight without additional supports.
Get the tub delivered and then beef up the support right in the middle where tub will be and then add the water.

 

[LD1]

You need to do some significant beefing up of that deck.

It is hard to tell in the pics, but what is the rim joist? It looks pretty thick, like maybe 3 boards? but I cannot tell what they are?

I dont even think doubling up is gonna meet requirements. The one load table I glanced at only went to 100psf load. And for that, a 2x8 on 12" centers was only good to span 9'2".

And the highest I can go with a quick online calc is 120psf total load. (100 live and 20 dead). And minimum calls for 2x10's every 12".

So given your situation, I think you will need to triple the 2x8's you have (at least where the deck is.) Make a double 2x8 every 24" (add one to each one that is already there). Then add a single in between each of those.

And we havent even addressed how it is attached to the house. I am not a fan of attaching decks to the house. I much prefer a free-standing deck. If you have access to the inside, I'd try do do some thru bolts

 

[dmccarty]

Also calculate the load on the posts. Those are pretty tall posts but they look to be 6x6 so you might be ok. The deck connection to the house is a possible problem as previous posters have stated. I can remember at least two deck failures in my area where the deck failed at the sill connection. I was really surprised that people were not killed in one of the accidents. The connection really needs to be made with bolts, washers and nuts. Building code has seemed to have prevented accidents because I have not heard of any in the last few years but I see some really tall, skinny posts holding up decks that really scares me.

Later,
Dan

 

[farmer2009]

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned yet. After you beef up the joist and double check the tie into the house is to add solid blocking every 4 feet. This will help spread the load out over the entire deck.

 

[mark02tj]

One other thing I haven't seen mentioned yet. After you beef up the joist and double check the tie into the house is to add solid blocking every 4 feet. This will help spread the load out over the entire deck.

I thought about the blocking and was going to do it. The blocking that's in there now is end to end and almost looks like a cross-joist running through. Can I "stagger" the blocking and still get the same effect? It's going to be a lot easier to nail into the ends of the blocking than trying to toe nail it.

 

[farmer2009]

I thought about the blocking and was going to do it. The blocking that's in there now is end to end and almost looks like a cross-joist running through. Can I "stagger" the blocking and still get the same effect? It's going to be a lot easier to nail into the ends of the blocking than trying to toe nail it.

That's the way I put it in. In my thinking if the 2x that's there can't handle a 1 1/2 inch offset of blocking then it needs to be replaced. I also end nail joist then go back and add hangers. I also prefer a ring shank nail in these situations.

 

[aczlan]

What if you ran a double 2x10 right next to the house (under the existing connection to the house) and put in 3 4x4s (one at each end and one somewhere in the middle)?
It looks like you have a decent pad under the deck so you could run down to it.

Aaron Z