Deck Building 101 - Ledger

[Stonehenge]

As I'm doing my research, I realize there are many, many questions I don't have answers to. So I thought I'd start a little series for these questions, so they can be referred to later.

Re: the ledger board - Removing siding is no biggie - we do it all the time for our paver step installs. The (first) question I have is about carriage bolts through the ledger - I'm seeing pictures where the ledger just happens to line up with a joist on the house - is this always the case? If not, what must you do to attach the ledger?

[diginahole]

Every deck that I have built has been on brick homes. I always lag the ledger to the concrete foundation. The joists then sit atop the ledger. On second story decks the underside of the deck is visible so it looks nicer to use joist hangers. This also means that you must lag to the brick veneer.

When you remove siding to attach the ledger you want to bolt to the rim joist. The top of the rim joist is about an inch below top of finished floor. Rim and floor joists are usually 2 x 10. Bolt between floor joists. There is a flashing that goes over the ledger and up the side of the house between the siding and sheathing. This method would usually make it necessary to have the decking only slightly below the interior floor. I prefer to have the deck one step down. So bolting to the concrete foundation is usually a better solution when possible.

Make sense?

[Stonehenge]

Yup. :D Thanks!