JLC editor Ted Cushman takes a look at some of the deck failures that have been in the news this spring and sees a pattern. The problem, suggests noted Virginia Tech building science researcher Frank Woeste, is that many older decks were deficient when they were originally built. Now that their framing, fasteners, and metal connectors have aged and rusted or deteriorated, the safety factor of these old decks is often less than 1, meaning that they’ll potentially collapse even under normal 40 psf loads.
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