Your opinions on the deck work

[bigbadboss101]

Deck and fences built last year by a contractor. Didn't notice at first as I was busy and working out of town but now realize it might not be code/safe.

I am looking at getting them reworked by the contractor.

First two pictures show the pieces that holds the deck up have shifted.





Stairs to back deck too far apart, and the steps are springy.



Top pieces of fences not screwed in properly.



Pieces not lining up



Stairs to kitchen unstable and far apart. Kids can fall
right through



Railings not fitting properly and not secure



Back deck

[narou]

I was expecting worse, but still that is not really acceptable.. You should definitely try to improve on that work

[gretz]

not good
who was the contractor?

[FiveFreshFish]

What a hack job.

Your contractor is an amateur pretending to be a pro.

[legendboy]

thats pretty bad

[GQBalla]

wow that looks so shady...

good thing your getting it redone though

[TKRIS]

That is hilariously shoddy work. What was he using to cut those fence boards? His teeth? hahaha
Why not just put everything together with elastic bands and gum?

Personally, I would seriously evaluate whether or not you even want this moron stepping foot on your property again.

You're stairs are fucked. Might meet code (I wouldn't know), but I'd never build stringers like that, let alone span that distance with a 5/4" deck board.

Get some brackets to secure your columns to the concrete outposts, build a couple new sets of stairs, and buy a few boards to replace the crap shown in the pictures. Won't take more than a day.

And yes: Post the "contractors" name and contact info so no one else ends up with this shit.

[hedge]

Terrible work. Those stairs are completely unsafe.

[benz_890]

This is proof that during the boom, anyone could just buy a truck throw some tools in the back and call themself a contractor

[barmanjay]

DO NOT USE THE DECK AND STAIRS

Have a professional come in a fix, or rather completely replace


I seriously hope when you contracted the guy you didn't pick the cheapest price around. If you did,.. and didn't look up references,. then you might deserve the shoddy work that need replacing

[lilmira]

Go have a look at the stringer at Home Depot or Rona, it should give you an idea of how big a step/rise should be.

I wouldn't trust those posts neither, they should be secured to the concrete cantilever beams, not just sitting on it. It looks like a long fall if something breaks.

Just curious, it is required to get building permit for residential deck if the deck is more than 600mm above grade at any point, so how many of you did get the permit?

[barmanjay]

Man I just looked at the first pic again

Seriously bad work

the joists are not 16' apart,.. they are irregular

the railing pieces are what? toe nailed into the deck? wtf?

those 2 4x4 posts are holding what? the deck planks not the joists or a cross beam?

tear it all down,.. if the city comes by to see that,.. they will condemn it from use.

[badatusrnames]

Let me guess.... he was cheap.

[hedge]

Seriously Don't use that Deck. That looks like a serious safety issue, that thing could fall off at any moment.

- It looks like there's no ledger plate on the deck platform, it looks like the joist hangers are nailed into the plywood!

- What's keeping the 4x4's from falling off the concrete?

- That's not how you build stairs, the tread should sit on top of the stringers not on top of tacked on boards. Your weight is being supported by a couple of nails/screws. Nails are meant to hold things from moving, not to support weight.

- treads are too small, should be 2" lumber

Out the contractor that built that so that noone else gets scammed.

[bigbadboss101]

Well they are going to come by in the next couple weeks to get things fixed. It could be that they had a bad crew for that weekend, I don't know. I will give them the benefits of the doubt and if they come by and get things fixed nicely I am cool with that. Have seen some of their other work and they looked good. My goal is not to give the company a bad rep, but to make the $8k or so I spent on fences, small deck to kitchen, and back yard deck worthwhile.

[badatusrnames]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
My goal is not to give the company a bad rep.

Uhh... it's the company itself that's making or breaking their reputation. By performing substandard work, they're breaking it.

I'm sorry, but no one should be left with a deck with that poor of workmanship. I think you have a bit of a responsibility to make people aware of who the contractor is, considering that there are SERIOUS safety issues with that deck. Someone who doesn't know any better could happily use their deck thinking everything is fine with it until it collapses underneath their feet.

[Masked Bandit]

Well, we just finished building our fence this weekend and we must look like Mike-phuckin'n-Holmes compared to these asshats.

I wouldn't have paid for this shit work at all.

[urban.one]

Pick your weeds!

Its all been said already. That thing needs to be ripped down and a properly designed deck needs to be installed. Its not even that it was put together poorly; the problem is that it was desgned by someone who appears to have had no knowledge of code or even common sense. In fact it looks like theyve never even seen a properly built deck and stairs to get ideas from.

Its surprising someone who built that is coming back to take a look at it and potentially fix it. For your sake, Id hope the company you hired subcontracted this job to someone new and didnt followup on it and now the company will give you a new, properly designed and built deck and stairs.

At least youve realized theres a problem. I cant imagine how much shoddy work was pumped out over the past few years during the boom.

[topmade]

Originally posted by bigbadboss101
Well they are going to come by in the next couple weeks to get things fixed.

No no, not fix, REPLACE!!

[frozenrice]

I have to admit those stairs make me laugh.

A few things to look out for when they come and redo/replace the stairs:

1) Those blocks holding up the steps (threads) are horrid. They should be proper stair stringers cut/routed out from a 2x10 or 2x12.
2) Those stairs look wider than 40". Rule of thumb is that any stairs wider than 40" should require a 3rd stringer down the middle to prevent sagging/boucniness. Personally, I would have gone with full 2x(4/6/8/10) treated lumber which is a bit thicker/stronger than 5/4" decking material.
3) The maximum rise on a stair should be approximately 7.5". I can't really tell from the picture, but they appear to be more than that. It's not necessarily that a kid can fall through, but 7.5" is what is considered comfortable by code so that you don't trip/fall going up or down the stairs.
4) The spacing on the rail spindles look too far apart, I believe code is that they are to be a maximum of 4" apart (I can't remember if that's edge to edge or center to center). Either way they look too far apart from just eyeballing it.
5) In general the rest of it is just poor workmanship. The way the spindles are connected to the landing surface is bad practice. I can't believe either, that the posts aren't even bolted to the concrete brackets. Even the gate latch is misaligned. Other thing too, I can't remember exactly how the bylaw/code works, but technically anything 2ft above grade is supposed to have a permit- just somethings to keep in mind.

I hope that the company comes back and makes good on making it right. Good luck.