Post with 8 knee braces and weight capacity 2

[Mklass]

So, bought house with a very interesting deck structural support. Evidently this was to support a coy pond and now I’d like it to support a 5 k lbs hot tub,

Thoughts on weight capacity ?

 

[SWComposites]

Eh, I’m just an aircraft stress guy, but I see lots of ugly issues with that. And it probably doesn’t meet any codes. Get a local structural engineer out to look at it.

 

[Mklass]

Agreed - can’t be to code. I’m
Going to absolutely reinforce it for sure. I just wanted to put this out there and get some insight on strength of these knee braces as I can’t find much Info searching around.

Tnx !

 

[RPGs]

Wow I wish this was my project so I could see it in person and carry it through to finish. I absolutely love this stuff.

Post more pics and give us a sketch with dimensions to satisfy our curiosity, though keep in mind your post may be deleted as DIY is strongly discouraged here.

You need to consult a licensed engineer, of course; a site visit is worth a thousand pictures.

 

[dvd]

Thoughts and prayers -

 

[jerseyshore]

This is really awesome. There's just something about deck framing that brings out the really creative side of builders.

I wouldn't worry about that umbrella framing at all. I would think the easier repair/ reinforcement would be to add new sonotubes and posts under the ends of all the beams. Get a local engineer to check it out and run some numbers on it.

 

[Mklass]

I know - it’s wonderfully unique and I’d hate to have it taken down. I do know what needed but hate to see this go. I hired a structural engineer and he had the same responses as all of us. I just had to h get this out here for all to see. I will post a scratch with dimensions. I’d be curious to see if anyone could guesstimate - all posts are 4x4’s

 

[JLNJ]

Any unbalanced loads would be the problem here because of the bending put in the post. If there is a way to resolve/minimize them or prevent them you might be OK. Or maybe the post is stout enough and anchored enough to develop the flexure.

 

[SWComposites]

The issues, at least to me, are more with the “connections” than the braces themselves. Plus the center post and whatever foundation is underneath.

 

[phamENG]

My guess is there's a round steel column in the middle of that. The wood is multifaceted with separate pieces of lumber and strapped to the column with what look like duct clamps. Of course it's just as likely that somebody ripped a bunch of 4x4s or 4x6s to make that. Yikes.

 

[SWComposites]

It’s probably fine as a basic deck, though unconventional. But with a big hot tub on top, eeek.

 

[gte447f]

The capacity of those knee braces will obviously be limited by the crappy connections at each end, which is likely to be only worth a couple hundred pounds each, especially at the top, since those brackets are not meant for this application and appear to be very poorly installed.

The main, built-up, octagonal column appears appears to be held together with band clamps or something, interesting. I wonder what is the cross-section profile of each ply of that built up column.

There also appears to be, maybe, no positive connection between the main column and the deck floor structure, since there appears to be a large piece of sheet metal between the column and the deck framing.

Tear this down and replace it with adequate conventional framing if you have to support a hot tub.