Reinforce 1.5B deck c.1980

[ThorenO]

Hello,

I wanted to see if anyone had input for reinforcing a 1.5B deck spanning 10' (from above ONLY). The supports are W10s @10' c/c spanning 20'.

It would have been great to place an intermediate W10 to cut the deck span down to 5' for the deck, but all the work has to be completed from above. Unfortunately, spanning something over the top 20' seems difficult.

Is fastening a second layer of deck over the existing an option or is there fitment problems?

Thank you in advance for any ideas.

 

[KootK]

I've done double nested deck. And, if you're truly unable to reinforce from the underside, that may well be your best option. Fitment is an issue and I'd recommend talking to the deck manufacturer. Depending on how things lay out, you can get corner conditions where you're dealing with four layers of deck in one place. I mistrust deck welding for double deck and specify Hilti pins instead.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.