Residential Deck Collapses in NC - 21 Injured 1

[SlideRuleEra]

This article is about a deck that collapsed, injuring 21 people. From a strictly engineering viewpoint, looks like evidence is growing that the copper based treated lumber (ACQ), one of several treatments that replaced arsenic based compounds (CCA) about 10 years ago, may be expediting fastener corrosion. This has been known all along but, unfortunately, may take incidents like this to "prove" it. Time will tell.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/07/10/4156649/21-hurt-in-ocean-isle-beach-deck.html

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[BillPSU]

The video of the deck disappeared from the linked site but from the video the rim joist were still in place while the floor joists attached to the rim were gone. The weathering of the deck boards appeared to show joist spacing of at least 24". The video showed a span of 10-12 feet. Without seeing the actual attachment points to the rim joists I would bet there were no joist hangers used to attach the floor joists to the rim joists. I can understand why the management of the building replaced the deck as quickly as possible to remove any proof of poor construction.

The lawyers are going to have another big paycheck.