Residential Deck Question 7

[zero1238]

I recently inspected a deck for a client where they had a rear deck off of the second story with a double ledger board attached over cedar shake siding. The IRC prohibits fastening a ledger to masonry veneer/stone or to a cantilevered flooring system but does not go over this issue. This just strikes me as poor building techniques and I would probably recommend that they add a beam beneath the joists and in front of the ledger to make the deck free-standing. You can even see the ledger being slightly rotated in the attached image, following the contour of the cladding. Would anyone disagree with this assessment?

 

[EdStainless]

I always thought that is a deck was attached to a structure it had to meet the same foundation and gracing rules as the structure.
In WI nearly all second story decks are free standing, nobody wants to build them as strong as their house.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed