A fairly common deck-building problem I see is when a beam is attached to the side of a post with only bolts as attachment. It looks something like this. Usually the two individual pieces of 2x lumber are attached on opposite sides of the post, with two bolts through the entire assembly. Then the individual floor joists sit on top of this beam.
This used to be a very typical way to build a deck, and the truth is that it works very well. It’s easy to build this way, because you can just leave the post long, clamp these beams to the post, adjust them slightly to get them at exactly the right height, and then drill holes for the bolts. After the beam is secured you just come by and cut off the excess height of the post. And as far as I can tell no deck has ever failed from a connection like this. But alas, even though it works it isn’t right.
The International Residential Code says (section 507.5.1) that the ends of a deck beam (any beam, really) must have at least 1.5 inches of bearing on a wood or metal post (that’s in the long direction of the beam) and at least 3 inches of bearing on a concrete or masonry post. But the bolt is at most only 0.5 inch diameter, so the beam doesn’t have enough bearing surface to sit on.
The proper way to attach a beam is to cut the post to the correct height and set the beam on the top of the post. This can be done with hardware that’s readily available at any large hardware store. Or there is bracket hardware available that allows you to attach the beam to the side of the post but provides a proper bearing surface. Something like this:
As you can see, there’s the minimum of 1.5 inches of bearing on this metal bracket, so it satisfies the requirements of the International Residential Code.
Of course the question comes up – should I fix this? I don’t think it’s worth fixing a problem like this. It’s not going to fail – at least, this kind of connection has never failed in the entire history of decks, as far as I can tell. But when you go to sell, the next buyer might have a problem with it. You can get the bracket hardware to add to a proper connection, and that’s likely to satisfy most buyers.
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