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I am in the process of buying a house. The home inspector noted problems with the deck, most significantly "leaning posts."

  • What would be required to get those 4x4 supports adequately secured to the deck surface?
  • Does the fact that some of the precast foundations are tilted (that one in the back is just horrifying) mean that I'll need to have those reseated?
  • Is any of this work feasible without disassembling the entire thing -- is it a better idea to look into a complete rebuild?

This isn't a tall deck (~3-4 feet off the ground at highest point), and the surface is approximately 15x15 feet.

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    That is...hilarious...if it weren't a safety issue. It looks like they were just plopped randomly on the ground with no care given to level or solid base. I think you need to consider a rebuild. You could maybe get by with temporary jacks and then reset each pier one-by-one but that could be tough crawling under a 3' deck. – DA01 Dec 22 '14 at 18:28
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    It isn't quite funny enough to be worth leaving, but it is definitely hilarious ;) – Erica Dec 22 '14 at 18:34
  • may be due to frost heaving, – ratchet freak Dec 22 '14 at 19:41
  • See if you can get some compensation for deck repairs on the purchase price. It might be worth $1000 – Chris Cudmore Jan 6 '15 at 18:16
  • @ChrisCudmore It's going to be part of the negotiation going forward for sure -- what I've been unsure about was whether to adjust the price (to pay for a whole new deck) or request repairs (which seller would pay for before sale), and knowing whether repair was even possible was my biggest question :) – Erica Jan 6 '15 at 18:22
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There are lots of different types of post to beam connectors.

Like this: post to beam connectors

However, the real weird thing is that you don't really have beams. They are just supporting the joists with a bunch of random posts on concrete deck blocks...

If it were me I'd lose all of those and put in a couple (or more) beams under those joists and put some posts under those.

Not in that order, though. Leave the posts in, put in some proper beams and posts, and then lose the crappy ones you have there.

Below is an example of a similar height deck I did. There are two beams under the joists of this deck, and four piers (two for each beam). The beams are the ones with the white flashing tape on top. You can clearly see one in this image, and how I attached it to the joists.

deck

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Please if you ever see something like this DO NOT get under it; don't get on it, and don't stand too close to it. The photo shows, literally, a "house of cards" with no lateral bracing in any direction - that could collapse at any time.

There's a lot of weight in that assembly, inadequately supported, with questionable stability. I've built and remodeled homes and done many framing projects meeting building safety code. Another poster observed it would be so difficult to reconstruct from underneath it would be best to start over.

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    We ended up disassembling it. It was, indeed, a total disaster (and we found other hilariously bad construction techniques while taking it apart). – Erica Mar 18 at 1:38
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I know this is years too late, but I would have installed temporary jacks, removed all the decking boards and driven in 2ft galvanised ground spikes (2 ft underground) adjacent to the existing bad foundations and built a subframe of beams under it. Could have been done without removing the existing joists.

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    Hello, and welcome to Home Improvement. Late answers aren't a problem; we're looking to accumulate knowledge, and this is a great contribution. – Daniel Griscom Jul 30 at 11:46
  • This would have been worthwhile for a larger deck, and so it's a great answer. Thanks! – Erica Jul 30 at 20:16

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