Tension tie when ledger is parallel to house joists
walldocmp
| Posted in General Questions on
I am installing a small second floor balcony where the deck ledger runs parallel with the house joist. Is there any alternative to adding blocking between the house joist and installing those long tension ties that run from outside to the inside?
Seems like a place for heat to escape and a good place for water to condensate on the cold tie. I like the idea of the Simpson DTT1Z lateral load connectors but they say you cant use them when the joist run parallel to the deck ledger. Any alternative ideas?
-Mike
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Replies
Michael,
The problem isn't coming up with a solution that yields the required lateral resistance, it is coming up with one that has been approved. As far as I know Simpson sells the only connectors that have been tested for this purpose. The alternative would be to get an engineer to stamp another approach. Probably the simplest solution is to use the Simpson tension ties and insulate them back to the second joist.
Malcolm,
Thanks. I will likely go with the blocking and insulate the tension ties. However I have no building codes where I live so if I was curious if anyone had an alternative solution.
Thanks,
Mike
Micheal,
We have no lateral resistance requirements in our code. They make sense on a policy level because poorly constructed or deteriorating decks frequently collapse. But a well designed and constructed deck is only subject to very minor lateral loads. I don't include the Simpson hardware when I build decks, and would suggest if you aren't required to, you might consider not using them either.
Interesting. Sounds good to me. Thank you for the reply.