Designing to dry
GBA Editor
| Posted in Webinar Follow-up Q&A on
In middle Tennessee, I always see deck bands bolted over cladding directly to the house band. There is never any flashing and this crushes the drainage plane behind the cladding. The result is both deck and band joist rotting. I’m amazed at the lack of designing to dry.
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Replies
Anonymous,
It sounds like you understand why the method you describe is a recipe for disaster.
Here's the right way to do it:
https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/cad/detail/deck-ledger-standoff-band-joist
That's not a failure of "designing to dry", but a failure of designing to avoid getting wet. Flashings or spacing are essential where an exterior deck meets the wall of a house.
Martin has identified one drain-through approach from GBA; here is the other: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/cad/detail/deck-ledger-standoff-band-joist-manufactured-support-bracket.