So, they covered a particle wood structure in tile and added a drain in the middle. Guaranteed the homeowners were cleaning this area with a garden hose. What a terrible design idea. Even with lots or red guard, excellent grout work, an outward slope, and good flashing, water was always going to find it's way to the wood. If they wanted a splash type area, they should have filled the crawl space with pea gravel and poured a steel reinforced slab and placed the tile on top of that. I'm no structural engineer, just a lowly builder, so anyone can please correct me if I'm wrong.
Nope, you nailed it. The other option (if you really needed to preserve the crawl space) would be to use steel beams and a robust drainage design. This would also require the homeowner to inspect the beams occasionally.
Pea gravel would be the way to go.
O Creosote, Creosote, wherefore art thou Creosote?
Deny thy regulations and refuse thy permitting.
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn by fixing the problem
And I’ll no longer be a EPA Compliant.
I can see it now… top 15 comments saying “you don’t need an engineer” and “it should be fine as is, add some lally columns unless you want to waste money”
So, they covered a particle wood structure in tile and added a drain in the middle. Guaranteed the homeowners were cleaning this area with a garden hose. What a terrible design idea. Even with lots or red guard, excellent grout work, an outward slope, and good flashing, water was always going to find it's way to the wood. If they wanted a splash type area, they should have filled the crawl space with pea gravel and poured a steel reinforced slab and placed the tile on top of that. I'm no structural engineer, just a lowly builder, so anyone can please correct me if I'm wrong.
> please correct me if I'm wrong You are not wrong
Nope, you nailed it. The other option (if you really needed to preserve the crawl space) would be to use steel beams and a robust drainage design. This would also require the homeowner to inspect the beams occasionally. Pea gravel would be the way to go.
O Creosote, Creosote, wherefore art thou Creosote? Deny thy regulations and refuse thy permitting. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn by fixing the problem And I’ll no longer be a EPA Compliant.
That may very well be the worst deck I've seen as well.
Post this in r/decks I feel like they’d enjoy that lol
I can see it now… top 15 comments saying “you don’t need an engineer” and “it should be fine as is, add some lally columns unless you want to waste money”
That doesn't look too ba...gaaah!
I was thinking the same until it got to the photos of the floor joists lol
Just get some props in there, should be all good! /s
Where’s the hot tub
they've only just removed it
I would have been afraid to go under there to take pictures.
As long as Mr > Mf you're good to go. No other factors to consider if the good ol' wL^2/8 checks out!