The International Residential Code is finally starting to provide stronger requirements for deck installations. This is great news for homeowners as new decks are being constructed. Older decks should be evaluated and brought up to modern standards to ensure safe use, yet there will be no mandated upgrades.

Please consider visiting the Professional Deck Builder Website and subscribe to their great magazine.

Deck expert Frank Woeste shared...

You can find a good summary of changes to the IRC for attaching deck ledgers to the house at http://www.deckmagazine.com/pdf/2007/0707/0707ledg.pdf

While it might not be adopted by a local jurisdiction for awhile, the information should be valuable to deck contractors now. Frank Woeste - Professor Emeritus - Virginia Tech University