, Gloucester, MA  Real Estate News  June 6, 2012  May is
National Deck Safety Month- Is Your Deck Really Safe?
Syndicated — May is National Deck Safety Month and the most
common cause of deck collapses is improper attachment to a
building.  Most decks are supported on one side by the building,
and on the opposite side by the earth. The photo below shows a
deck collapse that happened in Minnesota. This is exactly how
most decks collapse. The cause of collapse is quite obvious. It
wasn't attached properly.  The best way to avoid deck collapse
is to know the answer to this question: Is your deck properly
attached to the building?  It's not always possible to know for
sure, but let's go over a few different ways of attaching a deck
to a building. It all centers on something called "the ledger."
The piece of wood that connects a deck to a building is called
the ledger, or ledger board. So get ready to hear this word used
a lot!  Lag Screws  Traditionally, lag screws have been the most
common method of attaching d