8anchoring to brick veneer

In this video tip, I want to alert you to a problem that often happens when decks are

fastened to homes with brick veneer on the outside. To understand how this works, you need to know what a brick veneer wall looks like

Now, inside those bricks are stud frame walls, typically framed in 2x6

They might be 2x4 where you live. That's the bottom plate of the wooden stud frame wall

The whole thing sits on top of a foundation. And in this case, that foundation extends out beyond the stud frame wall to create a

ledge for the bricks to sit on. Let's imagine this is a poured concrete foundation

The bricks sit on top of that extra bit of foundation. There's typically an air space behind the bricks, maybe an inch or so, to allow for drainage

Now when you seek to fasten a deck to that brick veneer, what's often done is you fasten

a 2x8 or 2x10 floor frame member to the wall, often with a lag bolt fitting into some kind

of a metal anchor shield. The problem here with a lag bolt in this situation is that the brick veneer was never

meant to support these kind of loads. It's just there for looks and weatherproofing

What you really need to do is extend your fastener all the way in so that it grips the

actual structural wall frame of your house. You need to drill an oversized hole for that bolt to go in

You also should create some kind of spacers behind that floor frame to allow for water

drainage so the water is not trapped behind that wooden member. After that, you can put on your deck floor boards and you're ready to go