shot-in-the-dark question for those more experienced in deckbuilding than I

built a ~300sqft multilevel deck between an office/house and a build trailer a couple weeks ago but it'll only have a 2-year life span before it's torn down. I built it to code even though it's a temp structure, except that the only PT material is the posts and deckboards.

my question: on one end there is a 4-ft wide 9-step staircase (i.e. 9-foot horizontal footprint, unsupported...also not to code), I cut the three stringers from untreated spruce 2x12s. It's solid enough now but I'm starting to wonder if that'll hold up for 2 years under pretty regular year-round use. It's anchored well on both ends but with settling and frost heave and whatnot I'm thinking some regular stress might develop and jack up those stringers.

Kinda aggravated Lowe's didn't have any yellow pine. Anyway, we good for a couple years here or do I need to go back and throw a post under it?

6/4/2012 1:33:38 PM

so the stringers are 2x4? are there railings with balusters? if not, is it bouncy?

6/4/2012 3:41:12 PM

Since you cut the stringer by hand, how big is the throat?

6/4/2012 4:35:21 PM

coat it in thompsons or the like?

6/4/2012 4:50:18 PM

^^^2x12

^^ roughly 6" throat iirc

^more worried about settling stresses and cycle fatigue than weathering...easier to go back out and post up with some scrap than buy more shit haha

Just deciding whether it's borderline and i should quit being lazy or whether I'm good to.go and can stop worrying about it

6/4/2012 8:46:53 PM

6 is ok, but with that much of a span I would probably throw a support mid way, it can't hurt.

Rather spend an hour of my time than have someone get hurt.

6/5/2012 7:27:17 AM