Deck surface boards, running opposite way?!! OK?

As long as you have adequate support, the direction the boards run is just a question of taste. The last deck I built had the boards running perpendicular to the house.

Hoosker wrote: ...

... Assuming that means you ran the joists parallel to the house, it's about the only choice w/o re-orienting them.

The structural effect isn't a problem; question is whether you're more interested in satisfying the client or pinching a few $$...

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My deck has the boards perpendicular to the house. On my previos house, they were parallel to the house wall. Eithewr works. The size of the deck and size of available boards can affect the decision.

My first thought upon reading this was:

How did you get to this point in the project without the homeowner's buy-in on which way the boards would run?

You said "we spec'ed the boards to run out from the house". Who's "we"?

Wasn't the guy that will be signing the check involved when the project was spec'd?

Is there any reason you cant do it the way you want, sure it will probably be butt crack ugly and HO says no, do you get it mr hack. You want it to flow to to pool area, you mean waters flow? You cant turn back now you say, your loss might be larger than a few boards, it would be if it was my house.

hoosker had written this in response to

: We just went ahead and designed the deck. The Homeowner assumed one thing, we assummed another and did it the best and most cost effective way in design, the homeowner never questioned it until this weekend, then he was like, "Ahh, I thought the boards were going to go the other way".

The only options we see now, are possibly angling the boards as we're too far along to start completely over again!

What a mess, any ideas?

bad news....  

:

Did the homeowner specify? The boards are generally run in the longest dimension as it just looks better that way.

Reversing the pattern would take a lot of work and probably putting a lot of nailers between the joists every 16 or 24" OC.

re: Homeowner assumed one thing, we assummed another

You know what happens when you 'assume'?

re: (we) did it the best and most cost effective way in design

It may have been the most cost effective way, but it wasn't the best unless you and the homeowner agreed to the design before the work started.

re: the homeowner never questioned it until this weekend

Do you mean he never questioned it until the first time he saw the "design" i.e. the framing? I'd still say that's your fault.

re: What a mess, any ideas?

Negotiate with the client. Either offer to do the deck, as is, for free or figure out how to reframe it, at the original cost, to satisfy the client.

Reminds of the motto we assigned to IT repair guys where I used to work. "They do it nice 'cuz they do it twice."

It's OK, if you do it right, but kinda kooky rationale.

Is the runoff water supposed to make it all the way to the pool?

Will it rain more in the deck area because there's a deck there?

Do those people tote enough water to the deck for the runoff to be a potential problem?

I've seen GFCs galore, but I've never seen a deck so constructed.

I think money was the likely basis for the decision, and I'm pretty sure it's going to look weird, especially through a door or window. -----

- gpsman