A deck that looks worn is a cosmetic project. A deck with a rotted ledger board, failed post bases, or compromised joists is a structural liability — and a documented safety hazard at every future inspection and sale. APCON LLC repairs the framing system that has failed, not the surface. Fixed-price contract. Permit coordination included. 5-year written structural guarantee.
Ledger connection assessment, post and beam condition, joist bearing evaluation, hardware corrosion rating, moisture readings at all structural members. Written findings and fixed-price proposal. $350 credited in full if you proceed.
Most Tacoma-area decks were built between 1970 and 2005. The majority were attached to the house with a ledger board — a horizontal framing member through-bolted into the house rim joist or band joist — and supported at the outer edge by posts bearing on concrete piers or footings. This connection system works until it doesn't, and in Western Washington's rainfall climate, the failure timeline is predictable.
The ledger board is the highest-risk component on any attached deck. It sits against the house sheathing, often with inadequate or no flashing, and traps water at the ledger-to-house interface with every rainfall event. Over years, that chronic wet-dry cycling drives moisture into both the ledger and the house rim joist behind it. In pre-2000 construction — before current IRC deck ledger flashing requirements were widely enforced — this means the ledger connection has been accumulating moisture damage for two decades or more by the time a homeowner or inspector assesses it.
Post base hardware is the second failure point. Simpson and equivalent post base connectors corrode in ground-level moisture environments. Corroded hardware loses its load transfer capacity even when the visible post lumber appears sound. Many post base failures are only apparent when the connector is probed — the steel has corroded to a fraction of its original thickness behind the surface oxidation. This is why a phone description of "a couple of soft posts" does not constitute a scope definition.
This page covers structural framing repair only — ledger boards, beams, joists, posts, and connection hardware. Deck staining, cleaning, resurfacing, and new deck construction are outside our scope and referred out. If the framing is sound and the issue is surface appearance, we are not the right contractor. If the framing has failed, we are. See also our dry rot remediation services and pre-listing inspection repair pages for adjacent services commonly identified in the same diagnostic.
A failed ledger board does not confine its damage to the deck. The ledger is through-bolted into the house rim joist and floor framing. When the ledger rots, moisture migrates behind it into the building envelope — rim joist, floor joist bearing ends, mudsill, and exterior sheathing. What begins as a deck repair frequently reveals a broader structural scope at the house perimeter. Every forensic diagnostic includes assessment of the house framing at the ledger connection before a proposal is issued.
These are structural warning signs — not surface weathering. Any one of these warrants a forensic diagnostic before the deck is used, listed, or transferred.
Visible Gap or Movement at the Ledger Connection
A gap between the ledger board and the house sheathing — or any visible movement of the ledger when the deck is loaded — indicates that the ledger connection has failed or is failing. This is not a settling issue. The ledger is a structural bolted connection that is either sound or it isn't. A gap means the load path from the deck to the house has been compromised.
Soft or Crumbling Wood in Posts, Beams, or Joists
Structural lumber that compresses under hand pressure, shows dark discoloration penetrating beyond the surface, or crumbles when probed with a screwdriver or awl has active fungal decay and has lost structural cross-section. The surface appearance of a post or beam does not indicate its interior condition — a post can be gray and checked on the exterior and still be structurally sound, or it can appear intact while decayed through to the core. Probe testing at bearing points is required.
Corroded or Displaced Post Base Hardware
Post base connectors that show heavy surface rust, separation from the concrete pier, or displacement under lateral load have exceeded their serviceable condition. Corroded hardware does not hold its rated load. In Pierce County's coastal and rainfall-influenced climate, post base hardware on unprotected decks commonly exceeds serviceable corrosion thresholds within 15–20 years of installation — well within the service life of the deck structure above it.
Visible Deck Deflection or Out-of-Level Condition
A deck that has visibly dropped at one corner, slopes toward the house rather than away, or shows a pronounced sag in the middle span has experienced structural settlement or member failure. Out-of-level conditions that were not present at original construction are not cosmetic — they indicate that a structural member or connection has lost its load-bearing capacity and load has redistributed to adjacent members that may be similarly compromised.
Inspection Report Citing Deck Structural Deficiency
Buyer and pre-listing inspection reports that flag deck framing rot, corroded hardware, ledger connection failure, or missing joist hangers document a condition that generates lender and buyer concern at every subsequent transaction. Decks with structural deficiencies documented in inspection reports are a negotiation liability — and in some cases a deal-killer — until the structural repair is completed and documented. Pre-listing repair eliminates the problem before it reaches the transaction table.
Missing, Pulled-Free, or Undersized Joist Hangers
Joist hangers that have separated from the ledger or rim joist, are visibly corroded through, or are missing entirely mean that joists are bearing on their end grain alone — a connection condition that fails in lateral loading and provides no uplift resistance. This is a code deficiency and a safety condition. It is most common on decks built before metal connector hardware was consistently specified and inspected.
Every deck structural repair follows this sequence. The diagnostic defines the actual scope — not a visual estimate. The contract fixes the price. Nothing is discovered after mobilization.
Forensic Diagnostic
Full structural assessment: ledger connection, house rim joist at ledger, all posts with probe testing at base, beam bearing surfaces, joist condition and hanger hardware, post base hardware corrosion rating, footing adequacy. Written findings. $350 credited 100% toward repair contract.
Written Findings & Proposal
Member-by-member scope: which components require replacement, which hardware requires upgrade, whether the ledger connection requires re-flashing, whether house framing at the ledger connection is affected. Lump-sum fixed price. Permit determination. No open-ended scope items.
Structural Build
Temporary support of deck framing. Replacement of failed structural members — ledger, beams, posts, joists — with pressure-treated lumber per applicable IRC requirements. New ledger flashing per current code. Post base hardware upgrade to Simpson or equivalent rated connectors. Joist hanger replacement. Permit inspection coordination. Decking boards temporarily removed and reinstalled as required for access.
Documentation & Guarantee
Written 5-year structural guarantee on all repaired members and hardware. Permit final if applicable. Photo documentation before and after. Written project record suitable for disclosure packages, real estate transactions, and lender repair requirements.
All structural repair work performed by APCON LLC under License #APCONL*825QO carries a written 5-year guarantee against defects in workmanship and materials. The guarantee is transferable to subsequent owners within the guarantee period. It is delivered as a document at project completion — not stated verbally and not contingent on follow-up requests.
Deck collapse is the documented outcome of deferred ledger and post failure. The structural decay that leads to collapse is not sudden — it progresses over years. The decision to defer repair is a decision to accept the liability that accompanies that progression.
Ledger Failure Becomes a House Structural Problem
A failed ledger board is not confined to the deck. Moisture behind the ledger migrates into the house rim joist, floor joist bearing ends, and mudsill. What presents as a deck repair on the exterior frequently reveals a $10,000–$30,000 house structural repair scope on the other side of the sheathing. The longer the ledger has been failing, the further the decay has advanced into the building envelope. See our mudsill replacement and crawl space and floor joist repair pages for the adjacent scopes most commonly found at ledger failure sites.
Personal Injury Liability
A structurally compromised deck that fails under load creates direct personal injury liability for the property owner. Washington State premises liability law holds property owners responsible for conditions they knew about or should have known about. A pre-listing or buyer inspection report that flags structural deck deficiencies establishes documented knowledge. Proceeding to closing without repair — or continuing to allow deck use after a structural deficiency is documented — is not a defensible position.
Transaction and Financing Failure
Documented deck structural deficiencies in an inspection report place the transaction at risk. Conventional lenders require structural deficiency resolution before funding. FHA and VA financing have additional requirements. Buyers' agents routinely recommend against accepting a structurally deficient deck as-is at any price reduction — because the liability transfers with the property. Completing repair before listing removes all of this risk and produces written documentation for the disclosure package.
Scope Growth Is Certain With Time
Active fungal decay in a ledger board spreads both along the ledger and into the house framing behind it. A post base that has corroded to 60% of its load capacity will continue corroding. A joist hanger that has separated will not re-engage. None of these conditions stabilize on their own. The scope documented at the diagnostic is the minimum scope. Every season of deferred repair adds to it. This is the most consistent pattern we observe across all structural assessments: the repair authorized first costs less than the repair authorized after one more year of delay.
Deck structural repair is pure general contractor framing scope under WAC 296-200A-016(23). Decks are explicitly covered structural work. The boundary below is not ambiguous — if it is structural framing, we do it. If it is surface finish, we do not.
APCON LLC holds Washington State General Contractor License #APCONL*825QO, general liability insurance, and contractor bond. All deck structural framing work is performed directly under this license per WAC 296-200A-016(23). Any electrical work required at the deck — exterior outlets, lighting, GFI circuits — is performed exclusively by Washington State–licensed electrical contractors under GC oversight per RCW 19.28. Subcontractor minimum invoice threshold for GC coordination: $3,000.
Gig Harbor properties — particularly waterfront and view homes — carry elevated deck exposure due to saltwater-influenced humidity and higher wind loading on cantilevered and elevated decks. University Place and North End Tacoma housing stock from the 1970s and 1980s accounts for the highest volume of ledger connection failures we assess, reflecting that era's pre-flashing-requirement construction standards.
Deck structural failure is rarely isolated. The services below address the conditions most commonly found during deck structural diagnostics.
These are the questions that determine whether a project moves forward or stalls. Answered without hedging.
Licensing & Regulatory Compliance Notice — Realty Repair Co. is a registered trade name of APCON LLC (Washington State General Contractor License #APCONL*825QO). Deck structural framing repair — including ledger boards, beams, posts, joists, and connection hardware — is performed directly by APCON LLC under GC license as structural framing work per WAC 296-200A-016(23). Decks are explicitly covered structural work under this provision. This scope does not require specialty trade licensing.
Any electrical work required at the deck — exterior outlets, lighting circuits, GFI protection — is performed exclusively by Washington State–licensed electrical contractors under GC oversight per RCW 19.28. All plumbing work is performed exclusively by Washington State–licensed plumbing contractors per RCW 18.106. APCON LLC does not hold specialty trade licenses for electrical, plumbing, or HVAC and does not perform specialty trade work directly.
The distinction between cosmetic wear and structural failure is not visible from grade. A forensic diagnostic puts a probe in every post base, reads moisture at every ledger bolt, and assesses the house framing behind the ledger — then delivers a written scope and a fixed price. $350, credited 100% toward your repair contract. No gray area on what the work costs or what it covers.
WA GC License #APCONL*825QO · Lump-Sum Fixed Price · 5-Year Written Guarantee · Permit Coordination Included