Building a Deck - Drill into Brick Facade or Not?

[Mjärn]

A construction company is going to build a 45 m2 deck on plinths. I have a brick house and the carpenter says he plans to drill into the joint between the bricks. When I Google it, some people think it's not good to drill into the joint. So what do you say about this?

 

[Harald Blåtumme]

Normally, "tegelhus" is just a single-layer facade cladding and is not stable enough to anchor a deck to, with various loads that can occur over the seasons. A possible exception is if you can anchor it to the foundation wall or the underlying framework in the brick facade, but I wouldn't do that. The simplest and, in my opinion, best solution is to place a foundation post nearest the wall and have the entire deck detached from the house.

 

[Mjärn]

Normally, "brick house" is just a single-layer facade cladding and is not stable enough to anchor a deck to, with various loads that may occur over the seasons. A possible exception is if you can anchor it in the foundation wall or the underlying framework in the brick facade, but I wouldn't do that. The simplest and, in my opinion, the best approach is to set a plinth closest to the wall and have the entire deck detached from the house.

Closest to the house, there is gravel with crushed stone, so it would be a bit of a hassle to fill it in. The easiest thing is to attach it to the facade. I guess if the carpenter says it's best, then there shouldn't be any danger? What's the worst that could happen?

 

[Harald Blåtumme]

We hope you get more responses, but my understanding is what I wrote. A brick facade is just that, a facade, built to support itself with minimal other than the vertical load of its own weight. You can attach small fixtures, etc., to the brick, but nothing heavy and large that can move even slightly due to frost, post settlements, seasonal changes, etc.

 

[Dublin]

The plinth row closest to the house doesn't have to be right against the wall. How far out do you have gravel/macadame?

 

[Mjärn]

The footer closest to the house doesn't have to be flush against the wall. How far out do you have gravel/crushed stone?

Maybe 30 cm out

 

[Bengt65]

A construction company is going to build a 45 m2 deck on piers. I have a brick house and the carpenter says he plans to drill into the joint between the bricks. When I google, some people say it is not good to drill into the joint. So what do you say about this?

Anchored in the foundation wall?

 

[teuvo tainio]

Normally, "brick house" is just a single-row facade cladding and is not stable enough to anchor a deck in, with various loads that can occur over the seasons. An exception might be if you can anchor into the foundation wall or the underlying framework in the brick facade, but I wouldn't do it that way. The simplest and in my opinion the best is to place a pier closest to the wall and have the entire deck detached from the house.

Good morning, my deck/sunroom about 25m2 I built in 1992 with summer glass. In 2010 I renovated it for fall/winter with an insulated floor, glass, and 40 mm channel plastic roof, the joists were reinforced with more piers due to the extra weight, it is not attached to the house and it has never moved in a measurable/notable way, but a prerequisite is that the groundwork is done properly, I drilled with a soil auger and cast my own piers.