My buddy's deck collapse taught me a lesson about joist spacing

My friend in Denver built this nice looking deck last summer, posted pics, everyone loved it. Cut to last month, he throws a small BBQ and the thing just gives way under the grill and cooler... maybe 8 people nearby. Nobody got hurt bad but it was a mess. I helped him rebuild it and we found the joists were spaced like 24 inches apart instead of the standard 16. The wood was also some untreated pine from a big box store. Over the winter, the moisture got in, warped the boards, and the screws stripped out. We switched to pressure treated 2x8s with 12 inch spacing and used structural screws instead of nails. Now it feels like concrete. Has anyone else dealt with a friend trying to cut corners on something like this and it backfiring later?

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kim6933mo ago

24 inch spacing on a deck that people were standing on? That is insane. I actually gasped when I read that number. Most deck tables I've built would barely hold a snow load with that much gap, let alone a bunch of people and a full grill. And untreated pine from a big box store? Thats basically asking for rot and failure within a year. I'm honestly surprised it lasted through the winter without sagging first. Wild that nobody got hurt, that could have been way worse.

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chen.casey3mo ago

Right, but nobody's talking about how those 2x6s were probably nailed instead of screwed too. Makes you wonder what else was half-assed on that build.

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