Connecting Guard Posts to Deck Frames

JLC Online: I can’t count the number of different ways I’ve fastened guard posts to deck framing. But I started paying a lot more attention to this important detail in 2005, when Virginia Tech researchers Frank Woeste and Joe Loferski and their team tested common post connection details used by deck builders (see “Strong Rail-Post Connections for Wooden Decks,” JLC, Feb/05). What they found is that most commonly used post connection details would not pass the minimum code requirement of a 200-pound load (plus a 2.5x safety factor to account for variations in field installation and degradation of the connections due to time and exposure to the elements).