Ledger Board attachment - HELP

[jmathisen]

So I'm working on building a deck. I cut the vinyl siding, got new J-channel up and put flashing over my new ledger board. I'm using the 5" LedgerLok fasteners, and screwing them in every 6 inches in an up-and-down zigzag, 2 inches from the top, and 2 inches from the bottom. The problem is that while the fasteners seem to go in great with no pre-drilling, their not biting in at the end. They go in, but when the built-in washer hits the ledger board, they just continue to spin. I think 2 of the 30 I put in actually seemed to grab tight. I'm in a split level, ledger board 7 feet off the ground. The builders put a patio door on the house, but no ledger board. The floor joists are running against my ledger board, so I should be able to hit some of them past the rim joist, but am having no luck. Even if I don't hit a floor joist, they should bite in just fine only hitting the rim joist, right? What am I missing??? GGGGRRRRRRRRR

[pushkins]

You have everything correct (except the ledger loks only needed to be spaced every 12"), You ledger is screwing into the band board the band board is 1 1/2" and your ledger is 1 1/2" I bet your using screws around 5" or longer ?....what is happening is the ledger lok is going all the way through the band and not getting a proper hold. The ones that are are binding tight are almost certainly driving through the ledger and band board and into the end (sometimes) of the perpendicular floor joists.
I use 3 5/8" loks for your situation 3" of ledger and band boards and 1/2" sheathing and always add 5" loks to find floor joists. (If the deck is a big one and I can gain access to the interior of the band board I use Simpson DTT2's fastened to the floor joists and through bolted to the ledger.)

If you measure between the two ledger loks you know are biting in, is it a multiple of 16" ? (ie: 16, 32, 48? etc...) If so reposition some of the loks you have (or drive more if you have spare) so that you pick up the joists.

[jmathisen]

The two that are hitting are 32" apart, but I went 16 between them and hit nothing. Also went 16" on the opposite sides of them and hit nothing. I don't know how I can be missing 3 1/2" of floor joist. Since I already have 30 holes in my ledger board, should I keep poking around and seeing what else I can hit with the ledgerloks, or should I throw some lag screws in that I know will grab? It's a 16' ledger board, so how many should I have hit at a minimum, and can i hit a point where it's just too many holes in the board? Thanks for the help!!

[pushkins]

No don't keep driving more in, either use shorter ledger loks (replace some of the ones you have already done, or add 4" lag screws at this point. Don't drill new holes replace some of the ledger loks with lags (1 lag every 12" staggered) The screws that are spinning when driven in are not doing a lot to correctly secure that ledger.
What size ledger loks are you using ?

[jmathisen]

5" ledgerloks. I'll probably use lags staggered every 12" now since I worry the shorter loks wouldn't grab as well now that there is already holes. Should I predrill the existing holes more for the lags or is the hole the loks made enough?

[pushkins]

If you use 3/8" lags you'll probably find the existing holes will work without too much trouble, you might even get in 1/2" without a great deal of issues. As a rough rule of thumb (and this will depend on pine or hardwood, old or new) but you drill the hole 3/4 of the size of the lag and 1/2" shorter then the length of the lag....so a 1/2" x 4" lag will have a pilot hole of 3/8" 3 1/2" deep for example. I tend to always size under that (I'd use a 1/4" bit) to start with, if the wood is dry and hard you'll know when it gets tough to screw it in, then simply upsize. Most big box stores sell very new and very wet pine, so a smaller pilot is seldom an issue if that's where your wood came from.