Can You Screw Your Joist Hanger Into Your Ledger Deck?

Ledgers

• Carpenters use joist hangers when building a deck attached to a house. The ledger, a long 2-by-12-inch board of varying lengths, is secured to the house rim joist with carriage or lag bolts, often through the entire structure for strength. The house rim joist is buried underneath the exterior of the house. The outside deck ledger opposite the house sits atop or attaches to posts that support the exterior of the deck.

Joist Hangers

• Joist hangers, which are metal U-shaped brackets from the front but are flat L-shaped on the sides, are secured to the ledger at regular intervals with nails or screws, generally 16 or 24 inches on center for joists. You’ll also find joist hangers installed on the interior of the outside ledger opposite the house ledger. Once the joist hanger is attached to the ledger on both sides, the joist hangers hold the ends of the joist in place after they are secured with nails or screws through both sides of the joist.

Decking

• After the joists are in place and secure, the joists become the support for the deck floor, which is made from boards that are 2-by-4, 2-by-6, or wider. Each deck board spans several joists secured by long deck screws into the joists. Deck posts that support the exterior ledger span the distance from the deck footing or pier above the deck floor and become the posts that keep the deck railing in place.

Securing with Screws

• Decks secured with screws and bolts stay together longer than decks secured with just nails. This includes using screws for the joist hangers and every other bracket used to attach deck components together. Wood screws grip the wood, whereas the natural contraction and expansion of the wood through the seasons often pops nails straight out of the wood, loosening supports and boards.