Classic Deck Failure

Most often when a deck collapses the first thing people thing about are the outside support posts failing, whereas it is actually more common to fail on the house side.
There are many reasons for this, the most common reason, not enough fasteners (bolts/screws/nails) used to secure the ledger board to the house wall. Then there is the issue of the wrong type of fasteners being used. This board must be bolted to the house framing, never to the exterior brick which is not load bearing capable. The bolts must be galvanized and installed in a zig zag pattern and correctly spaced.
There cannot be any siding (wood or vinyl) between the ledger board and the house framing. There must be flashing over the top of the ledger board to prevent water getting between it and the house framing to prevent wood rot and catastrophic failure. The board must be pressure treated and the correct size for the joists.
We have only briefly made comment on one of the numerous components of a deck. This component failing can collapse a deck without warning.
Yes we do inspect decks and it’s rare we find one that is correctly constructed without multiple defects.