Help Please!!! Deck post questions

[thedowdyfamily]

I have a 16' x 8' 2nd story deck with 10' posts. It is attached to the house on one 16' side and has stairs off one of the 8' sides. The posts are placed at the edges of the concrete on the pad below. The thickness of the concrete is approx. 4". How do I go about adding a proper pier/concrete pour to make a legitimate support for these posts? I really want to avoid removing the posts if at all possible and would be great if it looked good in the end as people are constantly in the backyard. Thanks for the help.

 

[Jimbo]

OK, so we won't harrass you about obviously building without a permit, which would have required proper footings!


I believe you could excavate under the post location without too much difficulty. The proper footing probably needs to be 12" X 12" X 12" deep. This could be dug fairly easily, then with a form on the outer side with just room to get the concrete in. The new form could be kept at or below ground level, so it would not look bad.

NOTE: You probably would want to intstall a temporary ledger with jack studs at each post as you do them, one at a time, so that the slab portion you are digging under is not taking the post load until the new footer has set up.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Scuba_Dave]

Where are you located?

 

[Iminaquagmire]

Build a temporary wall underneath the deck to take the load off when putting in the piers. Remove posts, and notch the pad where the pier will go. You can either cut it with a masonry partner saw or a core drill (takes a long time and more expensive). Dig down and pour your piers to the required depth. Replace posts and standoffs when cured. Remove temporary wall. Voila!

 

[Enosez]

Since your picture only shows the posts,
Is there any way to pour a footing just outside of the patio and move your posts and header forward a couple of inches?
It'll save you from having to breakup your concrete patio.

 

[Terry]

This reminds me of the house in Redmond that I lived in.
The wife had gotten a quote to replace the front steps.
They guy was going to build it first, and then pour concrete afterward.

I wound up doing it myself.
I poured a footing twelve feet long and built a wall up from that.
She comments years later, that it gives her a good feeling everytime she comes home.
And everytime I pick up my son, I think,

Dang that looks nice!

Unless you concrete is showing stress, I would just leave it.
How long has it been working this way?
Because the only thing you can do now, is to:

1) cut out squares where the posts are, dig down for footings, pour concrete and reinstall the posts. You can install temporary posts while you are doing the work.
If you saw cut, you can make it look pretty good.