wooden deck?
We bought a house a year ago with a wooden deck. At some point somebody said they thought it was grandfathered in but today I’m reading DOB can fine you even if the deck has been there forever? We can’t redo it now, and it is in good condition. How much do I need to…
We bought a house a year ago with a wooden deck. At some point somebody said they thought it was grandfathered in but today I’m reading DOB can fine you even if the deck has been there forever? We can’t redo it now, and it is in good condition. How much do I need to worry? We aren’t selling or anything and many neighbors also have decks…
Thanks Steve. I looked more closely at DOB TPPN #4/03, and confirmed that.
It states:
An open porch, veranda, portico, terrace or deck shall be considered acceptable for projection into a required yard if the following is provided:
• There shall be no useable building or storage space underneath.
• Projection does not exceed eight feet beyond the face of the building, except that steps leading from a porch or deck may be located beyond this unit.
Jim Hill, RA, LEED AP
Urban Pioneering Architecture
Jim,
You are correct. The required yard is 30′. If the yard is 50′ deep, you can design a deck that’s much deeper…by 20′.
steve
I’m an architect, and I’ve been investigating the same issue for a current project. I’ve found some info online stating exactly what’s above, but also a restriction on the depth of the deck.
IN one DOB document (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/html/reference/tppn0403.shtml), it’s restricted to 8 feet from the rear of the building, and in another (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dob/downloads/pdf/swimpools.pdf) it’s restricted to 8 feet beyond the face of the building into the required rear yard. This latter description seems to indicate that the deck could be deeper if the rear face of the building is more than 30 feet from the rear lot line.
Anyone care to comment on that one?
Thanks Steve
going4broke,
I build Ipe decks, but when I build all wood decks, I use pressure treated pine for the substructure. It would be too expensive and difficult to build an all Ipe deck. Here’s a link to a DOB document allowing Ipe (tabebuia) as a fire retardant material.
http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dob/downloads/pdf/409-03-m.pdf
As geekspice said, I think that it depends on the inspector’s interpretation.
If you want to play it safe, go with steel and Ipe, or keep your deck 3 feet away from the property line.
If you want to get your information directly from the powers that be, go to homeowner’s night at the DOB…every tuesday from 4-5:30 pm at 210 Joralemon Street, 8th floor. You can sit one on one with an inspector. He will answer any questions that you have relating to your home.
Steve
What legal deck materials are there besides metal? Is it true that there are acceptable wood varieties? Ipe?
Any even vague idea when the code changed? 20 yrs? 50?
There are a lot of stories flying around about this. From what I understand, having legalized an existing old wooden deck on my house, it goes as follows:
1. If you build a new wooden deck that is not up to code, DOB can fine you. This usually happens because a neighbor complains, but not always.
2. If you have an old wooden deck that you can prove was built before the code changed, it is grandfathered in. This was the case with my deck. I don’t remember the date of the change, though.
3. If you have an old wooden deck that you can’t prove was built before the code changed, the DOB can fine you, but that’s rare. The DOB can also refuse to approve other plans or a C of O change unless the deck is brought up to code.
My understanding is based on conversations with my architect and the DOB inspector. I don’t know how much personal interpretation by the inspectors goes into this, but given the wide range of experiences people report, it seems like a lot.