installing Z flashing after the fact

[John Dirks Jr]

I can't remember if I asked this here before but here goes again.

If there is lack of proper deck ledger flashing, how difficult is it to fix? Couldn't you just remove the first piece of decking against the house, cut or lift siding and install flashing? What other complications can there be?

[Brandon Whitmore]

The answer: It depends.

Often, when there is no flashing, the siding was left in place behind the ledger board. Depending on the siding type, flashing may be difficult to retro- fit.

If the WRB is exposed because siding was removed behind the ledger board, it could be as easy as pulling a surface board, trimming siding up slightly, and slipping flashing into place. Assuming the boards run parallel to the house of course.

Each scenario will have a different answer.

[fyrmnk]

Do they have it spaced from the siding currently? I've mentioned it before, but in my area, decks are not flashed 99% of the time. They are spaced about 3/4" and surface bolted. The AHJ for the municipalities in my area encourage it, and even have a deck guideline put out by the county I live in that explains it as well as the flashing option, but the municipalities here heavily recommend spacing instead of flashing.

If you do want it flashed though, it could be tricky due to clearance to properly access everything to detail it correctly I would think.

Here's the document used here as a guideline by most in my county if it helps at all. Pg. 5&6 talk about the ledger. http://www.olatheks.org/files/Developme ... elines.pdf