This is a true story about about Jenn Tallmadge. A victim to a poorly built deck that was never properly inspected.

Her Letter...

I was on a mini getaway vacation with my husband where we rented a beautiful 4 month old cabin in the Smoky Mountains in TN. I’ll try to make a long story short.

There were 2 decks off the back of the cabin. The hillside was too steep to be down in the yard so we spent a lot of the time on the upper deck. It had some chairs, a grill, and a hot tub. Anyway, the 2 of us were out on the deck getting ready to cook some food and my husband had just fired up the grill. After a few minutes, he stepped inside to grab something for us to drink while I sat in the rocker holding the food.

Within seconds, the deck began to separate from the cabin and I started to slide. I’ll never forget it. The noise was indescribable. I don’t remember much after that until seeing my husband looking into my eyes… and then the helicopter ride. I remember thinking “Wow, if they have me in a helicopter, it must be bad."

My husband was a Drill Sergeant in the Army at the time and I don’t think I had ever seen him look scared until that moment. I fell 40 feet and was buried under the rubble of the 2 decks and a hot tub. I also landed on charcoal (ouch) and had to have some skin grafts because of the 3rd degree burns on my stomach. Several broken bones, surgeries, and scars later I am pretty much fine. Thanks to God.

This all happened because the deck was built negligently and incorrectly and there was never an inspection. Lucky me, 100’s of cabins to choose from and I picked that one. Actually, I know I’m lucky and blessed to be alive today.

Jenn Tallmadge

The Before Photos...
Would you think twice before going out onto the deck of this brand new vacation cabin? Most people wouldn't even think about it. Now, what about your own deck at home?

The After Photos...
Take a look at the pictures after the deck had failed and collapsed. Can you see what caused this deck to collapse?

The Conclusion...
As we look closely at Jenn's deck (see last picture above), you can see that the deck was brand new and it looked good. The railings look good from the photos. There are added floor joists under the hot tub. The only give away was the lack of bolts in the ledger board.

You can see that the deck ledger board was attached to the cabin with only nails. There were no carriage head or lag bolts at all. This should be convincing enough to anybody who studies this case to realize that using only nails is unsafe and reason enough not to go out onto the deck.

Nails are smooth and have no bite so nails can pull out very easy, especially when there is a lot of weight pulling on them. This could have been prevented by installing about $35 worth of hardware.