A Deck Inspection is a fee-for-service inspection that is separate from and more thorough than inspecting a deck as part of a Home Inspection. Deck Inspections evaluate the deck according to a selected Deck Construction Guideline. US Inspect uses the American Wood Council’s “Guide to Code Acceptance,” commonly referred to as DCA6. Deck Inspections are not technically difficult, but they are detailed. You will be required to take measurements and consult tables and diagrams. Those reference materials are downloadable throughout Inspecto Libro in our data collection platform’s Deck Inspection template.
US Inspect uses DCA6 as its selected Deck Construction Guideline. The American Wood Council requests that we provide a link to DCA6 rather than post the entire document. This ensures that you will always have the most up-to-date standard. Use the link below to connect to the latest version of DCA6. You can then download it by clicking on the arrow in the upper right corner.
http://www.awc.org/pdf/codes-standards/publications/dca/AWC-DCA62015-DeckGuide-1804.pdf
Here are DCA6’s Minimum Requirements and Limitations:
Here is the final version of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI) Auxiliary Standard for residential deck inspections.