I'm in the process of building a deck. Originally, for several reasons, my footing and post approach was to dig down below the frost line, pour about 8" of concrete, and then put my treated posts on the concrete and then backfill with dirt or gravel. According the Intl Building Codes, this is an acceptable approach: After thinking about this more and researching it more, I'm worried about the longevity of this approach even with treated wood. So I have decided to shift gears to do something else. I'm now wanting to do this instead: Now, the problem is that I've already dug and poured my footings. I'm talking about ONLY the large flat 8" footing in the first diagram. Not the pier as in the 2nd diagram. So I'm wondering, is it okay to pour a pier on top of an already dried footing? It is possible this could create some sort of unintended air gap between the two? Obviously if I had taken this approach from the beginning I would have poured it all at once but its too late for that. Also, in order to help improve the connection between the dry footings and the new piers, I was thinking about drilling into the footings and putting in a few pieces of rebar sticking out vertically. Then I would pour my pier (using a Sonotube or something) centered on the rebar. So that would hopefully help tie them together better. My question here, is it okay to drill out and put in rebar into the dry footing? Do I epoxy it in there or what? Obviously it would have been best to put in the rebar at the same time as the footing but again, too late. Can anyone give me some guidance here? Thank you in advance.

Hello, Planning to build a 20x24' ground level deck that is half on a concrete slab, but will extend over to grass/land. **Please look over my sketchup model pictures below and point out any problems and recommendations. For the frame, I am planning to use 2x6's that are elevated off the concrete with post bases by 1". The problem I feel I am running into is that from my concrete slab to the bottom of the door, there is 7.5"'s in some places and 6"'s of height in other places. I feel that I would need to use 2x4's so that I will not have a problem on height. Q: If the 2x4's are on a concrete surfaced (raised so they wont rot), is that ok or is it not strong enough? Q: Could I also use 2x4's out to the grass, or should I stick with 2x6's there? For my Ledger board: ½”x6” lag bolts to go in the ledger board that will be connected to the current concrete base wall of the house. Lag shield will be put in before each lag screw. Bolts are spaced 24” apart and aligned in the center of the board height wise. Q: If the bolts are connected to a 2x6x8, are more than three required? Q: Estimated number of screws for a 20x24 ground level deck? Q: I read that I should put a ½” spacer between the two 2x6’s that will act as the ledger board. Should I drill the lag bolt into both of those (outside 2x6->spacer->2x6 ledger->concrete), or just the inside ledger and concrete? David