http://s1071.photobucket.com/albums/u511/medhora/

Hello: Need some insight at the photos above. The balcony deck has 3 wood planks going in and some are rooted which I am looking to replace. How can I do that? Is the wooden going in the wall fastened to something? or they would come off and I replace it with another one! Any help! Thanks

I'm guessing those are cantilevered joists that go into the structure some distance. If you cut them, their structural value will be lost. I don't recommend doing that. Beyond that, what you want to do in detail will determine what you can do about them. Also, are they deteriorated; I can't tell from the photos.

Thanks for your reply. If you see the pics some of the joists are rotten and are like "biscuits" touch and will fall. Some are OK. Anyway to fix them! Thanks

I'd agree with Bob that they are cantilevered joists. They likely go into the structure and are nailed to the sides of the joists for the floor inside the house. I think in order to fix them you're going to have to open up the ceiling, or it may be possible to install a header against the structure and use joist hangers to attach that end of the joists. You won't be able to cantilever the deck this way, you'll need to have posts going down to footers on the unsupported side of the deck. I can't tell from the picture if you have any posts now, I suspect you don't because people wouldn't normally cantilever a deck unless they wanted to eliminate the posts.

It looks like the joists have been repaired/sistered previously. I would remove the ceiling as necessary, remove all of the existing members and start new if I wanted a cantilevered deck.

An option would be to support the joists at the wall and, instead of installing posts to the ground, to install supports from near the end of the joists on an angle back to a ledger fastened to the studs.

Thank you for your replies.

No there are no post which supports the balcony, its only those joists whcih are coming out and nothing else. Don't know why it was built this way as it does not seem to be stable at all!

Is this a job for a DIYer? I have done a deck on my own previously in the backyard from scratch!

The joists go into the garage so opening the ceiling would not be much of a hassle BUT how deep do these go!! The balcony producting outside is around 4/5 feet so I guess atleast 12 feet goes inside? before I start I want to make sure. Thanks everyone.

Sorry posted without logging in before.

Moreover dont want to put brackets as the balcony is in the front of the house and would look odd and cannot put posts as below the balcony is a driveway and entrance to the garage. Thanks

Given what apparently has gone on before and the nature of your questions you might be better off hiring someone to handle the job. There is no more inherent instability with a properly constructed cantilevered deck than with any other, but no way the prior used proper materials, hence rotting away. And if wrong materials used, who knows what othewr issues there are. And whatever the drop deck to ground is, this isn't a good place to experiment. Ront

Taken the advise I got some quotes and all of them go over 2K to have this deck repaired. I feel it is too expensive to repair a deck.

Simple solution. Drop the deck. Cut the support beams back to the plywood and patch the siding. And be sure to fasten the screen door so that it can't open. Ront