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How to Connect a Porch to a Brick Wall

Kenneth Crawford

Connecting your new wood porch to a brick wall is a bit more complicated than simply using anchors in the brick. The brick wall acts as a siding for the home. When connecting a porch or deck to your home, it is necessary to install a ledger board on the wall for the deck or porch. Connecting a porch to a brick wall, it is essential that you attach to the house band joist on the opposite side of the brick. This requires drilling through the brick and house band joists for anchoring points.

Step 1

Mark the top of the ledger location onto the brick wall with a chalk line. The top of the ledger should be the height of the porch minus the thickness of the porch landing. The landing of the porch and the porch joists attach to the ledger.

Step 2

Measure the length of the ledger board necessary using the porch width where it comes up to the house as the measurement. Cut a 2-by-6-inch ledger board to the measurement with a circular saw.

Step 3

Drill 1/2-inch mounting holes at each end of the ledger board and drill holes along the length of the ledger board every 12 inches. The holes should be in the center of the board. Hold the board against the brick wall with the assistance of a friend. Mark the mounting holes onto the brick wall with a pencil.

Step 4

Make holes at your mounting hole marks with a hammer drill and 1/2-inch masonry bit. Drill each hole through the brick until you hit the floor house band joist. Once you hit the joist, insert a long 1/2-inch wood bit into your drill and drill through the house band joist.

Step 5

Place a flat washer over each 8-inch through bolt and insert each bolt through the holes in the ledger board. Hold the ledger board in place with assistance from your helper, and push each bolt through the mounting holes in the brick wall. It may be necessary to tap the head of the bolts with a hammer to knock the bolts through the mounting holes.

Step 6

Go into your crawl space and slip a flat washer over each bolt on the other side of the house band joist. Thread nuts onto each bolt and tighten securely with a socket wrench.

Step 7

Position the end of the porch landing over the ledger board and nail the landing into the top of the ledger board. Place joist brackets on the ledger board to accommodate the porch landing joists, if your porch landing is large enough for joists underneath.