TL;DR
A lateral load connector is the hardware that ties a deck's floor system back to the house structure so the deck cannot pull away from the building under occupant movement, a failure mode behind many collapse injuries. The IRC offers a prescriptive option of hold-down tension devices, rated at 1,500 pounds, installed at two locations connecting deck joists to house floor joists.
What it means
A lateral load connector is the hardware that ties a deck's floor system back to the house structure so the deck cannot pull away from the building under occupant movement, a failure mode behind many collapse injuries. The IRC offers a prescriptive option of hold-down tension devices, rated at 1,500 pounds, installed at two locations connecting deck joists to house floor joists. Hardware kits from Simpson and others implement the detail with threaded rods or screw assemblies, and inspectors increasingly ask where the two devices are on permit decks.
Where it sits in the glossary
Lateral load connector is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.