Fastening Deck Boards

[mrojec]

I used gray trex with self tapping square drive deck screws from McFeely's that were double galvanized or some such thing. That was almost 10 years ago and it still looks great with absolutely no maintenance. I didn't predrill the screw holes and a little trex pops up when the screw head sinks in, but pounding it down with a smooth-faced hammer makes it nearly disappear.
Mark

[LYU370]

I might nip out to get a palm nailer as I have a bunch of hangers to attach.

Just out of interest, what'd the LF price of cedar? I'm getting ipe for $2 LF.

Got a great deal on the cedar at Lowes $1.02 LF. The Ipe I was able to find was over $3. Is the $2 LF the 4" or 6"? Remember, you'll need quite a bit more of the 4".


Well, post holes are dug, all the lumber and concrete gets delivered on Saturday. And I actually managed to avoid the power lines that are buried right under where the deck is going. Had to move a couple post holes after they marked the locations. A couple were still pretty close, but the lights stayed on!!

[twistsol]

You can get the hidden fasteners on the cheap with only one drawback and that is that installation takes forever. On my parents deck I used pocket holes on the joists and put the screws in from underneath. Nothing shows on top, you can replace or tighten boards. It takes two people and a lot of time.

[siliconbauhaus]

Got a great deal on the cedar at Lowes $1.02 LF. The Ipe I was able to find was over $3. Is the $2 LF the 4" or 6"? Remember, you'll need quite a bit more of the 4".

That's a good price mate. Lowes around here don't even know what cedar is. The price I had for ipe was 3 1/2 wide. I'm going to do a random pattern with 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 and I think I'm going to skip the hidden fasteners. I need to find some good square or star drive stainless screws.