Screws or Nails on decks

Posted by tony on September 14, 2005, 1:11 pm

I am building a deck in the yard. I talked to my contractor about
screws, and he assured me that nails were sufficient on the under
portion of the deck. Are screws better and if so how.

Posted by Tim Fischer on September 14, 2005, 3:15 pm

>I am building a deck in the yard. I talked to my contractor about
> screws, and he assured me that nails were sufficient on the under
> portion of the deck. Are screws better and if so how.

Just finished a deck (final inspection passed yesterday -- horray for me

<g>)

I'd never use nails on a new deck. I've seen far too many older decks with
nails popping out. In fact, this was part of the reason we replaced our old
deck, and I've fought this at my mom's place as well as our old home.

Go with screws, or even better, a hidden fastener system. We went with the
Tiger Claw hidden clips. They're not cheap, and not as easy to install as
they imply they are, but the finished product looks GREAT -- no holes
anywhere. Of course this might make more sense if you're using an upgraded
decking such as composite, which is what we did.

-Tim

Posted by Jeff Wisnia on September 14, 2005, 4:28 pm

Tim Fischer wrote:

>>I am building a deck in the yard. I talked to my contractor about
>>screws, and he assured me that nails were sufficient on the under
>>portion of the deck. Are screws better and if so how.

>
>
> Just finished a deck (final inspection passed yesterday -- horray for me
> <g>)
>
> I'd never use nails on a new deck. I've seen far too many older decks with
> nails popping out. In fact, this was part of the reason we replaced our old
> deck, and I've fought this at my mom's place as well as our old home.
>
> Go with screws, or even better, a hidden fastener system. We went with the
> Tiger Claw hidden clips. They're not cheap, and not as easy to install as
> they imply they are, but the finished product looks GREAT -- no holes
> anywhere. Of course this might make more sense if you're using an upgraded
> decking such as composite, which is what we did.
>
> -Tim
>
>

Tim, I think he wasn't referring to the decking, but to the framing and
joistsbelow it. Nails are generally what's used on them, along with
joist hangers, except perhaps for some lag bolts to secure a ledger
board to a house wall.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

Posted by Tim Fischer on September 14, 2005, 3:37 pm

> Tim, I think he wasn't referring to the decking, but to the framing and
> joistsbelow it. Nails are generally what's used on them, along with joist
> hangers, except perhaps for some lag bolts to secure a ledger board to a
> house wall.

Whoops, I guess that's what he meant by the "under portion", lol. Yep, we
certainly used nails for all of that. Some even feel nails are better for
that, due to greater sheer strength...

The exceptions, as you partially noted, would be the ledger board, railing
posts, and some beam/post connections which require bolts or lag screws.

-Tim

Posted by on September 14, 2005, 3:14 pm

>Whoops, I guess that's what he meant by the "under portion", lol. Yep, we

certainly used nails for all of that. Some even feel nails are better
for
that, due to greater sheer strength... <

Yup, I broke one of those screws a few days ago just by hand torque. I
don't know what material they use for those things but it has a lot
less shear strength than nails. However, I do use screws a lot nowadays
just out of fear of splitting the junky wood that's so common.

KW

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