Stainless Steel Deck Screws

[Jim Riseborough]

So my deck is need of new screws, the nails keep working their way out. I was going to use a stainless screw to replace the nails, a bit bigger than the nail in there. Anyone have any reason not to do this?

[Gregory King]

Jim, assuming your [boards] are probably 5/4" stock, then the nail is likely 2 1/2" galv. Why not use a #9 or #10 deck screw slightly longer than the nail length. That's the easy part. Hardest part is getting the nails out without damaging the board face. Cat's paw? Ouch. Good luck. Greg

[Kevin Bourque]

Stainless is really expensive and it stays shiny forever. How about epoxy coated deck screws instead? They will last as long as your deck and they are colored.

[Jim Riseborough]

Thanks. Most of the nails are proud, I will get the ones I can, perhaps wait for the others. Epoxy would be fine too I guess. Off to mcfeelys then for screws!

[Ole Anderson]

I used the coated square drive deck screws in my Trex deck 6 years ago (still look nice), and I used square drive SS screws to anchor the railing to the spindles, as I needed an uncommon length where McFeely's came to the rescue. Latest project, my lower deck, I used the torx drive SS deck screws from Lowe's, they worked the best but were a bit pricey. Only the McFeely's needed countersinking, the others used a self flushing small pan head. A drywall driver worked well to set them exactly flush. I really don't like the look of flat head screws driven until they mushroom the wood around them. Don't have that on any of my deck areas as I used a countersink bit on the McFeely's and the self cutting pan heads look perfect.

[Carl Beckett]

I used SS square drive with a trim head for my deck. It doesnt matter that they are shiney because it will get covered by both the deck finish, and then the weather.

Some materials are prone to splitting, and even the plastic decks can mushroom up around the head. I ended up drilling and countersinking them all.

[Don Jarvie]

HD and Lowes sell deck screws that are grey or brown. I can't thing of the name but the have a sq drive and are course on the bottom and a finer thread near the top. They work great and will never loosen.

[Jay Jeffery]

I'm building a swing set and using almost all stainless fasteners. Most of them have come from ebay. I foundt 11 lbs of SS deck screws for between $35, cheaper than I could have bought regular deck screws at any major harware chain. Stanless lag bolts were about the same price as the "contractor" packs of zinc plated lag bolts at the borgs. There is also a small hardware store just outside of town that sells fasteners by the pound, and I got some SS deck screws there for under $7/lb. So if you are patient and a cheapskate, they can be had for only a marginal premium.


If you are interested in their weaknesses, well, they are weaker than normal deck screws. The heads strip out sometimes, even with a square Robertson drive. The shafts tend to be thicker which increases the force needed to drive them, compounding the stripping issue. For example, a 2 1/2" length screw would normal be a #8 is more often a #10 in stainless. I picked up some stainless pocket hole screws and have found them to be rather frustrating at times.

[Ole Anderson]

I drove probably 500 SS deck screws that had the torx head and not one of them cammed out, unlike phillips or square drive screws I have used in the past. They were Veranda ArmorGuard composite deck screws from the BORG, and the heads were coated brown. You must pre drill if you are less than 2" from the end of the board, otherwise they will split the board. As I said earlier, they worked fine with a drywall gun, but I used a template and predrilled all of the holes to get exact spacing so they went in easier than if you didn't predrill.