Building Deck

[Steve Gojevic]

I am probably going to build a deck on the back of the house this spring. It will be 12' wide, but I am not sure about the length yet but the length will be between 16' and 24' long.

I have built decks before, so no problems there.

I do have two questions:

1) When I built my pool deck a few years ago, I used the artificial decking and I like it a lot. No more splinters or warping. That brand is no longer available locally. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good brand?

2) I also want to use hidden fasteners, like I did on the pool deck. Again, I can't find the same fastener brand locally anymore (I think it was Tiger Claw). There seems to be two types available: one uses a bracket and the other uses a jig to angle the screw into the edge of the board (www.camofasteners.com (http://www.camofasteners.com/)). Anyone have a recommendation on hidden fasteners?

Thanks
Steve

[Mel Fulks]

I used the plastic biscuit type with SS screws on an ipe deck. Think it was Swan Secure brand, I would not use them again. The skinny screws are ify on pressure treated joists and when the boards shrink there is not much hold left. Will
eventually add brass screws in plane sight.

[Garth Almgren]

From what I've heard the Camo system is pretty sweet. My cousin builds decks for a living and he loves it. Kreg also makes a deck jig/hidden fastener system, but I haven't heard anything about it (good or bad).

[Neil Gaskin]

We mostly use Tamko Evergrain and Lattitudes, both are good products.

For fasteners we use Tiger-Claw with their pneumatic gun, probably not worth the expense for one deck.

https://www.diyhomecenter.com/tigerclaw/?gclid=CKW12KOSocUCFQwFaQodeY0AIg

[Matt Day]

Doesn't Kreg have a deck jig? Curious if that would be a feasible option.

[Dan Friedrichs]

I built a deck with the Camo system and thought it worked well. I think it would work even better on engineered lumber.

[Tom M King]

Note that deck building code changed pretty big time in 2013.

http://www.awc.org/Publications/DCA/DCA6/DCA6-09.pdf

[Cary Falk]

I used the Camo system on Trex a couple of years ago. No issues.

[Michelle Rich]

I have & have used the kreg..works just fine..price is affordable

[Jim Matthews]

I used EON 100% plastic decking when I built mine.

I occasionally check Google Earth and see the color has held up well in 9 years.
This material is made mostly of recycled soda bottles and other softer plastics.

As a result, it expands a bit when exposed to direct sunlight.

It was very flexible, so care must be taken to start straight and maintain gaps.

I used a 14' long wooden board with 1/8" dowels as spacers to keep things aligned.

It was VERY easy to cut with standard power tools but smelled awful when it got hot.

I'm not a fan of the commonly available TREX products as they tend toward surface
coloration and texture changes when exposed to sunlight.

If I wanted a deck that required maintenance I would use something natural from Brazil.

FYI - The buried expense is stainless steel screws and a corded drill to drive them.
I figured nearly 12% of the weight on my deck was fasteners.


http://www.wholesalelumber.biz/eon.htm

[joseph f merz]

i believe most of the composits have a pregrooved product and complimentary fastner . talk to your supplier ,they move alot of material and should give you a lot of info . from listening to the guys who do alot of these the advise i get is to always use the signature product of the different brands .seems that if there is a problem it shows up in the lower end of the product line .did a trex one recently .it is not wood . still used my domino in a few places to line up end to end joints .also used pocket screws where i could not use the fastner/hold down in the groove . i now use membrane/flashing on the top of all my framing .also used pocket screws at the ends when i felt there would be movement with out it or just for extra holding strength .hope that helps

[George Bokros]

Tiger Claw is made by fastenmaster. Here is a link to their website. You can search for dealers by ZIP code.

https://www.fastenmaster.com/