Fasteners for Deck Building!

Well, for most of us, we are currently in the prime of deck building season so that means we need to have a little talk. Sit down, this is something that you are not going to enjoy, but you need to hear it. Not all fasteners are created equal. I know, I know, sounds crazy but it's true, and I am glad you are hearing this from me, and not learning about it out on the street from god knows who. It's best you hear it from someone who has some experience with this and won't steer you wrong. OK the tough part is over now on to the specifics. There is a reason there are so many different types of nails and screws available. They are each made for a specific purpose and shouldn't be used outside of that application eg; drywall screws for drywall. Most of the time you can cross use screws for other purposes. The big exceptions are; obviously drywall screws, they are a coated screw which does not have a great deal of tensile strength, which is why you use so many per sheet of drywall. The main one we are talking about today however are deck/construction screws. Let me define the difference. Deck screws are either stainless steel ($$$) or a regular steel screw covered in an epoxy resin. This coating is very important as it protects the screw from corrosion. These screws usually come in a green, brown, grey or even black colored coating.

Construction screws are those yellow/gold screws that you can use for general purpose framing inside your home or any other project involving spruce or fir lumber. Please note the specifics of that last sentence. Spruce or Fir lumber only. Do not use those gold screws in pressure treated lumber that has been identified as ACQ treated lumber. The yellow gold coating is called a zinc dichromate treatment, and it resists corrosion from mild exposure to water and oxygen. The ACQ in treated lumber stands for Alkaline Copper Quaternary, and basically it means it has been treated with a copper solution which is on the basic end of the PH scale. Unfortunately the copper in the lumber reacts with the zinc dichromate in the screws and causes corrosion to begin to occur almost immediately. I can read your minds, "I have used those gold screws in my last deck and they are still there no problems!" right? Well folks waaaaaaay back in aught three (2003) we used a pressure treatment system which relied on Arsenic as the main preservative chemical, but well, nobody seemed to want arsenic in their wood so it got changed. Babies. No I kid. The arsenic was no good for either kids or pets, so the lumber industry actually changed the preservative over VOLUNTARILY! No protest, no mass lawsuits. They just decided it would be better to use a less harmful chemical.

Now please note that I did indeed say LESS harmful. This is still a preservative and by no means should you feel it is safe to chew on your deck or fence. So remember folks the best fasteners are either, Stainless steel, epoxy resin coated, or hot dipped galvanized. You can never go wrong with the holy trinity of fasteners.

Amen!