Deck Screws

JustJim

Well-Known Member
Pretty high on the list of Things I Won't Do is using galvanized, or Phillips, deck screws. Live is just too short. Epoxy-coated square/Robertson drive screws only. That's based on doing 6-8 decks a year for 20+ years. If epoxy-coated square drive screws aren't available, I'll order them or wait until they are.

One deck--I helped build it back in the '90s, and we-re-decked it for the second time 2 years or so ago-- was built (against my protests!) with galvanized Phillips screws. 'Cause, you know, "them fancy screws are expensive". No: expensive is the time it took over the first two years when the screws rusted, and broke or the heads stripped when we tried to tighten them after the boards shrank, plus the extra day it took tearing the old decking off when it was time to replace it. The second time we used "them fancy screws". No problems tightening the boards after the usual shrinkage. When I re-decked it the second time, it took an afternoon for me to strip the old decking.
 

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
My experience with galvanized hardware and equipment has been you either get really good thick zinc coating that never fails or you get something that claims to be galvanized that isn’t really much more than a thin plating that fails almost immediately. And there’s not much in between.

The larger galvanized hardware seems to always have better zinc coatings than the smaller stuff. Not sure why.
 

Missionary

Well-Known Member
45+ ears back dad in W. Palm Beach, FL had to replace decking on their "ocean fishing" craft. He used nickle plated screws. I asked him why and he said they held up the best in the salt water area.
I still have some of those with me down here.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
45+ ears back dad in W. Palm Beach, FL had to replace decking on their "ocean fishing" craft. He used nickle plated screws. I asked him why and he said they held up the best in the salt water area.
I still have some of those with me down here.
Monel is the right metal for screws that see salt water.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
For all of you, if you want heavy duty bolts for deck structures or any heavy duty construction, (like a dock) visit your local electric cooperative. When they replace poles or anything on the pole, they don’t re-use the 5/8 inch galvanized bolts and many times don’t use the galvanized bolts (smaller stuff) that come with the devices. It goes in the scrap bin! Sometimes the 5/8 new bolts get thrown away! Price out a 5/8 x 8,10 or 12 inch bolt sometime and see how much you’ll save.
Those big eye-bolts for guy wires worked a wonder on a portable outhouse on skids I built a few years ago. Bolted the skids and cross-members together using the 5/8"bolts and used the eyes on the ends of each runner. The hardware was probably fifty years old when I got it and still looked great.

The co-op replaced the pole at the house at the one at the road. I asked what they did with the old poles and the grinned, "tell me where you want them and they're yours." 100 feet of copper ground wire and all the hardware too.
 

Tom

Well-Known Member
I can't speak to materials, but I used to think square drive was the best around until torx came along. Much better surface area for not stripping out.