Spacer for Deck Boards
The heel/fence of a speed square can be used as a deck-board spacer.
I sometimes use the heel/fence of my speed square as a deck-board spacer. In addition to leaving a nice-size gap, it also works as a guide for lining up screws exactly 1 in. from the edges of the boards. I’m not sure if the fence thickness on all speed squares are the same, but mine leaves about a 3/16-in. gap. Just remember that when working with excessively wet pressure-treated decking, the boards will shrink quite a bit, so you might want to use a more narrow gapping tool or don’t gap the boards at all.
— Grant Alexander; Ottawa, Ont., Canada
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