How does most of you put down composite decks? I saw a couple of decks that were screwed down and the look was less than appealing. How are those hidden fasteners to work with? Any one brand better than the others?
Does anyone have any experience with the composite deck material “LATITUDES EQUATOR”? It comes with each side slotted and has hidden fasteners specially designed for this product.
Seems like a good way to go but does it have a track record?
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Replies
I've done Trex using the "deckmaster" brand hidden fasteners. They are naturally a bit more time consuming and labor intensive than face-screwing the deckboards, however the finished product was terrific.
Check out Justin's article on hidden fasteners in the previous issue of FHB. (issue # 178) It was very well researched and informative. In fact the only mistake he made was on how my particular brand of fasteners are attached ;-) but I think we managed to get that all sorted out.
I've never been too keen on the idea of the decking with the slotted edges. It just seems to me that there's too much opportunity for movement of the deck boards. But that's just my observation. I've never actually had any empirical experience with these types of decking.
I used a composite trim screw on a deck last year that has a reverse thread near the top to pull the material back down.
I then hammered the small "volcano" down, and the whole thing pretty much disappeared.
I like the "Trap-ease" brand double thread screws = spendy but they disappear.
Forrest
Just installed 400 sq ft of trex with "pocket" screws looks great and pulled down nice!! As a bonus upset the people next door as there screws show!
I just finished installing 600 sq./ft. of treated 5/4 bullnose decking using "Tiger-Claw" edge fasteners. First time for me, so there was a bit of a learning curve. The treated bullnose decking boards are like swowflakes, no two alike! Working alone, it was a little time consuming but with the help of a couple big clamps it went pretty well. I hated the thought of exposed fasteners, so the time spent was worth it to me. I think it would be a good system with composite decking because the deck boards would be more consistant. It was the most affordable and easiest edge fastening system I saw, and was available locally. 100 sq./ft. coverage was about $40.00, not including screws. Tiger-claw has different clip styles for pretty much any type of decking. The homeowners were VERY pleased with the job, but if I were to do another one, it would be a two person job! I think I would use Tiger Claws on my own deck.