Does Anyone Nail PT Decking?

72chevy4x4

for a cheapo deck-does anyone nail (ringshank exterior nails)? I've always screwed PT decking, but sometimes when doing something where the HO doesn't have the funds, seems to me labor/time can be shaved to lower the project cost.

neolitic

Screws are the time savers.
When we nailed, it was 16d galvanized
casing nails, counter sunk.
Three across on 5/4 X 6.
(Say labor intensive three times fast!)
Headed nails will always wind up
proud when the deck dries out.
Then they continue to "breathe"
out each time the decking shrinks
and swells.

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mickeyco

Not when you're using a nail gun, we use nails on front porches (historic homes) and on "cheap" new homes.



.

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neolitic

My point is, they aren't
barefoot-friendly over time
for a deck.
Never used headed nails for
that reason.

It's a principle damn it!

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SLSTech

Mickey is right - nail guns = fast with less labor & material cost

Neolitic - has nailed it dead on though, those suckers are going to come up. It doesn't matter if the decking is glued down & you use ring shank nails

Glue & screw is the only way to go

I am kinda of curious if those combination screws that you install via an air nailer would work. I saw them in a McFeely's catalog, but I haven't tried them out. Anyone else try them?

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woodworkbykirk

we hand nail em all (by hand.......), where im working now, if it were my choice, screws, sure its alot more expensive for them but they hold

i've worked with the system which fastens from below,kinda looks like a green corner bead, kinda annoying especially since we biscuit jointed all are ends and used pl. it was on a couple cedar decks but the homeowner wanted it and didnt care about$$ just how it looked

PA woodbutcher

I nailed 1 off last year. Guy calls and says I got 3 grand, give me the biggest deck you can for the front of a trailer. Stick gun and a board bender didn't take long to nail it off.

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rbsremodeling

I nail them off sometimes to with ring shank nails

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dayspring

My personal preference is screws, However it is more expensive to install, both labor and material. I like to pre-drill my screw holes at the ends to keep the splitting down, depending on the moisture content of the wood, I have even pre-drilled them all. I always screw the railings and pickets

But, in the real world, not many of my clients want to pay the additional cost for screws and labor. But nail prices have went way up around here, $112.00 for a box of 16d ringshanks for my Paslode

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John Hyatt

John agrees with the Mickey, in fact I use 2 1/2'' senco glav trim nails to fasten 5/4 pt decking along with construstion adhesive. Works for me no call backs so far. Its a econ choice but Hell I know guys that put down ipe that way. J.

boman47k

Funny this should come up. I thought I have been noticing some nails in my deck starting to work up a little. Some of the 5/4 was aged, some was new. Seems to be mostly the new where I notice the nailheads being a little proud.

DecksEtc

I only use screws. The only way to do it properly in my books. Nails will not hold as well and, as already discussed, will work themselves out of the wood.

I guess I;ve been lucky in that I've never had a customer insist on nails to save a few hundred bucks. For me, the cost difference between nails and screws is pretty insignificant. Also, using impact drivers doesn't really add that much more in labour costs. I just don't want my company name on a deck that has the deck boards nailed down.

JMHO...

rbsremodeling

we seal all of our decks. We use the rink shank in our pasloades and they hold pretty well

1 box of pasloades or senco ring shank 58 bucks.

Labor Hours saved about 4-6

Don't think it is worth it

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dkillianjr

I too prefer screws over nails, but I have done a lot of PT decks shooting down the flooring and I have to say I have not had one problem to this day, and some of them are pretty old. When I shoot the nails I make sure the pressure is up and the nails drive pretty far into the board, so when it drys the nails are still below the surface. And I have only used 3" ringshank galv. I have seen decks I did 6 years ago and the nails are still below the surface.

On a side note I never use nails in the PT rails, only screws. The nails loosen up over time and the rail becomes loose.



Dave

kjung

We have an unwritten rule that we will never use screws for top-out. Even if we lose a few bucks in the process, it saves the headache of having to go back later for repairs.

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dayspring

You are one I respect, a lot. But when it comes to working or not working, I'm gonna nail that sucker. Bottom Line. Not that I want to, but I have to make a certain dollar. I haven't had any call backs on anything I've nailed yet... yet. But I would certainly had rather it been screwed.

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jarhead0531

I have to agree, if HO insists on nailing after I explain all the downsides I will nail away. Kinda nice to be able to use my coil gun at time anyway...

deckman22

For you guys that think screwing down decking is so much slower that nailing down with a gun you need to look into a standup screwgun, they are almost as fast as a nailgun.

Of course we all know screwing decking is better than nailing. However a 3" galv. ringshank nail shot out of nailgun that countersinks the nail it will hold. I've done tear offs where the 2x6 would break before the nails would pull out of the joist.

If you have a customer that is so tight that the minimal cost difference between screwing & nailing is going to decide whether you get the job or not then nail that sucker down.

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PA woodbutcher

I have a quick drive stand up also. Used it once and wasn't crazy about how set the screws....too inconsistant with the 2 1/2" screws in the PT and the screws are galv. Screws work out to be about 2 cents a screw more than the greycoats that I've been using. It does work great for sheet rock though.

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Stone Mountain

On my own 10 year old deck, we have one level screwed down and one nailed down. Never had any problems. throughout the 80's there was no such thing as deck screws, so all we used were nails. Recently replaced a 24 year old deck I built originally, and the nails were all just fine.

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