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Showerthought: I was wrong about how many screws a deck really needs
Always went with one per board foot, but after counting 3,200 fasteners on a 400 square foot job without a single squeak after a year, I'm convinced. What's your go-to spacing for pressure-treated pine?
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avery26026d ago
Learned the hard way on my own deck. Used two screws per joist on 16 inch centers with 5/4 decking. That's about 450 screws for a 12x16 deck. Zero movement, zero squeaks after three Michigan winters. The extra ten minutes of work per board saved me a ton of headache later.
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hayes.wade26d ago
450 screws is the real cost of not having to listen to your deck complain every time you walk on it. My neighbor used one screw per joist and now his deck sounds like a haunted house floor.
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shah.xena26d ago
My contractor buddy swears by using a dab of construction adhesive on the joist before screwing the board down. He says it locks out moisture that can cause rust and freeze-thaw movement, which is a big deal with our weather. It adds maybe five seconds per screw point but basically glues the whole structure together.
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