Outdoor Deck problems

Jiles

Well-known Member
I built an outdoor deck one year ago. Bought all materials from local Big Box store. Deck was finished in January and allowed to dry until August, cleaned and allowed to dry before using BBStore Stain.
Over the winter so called stain started flaking? ?
Gap in deck boards are an average of 1/2 inch and nearly all screws are being tightened down to prevent board creaking.
The screw I used were Grip-Rite and a lot of them are breaking with only moderate tightening.
Evidently, these screws are of typical China quality, so my question is--Is there another brand that are stronger?
After tightening boards, I plan to pressure clean and re-stain with a quality stain, if there is such a thing!
 
Long shanked ceramic coated deck screws fix the issue. The two pitch screws can work, but modest gaps are not closed, then retightening either causes
the head to disappear, or they snap off. Pilot holes in the deck boards are a real solution. Jim
 
(quoted from post at 17:32:48 10/12/16) Long shanked ceramic coated deck screws fix the issue. The two pitch screws can work, but modest gaps are not closed, then retightening either causes
the head to disappear, or they snap off. Pilot holes in the deck boards are a real solution. Jim

I don't expect board gaps to close, just wanting to stop some of the creaking.
Very embarrassing to have people mention the noise.
 

I built an outdoor deck 5 or more years ago. Bought all the materials from a local building center. Even bought the screws that they recommended. I painted that deck with water based latex, but waited one full year before painting. Apparently one full year was not quite enough because some of the paint started flaking. We scraped off the flakes and painted it again. 3 years later, all is well. All boards are tight. All screws are tight.
 
I been doing some deck work and construction the last couple of months and started using screws from Home Depot called SPAX Construction Screws in three and a quarter by 9x. Have used several hundred of them so far and have only had two break while installing them. Made in Germany or the U.S.A. Only problem is they are expensive, eighty nine of them for a little over seven dollars a box. I just see on the box they are for interior use but I screwed down five feet of deck with them. Guess time will tell if they hold up outdoors.
 
Coatings:

I've got a large aged deck with warping problems and a lot of fence, railings, etc. in the same aged/dry condition.
I picked up an airless & have been experimenting spraying a used motor oil/diesel mix (old-school) on everything.
I've pretty much eliminated the diesel & am only using the filtered motor oil.
The airless works great & the look really matches some black rock on the front of the house.
It's all hilarious. :)
 
I added a section of treated pine to my cedar deck a year ago, then waited 6 months and stained the whole deck with CWF by Flood. I had used a solid-body stain which had
peeled off of the cedar and had to wire-brush it off. I am pleased with the penetrating stain and will never use a solid-body deck stain again.
Butch
 
Depending on what you put on for "stain", some have more pigment than others. Staining a deck trying to make it look nearly painted with a lot of pigment is asking for trouble over time.

Wood is dynamic. It expands & contracts with the rain/sun/temperature/humidity. I've always shyed away from any kind of latex stain, let alone anything more opaque than a "toner" (very light pigment amount). Too much pigment creates a rigid skin that won't flex with the wood movement. Latex doesn't penetrate.

Your deck may not have been dry too. Not sure the presentation to the sun, but normally, the rough guide to air drying wood is 1 year per inch of thickness. If it was shaded, verses in the sun, that could affect it.

Pete
 
We live in a log home with on large and two smaller decks.

I have had good luck with a Sherwin Williams product called SuperDeck Waterborne solid stain. I switched to a solid because once our deck got to be 25 years old (built in 1985) it was pretty stained/darkened/e-wood patched and this made it look MUCH better.

http://www.superdeck.com/products/superdeck-for-wood/

The logs of the house itself I use a semi-transparent and either spray or brush and have great results. The decks (non pressure treated lumber) I use a solid brushed on. For the decks I use one coat - thin - every other year. It holds up well though the high-traffic spots I normally touch-up annually.

Before you reapply use a Sodium Hypochloride (most deck washes - just a strong Clorox) rinse and scrub with a stiff bristle brush. That seems to help greatly.
 
when I built my deck I used pressure treated wood and 16d galvanized finished nails. 2 nails per board over the joist, driven at about a 10 degree angle. been 6 years and have had about 6 boards lift. we get a lot of rain in the winter, and plenty of sun in the summer. pretty happy with the results. nails were 1/4 the cost of screws, and can't see the heads after setting with a nail set.
 
I looked up staining procedures. It says to make sure to stain when the deck, not the air temperature, is 50-70 degrees. They said that way the stain soaks in and doesn't flash dry. My carpenter buddy that built my deck said to use cedar. Costs more, but he said you'll be glad you did. I'm staining it today with CWF cedar toned. Information I read said to use a UV sealer that is toned for best protection.
 
15 years seems like a really short time. What happened to the wood? I've had cedar fence posts still in the ground after 20 years. Almost sounds like something was wrong with the installation.
 
>15 years seems like a really short time. What happened to the wood? I've had cedar fence posts still in the ground after 20 years. Almost sounds like something was wrong with the installation.

Yes, it is a short time, which is why I mention it. I don't think there was a problem with the installation; it's just a matter of fact that cedar will rot fairly quickly under the right conditions. In this case, the deck was in the shade and seldom dried out. The wood slowly rotted until you couldn't safely stand on it.

If you can get 20 years out of a cedar post, I have to assume you're in a fairly dry climate, and your cedar deck will last just fine.
 

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