Untitled - Wood Tools

REDWOOD
STAINIESS
STEET
A Conventionol deck
screws teor the composite
fibers ond
creole o scor on the
surfoce.
GRAY
FASTENING S stems
In most cases, composites can be
machinedjust like wood. One important
difference is the fasteners used
to install them.
and [ft the fibers ofcomposites,
which resuls in an unsighdy
"volcano" around the screw
head (Conventional Deck Screw
Photo, belua).Drilling pilot holes does
lirde to eliminate these eruptions.
. Composite Screws - Specially
designed composite screws, on the
other hand, eliminate this volcano
effect.These screws have a length of
Deck Screws coarse thread at the bottom and a
Conventional deck screws
do not work well with
composites. The coarse
thread on deck screws tends to tear
section of fine thread at the top. This
fine thread captures any "mushrooming"
material and pulls it back
down into the screw hole. (Composite
A Duol-threoded composite
deck screws
hide the torn fibers
by pulling them into
the screw hole.
Screw Photo, below).
Composite screws also come in
colors that match the various shades
of composite materiaTs(Photos, Iefi).
Hidden Fasteners - Another
option is hidden fasteners. Most
composites are compatible with the
many hidden-fasteningsystems available
from companies such as Eb-Ty,
Grabber,Tiger Claq and others.
Some composite manufacturers
have gone one step further and
designed a hidden-fastening system
into their product.
Lifelong Decking, for insrance,
uses a screw-and-clip system that
nestles between the deckboards.
Another example isTendura Solids,
which is pre-drilled for nailing
through the tongue (see Integral
Hidden Fasteners, below).
Hidden fusbners ore on excellenl woy lo €nsure cleon, blemish-free
instollotion of deck boords. Shown here ore lwo exomples of com-
| *rttes fiot hove o hidden fudening sysr€m built right in. Tenduro
" .t :.. - :, .; i . Solids deck boo rds (belov( leftl ore p'€drilled
' t.. ' ot 4n inbnols.
,a.:.:'.'.
.t '. all^- :-^r-ll!-- ^-^ L----r J ?.r ..
,li:.. . '"..,. , .' ,'. ,1,:- After.ins|olling..?n:
rytg,
the groove of fie moting
'
] .. boord will hide the hdener.
Lifelong Decking (rightl uses o screw
ond clip fiot conbrm b fie profile of
the deck boord.