I live in the North west territories and I am build a deck/porch off my house this summer. What is better to us screws or nails? Please provide logic to your answer. Thank you

Questionshelp

If you live in the North west territories and you are building a deck or porch you should us nails. The reason for nails is because when the winter comes in play your deck will contract which will slightly pull the nails. Screws on the other hand will break. You should call a contractor in your area and I am willing to bet that they will agree with me on this. Best of luck

dandmlow

I called a contractor like you said and he agrees. But I though screws where allot better then nails.

glavine

Im a local builder in North Carolina, now granted we dont have extreme cold weather, but as far as nails and screws go. here are the facts. most use nails because there cheaper and faster, the only good thing about nails is that they have a higher sheer rating, meaning they dont break in half like a screw can.

As for a screw in wood in cold weather snapping, ive never heard of this. In fact we use all screws because they have more holding power than than nails, another fact is screws hold as much as 4times better than nails.

nails will back out and loosen with changes in temp. This is another reason we use screws.....they stay tight.

The only time i use nails is during framing the joist and the band of the deck....soly for the sheer factor.

everyone has there opinion this is just mine

jack dandy

I built my own deck in 95 used a lot of screws because they don't come loose and hold tight, it took me a lot longer to do all the screws because i countersunk each one,but i tell you what not a one has come loose or broke, i live in Minnesota so we see plenty of cold weather here in fact its about 0 Fahrenheit right now.Here again like glavine said its just my opinion and every one has a different one.

Questionshelp

In the North west territories the reach extreme cold temperatures in the -40 degrees celsius. Using screws are good to us but when it comes to that kind of temperature rang you have no better choice but to use nails. We always get called out by insurance offices to repair porches falling apart due to the screws that have been broken. The preference is up to the owner and yes using nails are a cheeper way. But belive you me I would stick with nails when it comes to -40.

Questionshelp

I forgot to mention that when you use nails you should us Galvanized nails. Sorry for not mentioning this earlier.

jwallin

I built a deck two years ago and I used screws and a majority of my railing has lifted. I had to replace the hole railing because the screws broke. So many people informed me the hole time to us nails but I thought it was a lazy way out. But it is true about the nails for cold temperatures. I wish I found this site out before I built my deck.

jack dandy

My apoligies for not knowing what the very cold tempertures like you have in your parts can do, i'm learning a lot from the people here and in return i am trying to give the best advice possible. Have a great day!

glavine

Ill admit i never heard of a screw breaking because of the cold. I assume it must warm up enough to enjoy the deck at some point.