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    dandmlow's Avatar
    dandmlow Posts: 5, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Jan 17, 2008, 06:15 AM
    Building exterior deck
    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's Avatar
    Questionshelp Posts: 153, Reputation: 1
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    #2

    Jan 17, 2008, 06:28 AM
    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's Avatar
    dandmlow Posts: 5, Reputation: 1
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    #3

    Jan 17, 2008, 09:31 AM
    I called a contractor like you said and he agrees. But I though screws where allot better then nails.
    glavine's Avatar
    glavine Posts: 895, Reputation: 87
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    #4

    Jan 17, 2008, 03:06 PM
    Im a local builder in North Carolina, now granted we don't 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 don't break in half like a screw can.

    As for a screw in wood in cold weather snapping, I've 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's Avatar
    jack dandy Posts: 226, Reputation: 9
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    #5

    Jan 17, 2008, 07:57 PM
    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's Avatar
    Questionshelp Posts: 153, Reputation: 1
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    #6

    Jan 18, 2008, 05:02 AM
    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 believe you me I would stick with nails when it comes to -40.
    Questionshelp's Avatar
    Questionshelp Posts: 153, Reputation: 1
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    #7

    Jan 18, 2008, 05:32 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by dandmlow
    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
    I forgot to mention that when you use nails you should us Galvanized nails. Sorry for not mentioning this earlier.
    jwallin's Avatar
    jwallin Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #8

    Jan 18, 2008, 05:53 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by 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.
    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's Avatar
    jack dandy Posts: 226, Reputation: 9
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    #9

    Jan 18, 2008, 07:58 AM
    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's Avatar
    glavine Posts: 895, Reputation: 87
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    #10

    Jan 18, 2008, 03:36 PM
    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.
    Scottish2008's Avatar
    Scottish2008 Posts: 501, Reputation: 32
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    #11

    Jan 22, 2008, 05:21 AM
    I helped my father build a deck for his new house and from other friends of his mentioned about using screws and nails. We ended up using both but come the winter the screws did brake in some places and when it came to fixing it in the summer we had some time trying to get the broken screws out. I would consider using nails for that aspect. But again its up to the home owners preference.
    Raymonator's Avatar
    Raymonator Posts: 33, Reputation: 4
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    #12

    Mar 17, 2008, 06:12 AM
    I live in eastern Ontario Canada, and our winters vary from mild to extreme colds, sometimes going as low as -30. I built a large deck for my mother-in-law several years ago, and I used screws for the decking floor. To date, I have not seen any sign of broken or sheared screws, so maybe I'm just lucky. Even though I'm not contractor, I have built a few decks in my day for friends and relatives, always using screws. As far as I know, nobody has ever complained about the breaking of screws. I like the strong pull in power that screws provide, and I always use screws with a Robertson head (square head) which makes it easier to remove the screws should I need to replace a rotted floor board down the road. As most here have stated, this is only an opinion from a CanEHdian who lives in a 4 season environment.

    While we're on the deck subject. Here's a little trick my late Uncle taught me when I was a kid, on how to prolong the life of a deck's frame. A lot of people when building a new deck don't realize that any rain that falls on the deck, also saturates the frame underneath it. Rain not only rots the floor boards, but the frame as well. In some cases the frame rots faster than the floor due to lack of sunshine which keeps the frame damp or moist which eventually turns to rot.. Many people have to rebuild the whole deck because of wood rot, but with this trick, all you'll have to replace are the floor boards once they've rotted. This will not only save you money, but also save you from rebuilding an entirely new frame every time the floor boards need replacing.
    So, here's the trick, the next time you build a deck, once the frame is completed and you are ready to start installing the floorboards, do the following. Get yourself a roll of black felt roofing paper (which is about a 30" wide roll, designed to install on roofs prior to nailing asphalt singles... very inexpensive and can be found at any hardware or lumber yard).
    Unroll the black felt roofing paper, and using a sharp utility knife, cut yourself strips 2½ to 3" wide x the length of each 2 x _ of wood that you used to build the frame of the deck (including cross pieces) They don't have to be cut perfectly straight, but try to keep the width to a minimum of 2½"
    Place each cut strip on top of the 1½" wide wood frame, and staple them just enough to keep the wind from blowing them off. You should have about ½" of felt paper hanging off each side of your frame if you centered it properly on the 2 x_ . The idea here is that the felt paper acts as a miniature roof for each framed piece on top. Once this is done, you are ready to install your floor boards, steps etc.
    Eventually, you'll have to replace the floor boards, or steps again, but, you'll notice when you remove the rotted floor boards, that the frame is as dry and solid as the day you built it. This means of course that you don't have to rebuild a whole new deck from the ground up again. Just replace rotted floor boards and you're good to go for another number of years and so on.
    I've seen some deck frames that my Uncle built some 60 + years ago, and the frames of those projects are still standing and as strong and dry as the day he fbuilt them.
    Anyway, I am thankful that he taught me that little trick, and I hope you find it as useful as I did.

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