deck fasteners

Mar 11
1

Ipe Clip® Fasteners For Composite Decking

4 Comments

Did you know that the very same Ipe Clip® brand hidden deck fastener can be used on composite decking as well as hardwood decking? It can! There are 2 major differences that you should be aware of when installing Ipe Clip® fasteners with a composite deck versus a hardwood deck.

You should know that although hardwoods expand and contract on their width, composite boards expand and contract on their length. You not only want to make certain that you are following the manufacturers suggested gap spacing between deck boards, but you want to make certain that you have allowed adequate room between your deck and any structure. The last thing you want to see is buckling and cupping issues because you built your deck right up against a structure. Then when it starts to move, it has nowhere to go.

 

When installing hardwood deck boards, you place a screw at a 45 degree angle through the Ipe Clip® fastener, through half of the deck board, and then down into your joist on just one side of your deck board. So as your deck board expand and contract, one side is always firmly attached tight to your joist. You wouldn’t want to use this same method with composite decking. As mentioned above, it moves on its length and you need to allow it to do so. When installing Ipe Clip® fasteners in composite decking, you will want to place the screw at a 90 degree angle straight through the Ipe Clip® fastener and right down into the joist. This allows the deck board to stay in place yet allow it to expand and contract at will.

By following the guidelines above, your Ipe Clip® brand fasteners can be used on a broad range of decking products and are quite versatile.

Maxwell Blake

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This entry was posted on March 1, 2011 at 7:32 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Extreme Deck Fastener How-to Install by Maxwell Blake 4 Comments

4 Responses to "Ipe Clip® Fasteners For Composite Decking"

  • D. Somero says:
    March 2, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    Good info. I knew you had different clips but didn’t know they had to be installed differently as well.

  • Schmitty says:
    March 9, 2011 at 11:33 am

    What would happen if you anchored your hardwood decking straight down without going through the deck board? This could still allow movement so what would any potential problems be?

  • Dan Schiefer says:
    March 11, 2011 at 2:52 pm

    Schmitty,

    If you drive your screws straight through the fastener and into the joist without going through the hardwood deck boards you could be asking for some unwanted problems in the future.

    When the hardwood deck boards shrink up, they will be free to float between the fasteners since nothing is truly anchoring the deck board. This will lead to uneven gap spaces throughout the deck as the boards move and in some cases cause cupping issues.

    This is not a problem with composite or pvc decking since they expand and contract more on there length as opposed to their width like real wood.

  • Franco says:
    April 20, 2011 at 7:02 am

    If you run your screws straight down without going through your deck board, your frame work would have to be reinforced as well, causing you more work. Avoid fasteners that say they can speed installation by screwing straight into the joist. One of the major benefits of anchoring through your deck board and then into the joist is that it stops lateral movement of your joists. Without this, your deck will rock and be shaky if not reinforced. That is why I use ipeclip fasteners, not only is it a great product, its one of the few that uses proper installation techniques.

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