Laying deck boards

[Jay Pique]

Do you put the old wood up, or down? Old wood down would tend to cup on the surface due to warpage, but old wood up can lead to shelling. Quartersawn decking? Sounds expensive.

Thoughts?

JP

[Wood Butcher]

Old wood up so the cup is on the bottom. This puts the crown up and it will shed water. Otherwise the cup will hold the water which is worse. I have both on my deck as I bought milled boards with rounded edges and 3 grooves on the bottom and didn't have any choice in how to lay them. I know better now.

Art

[Jay Pique]

Yeah - I agree. But I thought I read somewhere (Understanding Wood) that they said you should put them the other way. Plus, some show on HGTV had a couple of "expert" carpenters say you should put the old wood down - so that it would shed water! I see a lot of bad or just plain wrong woodworking/carpentry information on tv these days. DIY is the worst.

JP

[jd]

lay them so that they warp with the center up. This will do a couple of things:

1) shed water instead of holding it 2) make for a smoother deck. If you lay them cup side up, the edges will stick up, and you'll have lots of little ridges. Cup side down gives you a "hilly" surface, but its alot easier to walk on, and less trip prone.

--JD

[No]

You mean old wood down so the cup is on the bottom. In other words, center of tree down Or Quarter sawn, yikes.

Like this /^\ /^\

[Pat Barber]

Use a under the board fastening system and don't worry about any of that. I used Deckmaster but there are others. You will end up with a MUCH nicer looking deck that will last a few years longer. Fastner failure is the biggest cause of deck failure.

If you MUST fastnen from the top, use square drive stainless steel screws.

Jay Pique wrote:

[Locutus]

Do the sqaures in the heads help the screws stay in better?

[RicodJour]

Nope. They're just less likely to cam out and make driving the screws easier.

R

[Pat Barber]

No..the square drive is for your benefit. They are MUCH easier to drive. The stainless is for longevity.

Locutus wrote:

[CW]

Tried some square drive stainless deck screws here a while ago. No, didn't cam out, just stripped in place.