There are 6 or 8 spiral nails on our deck that will not stay down. The boards are flat on the deck and do not appear to be cupped or warped. But, within about 3 months of driving the nails down, they are back up.
Should I pull the nails and replace them with the next size larger spiral nail?
Should I pull the nails and replace them with coated deck screws?
Deck screws hold the best, but it's your call about whether the different fastener heads would look objectionable or not. As an alternative you could take out the offending nails, coat a couple of toothpicks with exterior wood glue and insert them into the hole before hammering the nail back into place.
Rmg wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
use deck screws.
If this is an older deck, it could be a sign that the underlying wood is rotting.
Our deck was built with mainly hot galvanized nails, some 20 years ago. A few planks were screwed down for easier access underneath (cos the deck is an average of 15 inches above ground) It has P.Treated 2 by 8 joists on very substantial underpinnings and is also planked with PT 2 by 8. It hasn't had any such 'nail popping' problems. But if was building today would use proper 'decking screws'. Try a few screws as replacements of popped nails and see if the underpinnings are still intact enough to take the fasteners ........... or if not maybe something starting to rot or shift?
If you live in Arizona, and the OP lives in Oregon, deck life expectancies are considerably different.
You can get some long drywall screws.
They will rust in no time.
Hipupchuck wrote in news:dZidnZ30_- vpYaLXnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
which may have their heads twist off trying to go thru wood that's tougher than drywall. plus coated deck screws will not rust like drywall screws.
Do NOT do this. Drywall screws will break easily, and rust out quickly.
Deck screws
mg wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
If you want to stay with nails then use 16d spirals in new holes. My guess would be the deck joists are soft or chewed at that spot. Are the particular ones even hitting a joist? Take a gander underneath (aka crawl and get really dirty) if you really want to know. If it appears the nail is not biting and it's not for a goofy reason like they're 8d's, you could sister or scab a PT 2x4 on the existing joist and renail.
I repair/refinish a lot of decks every year and I've found that once a nail has pulled and the nail hole is enlarged, only a screw will hold well. FWIW YMMV
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