Aluminum Hidden Deck Clip Installation

Face Screwed deck installation is preferred over nails because they simply hold better. In addition, you can choose stainless steel screws, which will not stain your beautiful decking. Stainless steel nails are only (easily) available in finish nails because SS nails are too soft to use for most applications.

Hidden Fastener Deck Clips are often chosen by customers who don't want to see the heads of the screws in the face of their deck boards. To use these, the boards must be kerfed (grooved) on the sides so that the clips can be inserted into the boards.

The Ipe Clip Extreme is an effective product made of stainless steel covered with plastic to blend in with the wood color. This ipe clip is installed by driving a screw through the hole in the clip at a 45 degree angle and through the board thereby holding the board from moving as the board shrinks slightly. Most installers find it easier to pre-drill a hole in the board so that they can drive the screw more easily. This pre-drilling to install the ipe clip is an extra step that some prefer to avoid.

Aluminum Deck Clips are preferred by some installers because pre-drilling is not necessary. These deck clips are durable and hold well but the boards may shift as they shrink because the screws are not driven down through the board. The screws are driven straight down through the clips between the boards.

Using All Weather Sub Floor Adhesive solves this problem. The installation procedure for these aluminum deck clips is shown here.

Run a bead of adhesive down the top of the joists where you are beginning your deck installation. Apply enough to accommodate your first two or three boards.

Install your deck clips along the entire edge of the first board with a clip on each joist. The screw must be run down until the top of the screw is level with the clip. Do not tighten it down because this will tilt the free edge of the clip down thereby preventing you from slipping the 2^nd board into place.

Once you've installed clips on every joist along the edge of the first board, slip the leading edge of the 2^nd board into the clips snuggly.

Now, install the clips into the 2^nd edge of the 2^nd board on every joist making sure that you only drive the screw down until it is level with the clip. Do not screw it down too tightly.

Once this 2^nd clip is installed on the 2^nd board, go back to the nearest clip between the two boards and tighten it down firmly. Now, the clip will press the boards down on the glue and sufficiently seat them permanently.

Repeat this procedure to complete your deck.

A different installation technique must used for the first board edge (often against the house), the last edge (away from the house), the steps and risers because there is no joist to screw into or you cannot access the edge of the board.

Plugs that match your deck species are a very good option but the installation is tedious and they don't leave any option to replace boards later if that need arises.

Hidden Brackets that screw to the the joists and to the under side of deck boards are a good option. They install easily and can be used on these few areas where the deck clips simply don't apply well.

There you go . . . hidden deck fasteners.

Courtesy Brazilian Wood Depot.

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Forest Preservation

Rules Of Forest Preservation for Brazil and other lumber producing countries are designed to preserve their natural resources and the environment. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. This is a vitally respected agreement boasting 173 member nations at this time. It was drafted in 1973 and provides the framework to be respected by each Party (member country), which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level. The Brazilian government has had these laws in place for decades to ensure the regeneration of lumber that is harvested there from their forests. This CITES Treaty is the agreement protecting our flora and fauna worldwide and NOT any other private entity claiming to do so . . . at a profit.

The Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) is a pay to join organization with its main office in Mexico. The FSC organizes loggers, mills, shippers and distributors to join and charge fees for certifying that certain lumber is harvested responsibly. This is a self-regulated organization without a specific fee structure, the FSC is not regulated by any government body and they are not required to submit to audits of where the trees they certify came from. FSC certified shipments of lumber are readily available to importers who wish to buy them.

Tree Harvest Certifications (issued by Ibama � the Federal authority) must accompany ALL timber and lumber from standing timber in Brazil all the way to the importer's warehouse in the United States. This includes origin and species certifications as well as fumigation, density and grade specifications. To acquire these certifications, the loggers and mills must first present certifications provided by the Brazilian government which allow them to harvest particular trees. These harvest certifications must be carried by the loggers and the tree transport truckers at all times. Being caught without them will cause their logs and trucks to be confiscated and they will be jailed as poachers.

Rain Forest Preservation - The largest cause of loss of forest lands in the Rain Forest Basin is burning to create farmland and pasture land. To maintain the Rain Forests for future generations it is important to bring value to the standing forest. The responsible use of the select cut techniques (required in Brazil today) on a broad range of species will help preserve the Amazon for future generations by allowing local people to make a living in the rain forest rather than destroying it for the raising of cattle and soybeans. People do not destroy that which sustains them. By introducing the use of more species for a purpose, the use of these trees is spread over a variety of species. This prevents the over use of any one species. Brazilian Wood Depot offers a wider variety of species for decking than any distributor in the United States. The availability of more choices spreads demand among those choices.
Few people grasp the immense size of the Amazon rain forest. It is roughly the size of the continental United States. Today about 15% of the total Amazon rain forest is deforested. When Europeans arrived in South America, about 15 % of the rain forest was deforested.
In 1990, a number of tropical forestry experts met to discuss the causes of tropical deforestation and what could be done to slow deforestation. They arrived at a number of conclusions, some of which are summarized below (Smithsonian Institution/International Hardwood Products Association, 1990):

• Tropical rain forests will be preserved only if they are accorded economic value.
• Blanket bans and embargoes on tropical hardwood will tend to depress the value of these hardwoods and the forests that contain them. Such constraints generally diminish the economic incentives to conserve and manage these forests in the face of alternative land uses that lead to their destruction.
• In areas where prices received for timber do not fully cover the cost of forest management; there is a lack of incentive and commitment to forest management.
• Funds obtained from products of the tropical forests must be re-channeled into managing and regenerating those forests.
• The international tropical timber industry should encourage the continued establishment of conservation areas solely dedicated to forest preservation

Many of these ideals are addressed in the CITES Treaty mentioned earlier in this article. The destruction of tropical rain forests is due to growing population, growing infrastructure, and the economic activities associated with certain occupations. Unless people who work in cattle ranching, farming, charcoal production, and gold or oil exploration can find an alternative source of income that preserves that income's resources, their income will drop due to loss of resources and their country's subsequent economic development will suffer.

Courtesy Brazilian Wood Depot

Deck Board Thickness And Strength

The Ideal Deck Board Thickness depends on the hardness and bending strength of the material. Pressure treated (PT) pine and cypress, composite and redwood are readily available in 5/4 x 6” boards because this is the thickness needed for building strong decks with joists that are 16” apart – on center (O.C), an industry standard. Cedar is available in 5/4 x 6 and also 2 x 6 boards. Cedar is quite a bit softer than the others mentioned. So some folks want a thicker board. None of these boards are purchased in 1 x 6 dimensions as deck boards because they simply would not be firm enough to build a deck the doesn’t flex.

Brazilian Deck Boards, on the other hand, are most often sold in 1 x 6 dimensions. Brazilian deck boards are six to ten times harder than cedar and three to four times harder the PT and composite material. So, it is understandable that Brazilian ipe decking boards are much firmer than any other commonly available deck material even when they are 75% as thick as most other deck boards. Folks first comparing the attributes of Brazilian ipe decking boards to other materials available often price 5/4 x 6 lumber but this is not a good performance comparison. 1 x 6 Brazilian ipe decking boards are firmer, last longer and build a stronger deck than every other commonly used deck material. A lumber importer that is commonly asked about this comparison made this video, which clearly depicts the strength comparison between Brazilian ipe decking 5/4 and 4/4 thick boards:

http://blip.tv/file/378643 His conclusion from this study is that the difference in deflection between a 1 x 6 deck board and a 5/4 x 6 board is only 1 mm or 1/24^th”. This is a 300 pound man standing on only ONE board. Because of the size of his footprint, this man would normally be standing on at least two boards. This minor deflection emphasizes the fact that 1 x 6 dimensions for Brazilian ipe decking boards is ample.

Joist Spans can be adjusted to add more strength and reduce flex on a deck. Adding a few extra joists to make the joist spans 12” rather than 16” adds quite a bit of strength and firmness to a deck – MUCH more than using 5/4 x 6 boards. Adding more joists also costs a lot less money than paying for thicker Brazilian ipe decking boards. Adding joists to make smaller joist spans does NOT make all decks firmer. Composite decking material manufactured with plastic and no wood fillers sags between the joists over time no matter how close the joist spans are. The sag is reduced but they still sag. Reducing joist spans for PT and cedar decks will improve the firmness of the deck but will not increase the life of the decking, which is the weaker attribute.

Courtesy Brazilian Wood Depot