Thread: Rusted Screw Heads in Deckingn

If the decking boards were consistently gapped you could move the boards, say 30mm, forward/back from their previous position and cut a couple of fillers for the first and last boards. Other than that the answer is, no.

What filler could be put in the old screw holes and tinted to match the boards? He was also talking about filling the existing holes with timber plugs.

Dont plug, it will fail and trap water regardless of what you do.

The suggestion to move the boards 30mm is a good one providing the boards themselves are in good repair, use stainless decking screws and Protectadek https://www.bunnings.com.au/protecta...joist_p0915409, to protect the joists

As rwbuild says use stainless steel screws, at least 10 gauge, as the old steel screws were most likely 8 gauge. You're using the existing holes in the decking boards and simply moving the boards either back or forward of their previous position on the joist. If the joists are hardwood pre-drill for the new screws, if they are treated pine just make sure you have downward pressure on the board, your own weight will do, and screw them down. Rip a filler board lengthwise to fill the gap at the first and last boards. If the deck looks vaguely reasonable now you should get a good result. Use plastic spacers and clamps to hold the boards straight and in alignment while you attach them to the joists, they might go a bit crazy when you take them up.

Remove the decking from the joists. Vise Grips on the shank of the screws to remove them.

OR

Cut the screws off at the joist. Then rotate the decking end for end to reinstall.

OR

Fill the holes with a stainable wood filler. New holes with screws into the joists.

In all cases stainless screws.

Oh, you'll probably need to be pre-approved by the bank when you buy the stainless screws.

Originally Posted by Kidbee

Have a friend who recently bought a house with a salt water pool. The salt has rusted the screw heads out of the timber decking but they are still threaded into the joist. He can cut the screws down level with the joists but rescrewing them using the existing holes in the decking is impossible as the old screw still sits in the joist. He could possibly abut another joist next to the existing one and move the board down a bit when he removes them and rescrew them into the new joist using the existing holes.

This must be a common problem. Is there an easier solution?

if the screws are cut down to the top of the joist, using a screw extractor comes to mind.

and is maybe not a lot of effort using a cordless drill.

Screw extractors work on the principle that the head is still in tact but the slot is rounded out

You don't have to pay a fortune for quality stainless steel decking screws. Don't buy them at the big green shed, you can save up to 30% on their prices. Do a search on Ebay (10g 50 stainless steel decking screws) plenty available in any quantity you want with and without smart tools. Or support a forum sponsor - 10g x 50mm 304 Stainless Decking Screws box 1000 - you'll find that 304 grade (18/8) will do the job fine, you don't need 316.

Originally Posted by rwbuild

Screw extractors work on the principle that the head is still in tact but the slot is rounded out

the ones I've used also work on a screw's shank

not seem that type

Originally Posted by aldav

You don't have to pay a fortune for quality stainless steel decking screws. Don't buy them at the big green shed, you can save up to 30% on their prices. Do a search on Ebay (10g 50 stainless steel decking screws) plenty available in any quantity you want with and without smart tools. Or support a forum sponsor - 10g x 50mm 304 Stainless Decking Screws box 1000 - you'll find that 304 grade (18/8) will do the job fine, you don't need 316.

I must say I don't like the appearance of the square drives in that link, I have both those and the phillips drive made by James Glen and prefer the latter. The square drives are very shiny and the James Glen version is matt and though it does not sound like much the difference in colour and the drive head is quite significant when seen against each other. I buy 8G x 42mm James Glen at $10 per box of a hundred from my local fastener supplier and that is about the same price as online. I counter sink and drill in one operation using a Festool CS and it has done 10,000 screws at least and is still very sharp. The only issue with SS is they are soft and you have to be accurate aligning the driver to the screw or it will cam out (phillips). The square drives I am not sure about as I did not put that deck down just specified SS as the fasteners and came home one day to find that they had used square drives.