Appreciation post: my neighbor told me my deck screws were wrong and saved me a rebuild

I spent all last summer building a deck in my backyard in Portland. Thought I was doing everything right, you know, following YouTube tutorials and all. Then my neighbor Bob, a retired contractor, walked over one Saturday and said 'hey, you know those screws are going to rust out in a year, right?' He pointed out I was using regular coated deck screws instead of hot-dipped galvanized ones for the ground-contact parts. I brushed him off at first, but then I looked closer and saw the coating was already flaking on a few of them near the posts. So I took his advice, pulled up the worst section, and replaced all the screws with the right kind before it got worse. Cost me about $40 more and a full weekend, but now I sleep better knowing the railing won't give out when someone leans on it. Has anyone else had a neighbor or friend point out a fix that saved you from a bigger problem down the road?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jessica15d ago

Oh man, I read a decking forum post last year that said the same thing. A guy posted pictures of his railing completely collapsing because he used the wrong screws in a wet climate. It's wild how small things like that can turn into major safety issues. Good on Bob for catching it and good on you for actually fixing it before the rain did the damage for you.

julia_anderson15d ago

My neighbor used drywall screws on his deck steps and I still give him grief about it.