Overheard a guy at the lumber yard say he's been using drywall screws for deck framing for 10 years

I was grabbing some cedar 2x6s for a planter box and this older guy next to me starts telling the cashier how he builds all his decks with drywall screws because they're cheap. Said he's never had one fail. Man, those screws snap under shear stress and they're not coated for weather at all. Made me wonder how many people are out there doing stuff like this without knowing the load ratings. Anyone here ever run into a deck job that was held together with the wrong fasteners?

2 comments

2 Comments

pat_hall8729d ago

I saw a deck last year that used regular drywall screws for the joist hangers. Half of them were snapped clean off and the deck was sagging like 3 inches in one corner. Its wild how people trust a 5 cent screw to hold up a family barbecue lol.

jade27129d ago

@pat_hall87 that actually changed my mind, I used to figure any screw would hold but seeing it snap like that makes me never wanna cheap out on deck hardware again.