What are Deck Screws?
Since wood decks have many thin planks and must withstand harsh environmental conditions, deck screws are designed to accommodate the challenges of this application. Deck screws must resist corrosion, drive easily, and lay smoothly against the deck surface, called countersinking. For these reasons, many deck screws are self-countersinking, self-drilling, and coated with materials that won’t rust. Deck screws, like other screws, come in a wide variety of lengths and widths, called shanks. They also use different shapes of driver, the part on the screw head that allows a screwdriver to dig in to the wood and rotate. A popular head shape is a square, because it holds the driver and doesn’t strip as easily as Phillips heads. One feature of deck screws that makes them easy to install is the sharpness of their point. Deck screws often come to a very sharp, narrow point, to reduce the necessity of drilling pilot holes. Especially in a soft deck wood like cedar, deck screws can be fastened wit
