The one thing I see messing up a lot of DIY deck frames

I was helping a buddy fix his new deck last weekend because it was already starting to wobble. He built the whole frame with the joist hanger nails that came in the little bag with the hangers. Those are fine for holding things together, but he didn't use a single structural screw to pull the rim joist tight to the beam before nailing. The whole thing was just sitting there with a tiny gap, and every step made it shift. I keep a box of 3-inch ledger lok screws in my truck just for this. You drive one of those through the rim into the beam end grain, and it yanks everything tight as a drum before you nail the hanger. It takes two minutes and stops that squeaky bounce forever. How many of you guys actually do this step, or do you just trust the nails?

3 comments

3 Comments

caleb_sanchez17d ago

Exactly, those screws are a total game changer.

the_nina17d ago

My deck's wobble was my own fault (forgot those screws).

ivan4017d ago

Oh man, I was totally in the "nails are fine" camp for years. Seeing @the_nina's post and this one really made it click for me. I helped my brother-in-law rebuild his deck frame last summer after it failed inspection for the same wobble. We used those long structural screws to pull it all tight first, just like you said. The difference was insane, it went from a spongy mess to totally solid. I won't skip that step again.