Products and Materials

Deck Mates - Decking specific fasteners

comments (0) March 9th, 2011 in Blogs

Mike Guertin, editorial advisor

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Many synthetic decking makers and even some premium wood deck suppliers have partnered up with hidden deck fastener makers to design special fasteners or private label existing fastener designs for use with their decking. There are advantages to using decking branded fasteners but you aren’t locked into using them exclusively.

Matching a hidden fastener to your selected decking can be daunting with so many brands, types and sizes of fasteners out there. The challenge comes on several fronts. For instance, not every pregrooved deck board has the same width, depth and height groove so you have to sort through the fasteners that fit. Some decking brands prohibit edge slotting altogether so you have to use a screw-on or drive-on style fastening system. And other deck boards aren’t compatible with undermount and screw-on systems due to the decking cross section design or light density.

So to simplify the decision, many decking makers now offer fasteners. When you buy decking branded fasteners, you know they will fit and have been tested by the decking company for performance. And it’s more likely the building material dealer will stock the hidden fasteners for the decking it carries.

But don’t think you’re stuck using decking branded fasteners in order to comply with a manufacturer’s warrantee. You can still use another hidden fastening system provided it is compatible with the decking. Some of the hidden decking fastener companies list which of their fasteners work with which brand and model of decking. And if you can’t find a list at their website, contact their customer service department for information. Hidden fastener companies also list the decking brands and models their fasteners work with.

See Recommended Fasteners for a list.

I found only two companies, Fiberon and Certainteed, that require their hidden fastener be used in order to comply with their warrantees. Another company, CEVN, lists only two 'approved' fastener models but does not seem to have warrantee language requiring their use (see Recommended Fasteners)

If you have information that doesn't correspond to what I have listed here, please leave a comment and site your source of information; we'll update the list periodically to keep it current.

Decking Brand	Decking Brand Fasteners	$/SqFt	Notes
Trex	Hideaway Biscuit	$0.84
Trex	Hideaway clip	$1.38	Made by TigerClaw
Fiberon	Fiberon Hidden Fastener	$1.19	Propriertary
Veranda (Fiberon)	Fiberon Hidden Fastener	$1.19	Propriertary
Certainteed EverNew (Fiberon)	Fiberon Hidden Fastener	$1.19	Proprietary
Latitudes (UFPI)	Equator	$1.03	Made by LumberLoc
GAF DuraLife Siesta	Fastenator	$1.55	Made by EbTy
GAF DuraLife Natural Train	Sabre Clips
Rhino	Rhino Vision Clips	$1.20
TimberTech	CONCEALoc	$1.13	Made by TigerClaw
GuarDeck (Guardian)	GuarDeck Hidden Fastener		Made by TigerClaw
EverGrain (Tamko)	EG 123		Made by TigerClaw
Reysta	"clip"
UltraDeck	T-Clip
Cellek	Cellek Fastener & Groove System
New Tech Wood	T-clip C4 and Clip K-2
BamDeck	Groove Fastening System
TigerDeck	TigerDeck Hidden Fastener