I might be building a deck soon and was thinking of offering “tiger-claws” as an option. the deck would be made of ACQ treated wood.
I never use the tiger claw fastening system before. any opinions on it?
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I haven't used the tiger claw system before. It looks like it would work as well as any side mount fastener system. As long as the claws are long enough to maintain a grip on the wood when it shrinks...
My question for you is, ACQ treated wood for the decking or structural or both?
My next question for you is, how well does the tiger claw fastener hold up to the new chemicals in the treated wood? I checked out BackyardAmerica.com which sells the tiger claw but couldn't find any info on whether it would stand up to the new chemicals.
"Tiger Claw Hidden Deck Fasteners are coated with an epoxy based electroplating to minimize the effects of corrosion" - pulled from the backyardamerica.com website.
Anyone else know if epoxy based electroplating works with ACQ? I know Simpson ZMAX hardware and nails are all double hot dipped galvanized to withstand the new ACQ.
Just a design question, why ACQ for the decking? And please don't tell me you're using the impregnated ACQ wood (little divets all along the board)- - yeah, it might last for a while but damn, that's some ugly wood! And you don't want your kids crawling around on ACQ lumber...
what other wood is available in raleigh, NC?
MAC
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yeah, i noticed the same thing on the website, as well as on the box. They don't really come right out and say weather or not it's ACQ compatable.
I would be building the deck for a customer. we talked about other materials but he requested treated lumber for the whole thing. I guess for most people, it all comes down to the initial price.
And nope on the preforated - impregnated stuf. I havn't even seen that for sale around here.
I would also agree with Mac's points. The corrosion is definitely a concern. Also, PT shrinks some much that I would not feel very confident on relies on that type of fasteners. I don't care for PT anyway, I'm fine with it for the fame but anything else, I think its a waste of money. Around here (West of Boston) you can get 1x4 mahogany decking for the same price or some times a little cheaper than PT. I wouldn't have a concern over hidden fastners with something more stable like mahogany or ipe but I definitely would PT. Check out some of the other options in your area, Even if its a little more I think anything other than PT would be a better option.