Decks, Patios, Porches and Docks - Predrill and countersink with Veranda?

Will I need to pre-drill and countersink my screws with Veranda decking even though i'm getting screws that say they prevent mushrooming?

Jeff

The only Veranda product I have ever used was their railing system, and I had to pre-drill most of that. Their decking?? I don't know how it does with Trap Ease screws, and I can't get their decking. But I have yet to find a composite that needs to be pre-drilled when using Trap Ease, other than at the end of each board. (I ALWAYS pre-drill that.)

Excellent! I will use the trap ease grey screws and try it out.

You can't get their decking? HD sells their decking and railing systems.

Jeff

All of our local HD's have discontinued Veranda and have gone to Trex.

The Trex up here is about 50% more $$ over here. But I heard good things on here about it.

IT says 1/4" between boards, sounds like a lot.

There are something like 80 or 85 composites on the market. Trex is one, Veranda is another -- shop around for the others. You'll probably find about 10 or 12 available where you're at.

Where I'm at, composites range from about $2.00 per foot to $3.00 per foot for a 5/4 X6 deck board (Actual size is 1" by 5-1/2"). Here, Trex falls in about the middle of that range.

But keep it in prospective!! A 1,000 sq.ft. deck, DIY, is going to cost you $10K to $12K for the material. 50 cents a linear foot for the decking will make about a $900 difference in the price.

you are going to be living with that deck for a LONG time. Is $900 REALLY all of that big of a thing???