If you have some personal experience in this area please help Dan out and add your comments. ![]() Has Anyone Else Experienced Boards Shrinking Across Their Width? Then contact Fiberon and ask with the acceptable width shrinkage movement is. The real mystery here is have the boards actually shrunk or were they simply installed with different spacing? Measure the boards to determine if they have shrunk differently or at all. On the decks surface, loose planks are an annoyance, but on the decks stairs, they pose a safety hazard. Consequently aggravates the problem of uneven planks and causes the planks to become loosely attached to the deck. Sadly, very little can be done other than remove the boards and reinstall them tighter to the recommended 3/16" gap, which by the way is not much compared to the existing 1/4" gap. As the size of the wood changes, nails, screws, and bolts may become loose. The boards should all be a consistent width and it sounds like you are describing a situation where they have shrunk across their width in an irregular manner. Wood expands very little along its length - as little 2% whereas it can expand 6-8% across its width. Or at least very minimally across the width.Įxperienced carpenters will know that this is the opposite from what natural wood does. The weight of composite deck boards alone will not put a strain on your deck’s foundation. Gapping also allows for the shrinkage of the wood joist system. Benefits of this approach include: Moisture-resistant composite decking means no need to worry about mold, mildew, or rot. The printing on the side of Trex decking boards are required by building codes. the slight thermal expansion and contraction of Trex decking boards. The recommended spacing between boards is 3/16" and 1/8" from the end of one board to the next.Ĭomposite decking is known to shrink and expand along its length, not its width. Install TimberTech composite deck boards over the wood substructure after removing the wood deck boards. What can be done?įiberon boards are according to the manufacturer's own documentation supposed to be 5.35" (136mm) wide. The "hidden" fasteners are quite visible. And that the wider gaps are the usual case. The installer said he doesn't know why this is so. Part way across the deck, the gap is suddenly 1/4" or more. On one side of the deck, the boards are close together (1/8" maybe). I have just had a deck installed using the Fiberon system. I would put in a claim just to see if Trex would be willing to help out and check to see if the boards are within the allowable tolerance.Why inconsistent gap between boards on new deck However those gaps are wildly large and inconsistent. Obviously your builder was trying to gap the boards for nice and straight lines because that’s what deck builders pride themselves on. Trex’s clip gap is 1/4”, which to me is a bad look already. Or they should have known that the pallets were different widths and they should have mixed them as to keep the straight line with a tighter gap. This should have been caught and not installed by the deck builder. If it’s moving too fast through the dye it’ll be thinner (think play dough in one of those spaghetti dye’s). For cracks or splits in Trex decking boards, its best to replace the damaged section instead of trying. ![]() Use exterior-grade fasteners to fasten through the outside of the joist. Blocking should be installed edge to edge to allow for fastening of the interior blocking. The front of the deck measures 30 across. ![]() I wanted to try and create a box around the deck basically bringing the fascia board close to the ground and maybe fill in some rock to hide any small gaps. Because of speed of the board being manufactured, you can have inconsistencies in face width. Replace damaged Trex boards rather than repairing. Solid wood blocking should be equally spaced in rows, with a maximum of 4 to 6 apart. Built a deck last year and put on some 12' fascia board to cover up the 2x10 rim joists. All deck boards must always be installed with a 3-5mm end-to-end or end-to-width gap between boards. Or at least very minimally across the width. The Trex Hideaway Hidden Fasteners automatically measure the 6mm gap between grooved edge boards but you must still ensure the 6mm gap with the square edge boards. It won’t always be exactly 5.5” but it should be pretty dang close. Composite decking is known to shrink and expand along its length, not its width. Then you’re looking at a dogs paw going through, etc.Įvery decking manufacturer has a “tolerance” for allowable face width size. I worry that the 1/2” gap in the winter will be 3/4” because of contraction of the board. The Trex clips don’t have a great deal of holding power. The deck builder was obviously trying to match up the lines so he cheated the gaps. You probably paid a pretty penny for this deck. First off, you’re not crazy thinking this is unacceptable.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |