We had a contractor install a deck for us using IQ hidden deck fasteners, completing the project in late November of last year. (We're in Southern California, so this was not a problem.) Fast forward to late April, and of a sudden large sections of the deck are coming up -- perhaps 25% of the fasteners are affected, just looking at it, and perhaps a dozen or so boards are floating loose on the deck frame. The symptom is that the plastic spacers have decayed in that short time, cracking and falling apart.

The contractor we used was very thorough, and treated both sides of the wood (we used red mangaris) with one of the Cabot deck stains.

There are problems some people have reported with IQ fasteners causing squeaks after installation, but we didn't hear anything like that.

I'm wondering if anyone has used these and had this problem. Because of the deck construction, to repair this it will be necessary to rebuild the whole deck. We brought this to the attention of the manufacturer's rep two weeks ago, and while that's probably far too early to expect anything like a response, I'm nervous. When we were researching materials for the deck, one of the things we came across were the composite decking lumber, and the long, drawn-out lawsuits against the manufacturer tell me that unless there are a lot of others in the same situation, it's unlikely that any kind of restitution is going to happen. Help!