G

I'm aslo an engineering geek, but not such a fan of the exposed fastener look. Personally, I'd at least minimize the effect with coloured headcotes. You'd still see the 'construction', but not such a clash with the warm redwood.

Check out my (first) recent post about the Starborn Headcote Pro Plug system.

I'd assume they'll be producing redwood plugs in the future, it being such a popluar decking wood. They do make custom plugs (at a price and minimum order).

My opinion is that a well finished plug shows just enough of the construction if you are in geek mode and looking for it, but if you are not looking, you only see a nice continuous uninterrupted deck. Best of both worlds. I bet most people would be most impressed seeing a clean deck, and barely visible plugs, wondering how you did it.

My 2 cents,
Dan R

I agree - the plugs would probably look the best. However, plugging seems like A LOT of extra labor especially on a softwood like redwood that otherwise wouldn't need pre-drilling. The other negative about plugging is that you cannot re-tighten the screws later if some squeaks develop.

It's looking like I should just do the normal headcote screws. Thanks for your opinions.

I built a clear all heart redwood deck many years ago that we plugged. One of the most impressive looking decks I've ever built, much more so than seeing screws in a nice straight line.

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Al's Custom Decks