Do you know if you have kiln dried or air dried garapa? This could make a difference on what spacing should be.

All Garapa is kiln dried. 3/16 gap is good. Make some spacers land them on the joists during install use a bowrench. Not real sure on the reuse thing sounds like your planing on taking them up sometime. Any butt joints can be glued up no gap is needed.

J.

i have seen the weedyacres thread, i learned a lot from that, too bad so many posts were lost.

I use construstion adhesive on the joists with all South American lumber TightBond is my curent favorite. You will get some hold down power but mostley I do it to add a layer between the decking and the green pt frame. I do it with a reskin as well even though its probley dried out by now anything that protects the decking from underneith is worth it to me.Geting the decking back up now might be a little more trouble that stuff really takes to dry wood and sets up fast but backing out the trim head ss screws makes a biger hole anyway.

Its a good pratice to keep the Garapa off the ground tarped up before install.Of course thats true of all S A material but Garapa and Masenranduba are bad about movememt left out in the rain or have the top dry and the bottom wet. After its fastened its good to go for a very long time. J.

I agree with John, 3/16" gap would be what I recommend. You can either make your own spacers easily out of some scraps of wood, or look online and you will find cheap spacers you can purchase just for this purpose. Another option is hidden fasteners, they will space the boards for you as you install. Check out the ipe clip extreme4 if you are interested, this will give you the gap spacing you are looking for.

I would also recommend the construction adhesive on this job. Since your joists are not all level, this will help eliminate any squeeks.

Instead of a shim, try putting a nailer next to the joists where it bowed down. This will probably last longer in the long run and be easier to install this way anyway.

We did 1/8" gap, and used strips of 1/8" plywood to space them. We did a trim edge all the way around, but didn't glue at the miters. They do have a gap, but it's not horrid looking.

Make sure you post photos!

I am hoping to get the first boards down today, have a little more framing to do first. Question about the screwing. I am using #7 2 1/2" stainless screws. George from East Teak said to drill, then screw them down, then move the driver around a bit to seat them. I'm a little concerned that I may not have this right. I'm not going to put the covers over them. Do I screw them flush with the wood or down? If down, how much? And I'll call George when he's back from his trip, but does anyone know what he meant to move the driver around? I think this was to get the screws to be hidden under the wood, but not sure.

And I need to give George and East Teak a plug. George was incredibly helpful in working me through the process, and we spent a lot of time making sure the order was right. He caught some errors in my estimating and helped a lot in answering my questions about railing construction, and general construction with garapa. And the wood I received was GORGEOUS. I was a little hesitant to order sight unseen but out of 4000 lbs of wood, I only saw one or two boards that had any imperfections at all. Price was great, service was great, and product is outstanding.

Even though the ss trim head screws are good for the weather they are also a little soft. After the pre drill,thru the garapa only not into the pt frame, as your runing the screw pause for a mili second then run the screw the rest of the way. Using an impact driver like the 18 volt Makita its easy to work too fast that is put a lot of preasure on the driver and run the screw in without a break. This builds up heat in the middle of the screw and,sometimes, snapes it off in the middle.

Just slow down your not killing snakes. The torx head is a little more mistake proof than the square drive but the important thing is to Slow Down when driving the screw after a while you will get the hang of it. I use a 5/32'' bit for the predrill using the 7 x 2 1/2'' screw. A person can make a wood stop,chuck it in to the right depth and the predrill will always be the same.

Using the 5 / 32 '' predrill bit will allow you to countersink the screw. It also will allow you to drive the screw in too far. Just snug it down 1/8 '' or so and stop.

Fastening to an older pt frame sometimes requires a pre drill into the frame. Not always but sometimes the wood has dryed out to the point that its really hard,like syp is naturaly,and driving the screws in without another predrill snapes the screws off anyway no matter how easy you go. The pre drill into the Frame has to be done with an 1/8'' drill bit 5/32'' is too big and the screw will just spin.

East Teak is hands down the best Business I have ever delt with. The George has taken on a big part of the outfit. His trip down south has left them short handed for sure, He is a good solid straight up Man after all the years knowing him I can honestly say I would be hard presed to run my business without Him and East Teak.
J.

With the kiln dried you might be able to get away with flush, but since all the garapa/hardwoods I've worked with have been air dried I knew the wood was going to shrink so I sink the heads slightly.

I know a lot of the other deck pros like the impact driver. I use low rmp corded drills, it seems not to snap screws as much as the high speed drills. Plus guys who are inexperienced will strip the heads out with the faster drills too much. Not much aggrevates me as much as hearing screw after screw getting stripped by a helper, a good way to get on the poo poo detail.

John,
I never snap SS screws, and I send them all in with my 14.4 makita impact. Maybe your 18 volt has too much power.

Al,
I can't believe you are still using a corded drill. That's so last century. Get an impact driver dude. I used to strip screws with my cordless drill. Not anymore, since I switched to the impact. With my Makita, I could set a deck screw while doing a headstand.

steve

We still break a few screws, now and then, but not nearly as much as we used to. Maybe because we switched to the 18V models.

cordless impacts are the way to go.

I would rather say something and be silly because
he already knows it than say nothing and have him make a mistake and not know why. On the other hand the smart bit is too slow for my work. Could be thats why they snap them off I do push them for production but keep telling them thats not the same thing as speed. J.

I have garapa posts that will hold garapa top/bottom railings with Deckorator metal balusters in between. The railings will attach to the outmost side of the posts, and a top rail will cover the upper sub-rail and posts.

My question is, what types of fasteners do I need to attach a) the posts (4x4 garapa) to the deck and b) the rails (2x4 garapa) to the posts? I was going to go with galvanized carriage bolts to attach the posts to the deck frame, but I understand that will cause black marks on the garapa. Since the carriage bolts will be covered by fascia and not seen, is it ok to use galvanized or do I need to splurge for stainless carriage bolts?
Likewise, the 2x4 subrails will need to be attached to the posts. These WILL be visible (though hopefully discretely so); I was going to look for 3" stainless screws here. Is that sufficient, or do the rails need to be lagged or bolted to the posts? And can I use trimhead screws here or are those solely for decking?

J.

If i'm attaching a 4x4 garapa post to a 4x10 pressure-treated beam, can I use galvanized bolts? The bolts will not be seen, they will be covered with fascia.

If I'm attaching a 2x4 garapa deck rail to the side of a 4x4 garapa post, can I use #7 3" trim head stainless screws? Or do I need to use full headed screws, or do I need to bolt it?

Please help - I need to order the hardware in the AM so I will be able to work on my deck this weekend.

Thanks,
Rick

I set my posts like John does...boxed in inside the rim joist.
I've never worked with Garapa, so I don't know about the staining, but if they won't be seen, use 1/2" galv. bolts.
About attaching the subrails to garapa posts, I wouldn't use #7 3" trim head screws (if they even make a #7 in 3"). There's a good chance they'll break. I'd use a #8. They can still snap if you aren't careful. When I'm screwing into S.A. hardwoods, I always countersink, pre-drill, and then put some wax on the threads first. I use wax from those wax rings that seal the toilet bowl. I bought one years ago...a lifetime supply.

steve

I have found during the winter they would stay tight in the summer they would be loose. I went with glav all thread rod one nut/washer siting in a counter sink on the outside two nuts one washer on the inside using loctite.

As they get tightened the post has to be shimed to keep it plumb.

This worked out a lot better than lags or carrige bolts.

Going with a sidewaze or toenail type of angle its all in the counter sink and the predrill. Done corectley using a # 8 tork drive screw there is no snaping off, usually . Make the pre drill 1/4'' or so deeper than needed,go slow and back the bit out as you go to clean it off South American lumber has a lot of oil in it that will combine with the shavings to clog up the bit and build up heat. If you dont back the bit out every now and then as you drill its very possible to snap the bit half way in and cleaning it off makes for a better predrill.
J.

As you predrill some of the drilled material is going to go in the hole as you go. So drill the hole farther than you need to give it a place to go and not effect the screw.
Its all in geting to know how it goes you will figure it out. For me the # 8 screw goes in just fine with a 1/8 '' bit for you it might take a 5/32 '' bit.

John Hyatt www.deckmastersllc.com