Deck boards

For the upper landing deck I used mostly Tigerclaw fasteners. The proper version is important as the boards need to be literally sledge-hammered onto the spikes. And that's the challenge -- everything must be strong enough to withstand repeated blunt lateral blows. Other versions include longer prongs for softwoods and a shorter for hardwoods like Ipé.

One drawback with Tigerclaw is that the first and last boards have to be fastened some other way. That's where the Deckmaster brackets came into use again. I wanted to avoid top screws altogether. Cost of a small box of Tigerclaw TC-3 (90 claws, which covers about 45 sq.ft. of 5 1/2" boards over joists spaced 16" on centers) was $76 retail plus tax -- very expensive compared to screws or nails.

I also did some bottom-up angled deck screws where possible, which may have just been fine throughout! Drilling is necessary through the Trex boards. Everything feels solid... for now at least.