TL;DR
A stainless deck screw is a corrosion-resistant fastener, usually 305 or marine-grade 316 alloy, used to attach decking where coated steel screws would rust: with cedar, redwood, and especially near pools or salt air. Stainless will not react with the tannins in cedar that streak black around ordinary fasteners, and 316 is the specified grade within a few miles of the coast.
What it means
A stainless deck screw is a corrosion-resistant fastener, usually 305 or marine-grade 316 alloy, used to attach decking where coated steel screws would rust: with cedar, redwood, and especially near pools or salt air. Stainless will not react with the tannins in cedar that streak black around ordinary fasteners, and 316 is the specified grade within a few miles of the coast. The alloy is softer than hardened steel, so driving calls for pilot holes in hardwoods and a clutch-set driver to avoid snapping heads.
Where it sits in the glossary
Stainless deck screw is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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