How to Lay Replacement Deck Boards

Video Transcript

"We're going to lay out the decking boards now. Some people like them all close together, other people like them to have a gap between them so rain and debris will go between them. I like to gap them. It doesn't accumulate between the gaps and things. To put a gap on your board, you can use pencil. A regular carpenters pencil. If you happen to drop the pencil between the gaps then you're not happy. I make shims that are just the width I need. I put a screw in them and then you can have a couple of guys go along and gap it out. You use your shim with screw in it and get it set just right. Just set your screw and take another one and get it in there and pop in another screw. You want to snug them down a little bit into the wood so the heads are not sticking out. You just keep going along with you little shims and it gives you a very uniform layout if you want gaps in your boards. You can suck the boards so they're flat."