Should I Use Screws or Nails For My Fence?
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Screws or Nails for Your Fence? Here's What Actually Works Best.
It’s one of the most common fence-building debates: should you use screws or nails? Both have their fans, but the real answer is a little more nuanced. It comes down to a specific type of fastener for fences that most homeowners have never heard of.
The Case Against Screws
Screws seem like the obvious choice because they grip tight and are easy to remove. But standard screws have a problem on fences: they’re rigid. Wood expands and contracts constantly through Kansas City’s hot summers and cold winters. Screws don’t flex with that movement, they snap. A broken screw buried in a post is a headache nobody wants. Screws also split pickets, causing problems for your fence during installation and down the line.
The Case Against Standard Nails
Plain smooth-shank nails are fast to install, but they back out over time. As the wood swells and shrinks with the seasons, smooth nails gradually lose their grip. That’s how you end up with popped nail heads, loose pickets, and a fence that rattles in the wind after a couple of years. An additional problem is that a lot of fence companies use non-aluminum nails which can rust, or even interact with cedar’s natural oils, causing streaks down the fence years later. Many companies skimp here because they know you won’t see the streaks until years later.
The Right Answer: Aluminum Screw Shank Nails
The sweet spot is an aluminum screw shank nail. These have a screw-like shaft that grips the wood like a screw but drives like a nail. They resist backing out through years of seasonal wood movement without the brittleness of a standard screw. And because they’re aluminum, they won’t rust, corrode, or leave ugly black stain marks running down your cedar pickets the way steel fasteners do. They cost a more per nail, but the cost is worth it and the results last.
Bottom Line
Your fasteners are the only thing holding your fence together. The best cedar pickets and treated posts in the world won’t matter if they’re attached with hardware that rusts, pops, or snaps. At Jackson Fence, we use aluminum screw shank nails on every wood fence we build because we’ve seen what happens when contractors cut corners on the small stuff. Give us a call for a free estimate and we’ll build it right.
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