You need your decking boards to be removable? This guide can help you...
In the last few years the decking market has grown up with various offers regarding patented fixing systems with the intention of revolutionizing the world of traditional decking and cladding laying. But did they all succeed? Not really ... and for this reason it is very important to know how to differentiate what is valid for those who sell from what is valid for those who buy (because it really works).
By reading this blog you will in fact be able to:
- Understand the evaluation elements before buying a removable decking or cladding clip system
- Find out which are the best clip fastening systems and why!
The possibility of proposing a clip that makes each plank of the floor replaceable is a topic that has always interested companies, professionals and end customers. But there are very specific characteristics to evaluate a good system from a “fake".
Removable Decking systems with screw clip
Here we have to lose a bit of time, given that when we talk about removable clips that mount like the traditional ones but that thanks to flaps or similar systems make it possible to remove each plank quickly and easily, we risk falling into deception. Often we use a quality to throw confusion over fragility ... and at the cost of repeating it until exhaustion, the number one FRAGILITY of any clip is only one: THE SCREWS!
Avoid any clip fixing system that needs to unscrew a screw to remove the decking boards! Let's see why. Where are we screwing these screws, on which type of sub-structure?
- Wood: If I screw my removable clips onto a wooden structure I have to pray that I never need to remove the decking boards. Why? The screw that must be removed and then put back in the same hole will not have the same holding strength! So let's say that this is an area that we have to inspect several times during the season ... after the third / fourth time the screw will end up with no more grip, making the clip totally inefficient ... so it will be necessary to remove a much wider part of the floor and replace the substructure as that screw hole is no longer usable.
- Composite: If we screw our clip on a composite substructure, even if we want to use stainless steel screws, not only would we have the same scenario expressed above but we would also have to deal with the expansion of the plastic material! What happens? The displacement can even cause the screw to break, making the clip no longer usable (the same thing can also happen for the movements of a wooden substructure, depending on the essence used).
Assuming that everything you have just read is tolerable there is one last thing to consider ... every time you unscrew and re-screw the screw to extract a plank, the drill will not fail to ruin the sides of the boards on the side! It will only be a matter of time, and the floor sold as removable will begin to remove itself spontaneously!!!
Does a CLIP exist to be screwed that avoids and solves the problems mentioned above? OF COURSE!
Solving this problem with a screw-in clip is easy! Just choose a type of clip that normally screws to any substructure like the traditional ones, BUT TO REMOVE INDIVIDUAL BOARDS IT DOES NOT NEED TO UNSCREW ANY SCREW! This type of clip exists, it is called iFly and allows the removal of each plank through a simple turn of the supplied key. What makes this clip immune to the problems mentioned above is the fact that once screwed in, the screws no longer touch each other! Let's see it together in a REAL video:
iDecking Revolution, a leading Italian company in the world for having patented the best innovation systems for outdoor floor mounting, even has a screw-free removable system! The technology, which is then the same integrated in the iFly clip, is called EasyChange, let's see it together:
iDecking EasyChange System
EasyChange is the only system in the world which allows you the ability to remove and replace every single board of your deck using a special iDecking key. No need to utilize any drills, screws, spacers or “obsolete” clips to install the decking. iDecking Easy Change system helps ensure a quick and simple troublefree installation. EasyChange is comprised of an understructure which comes with pre-spaced special rotating nylon cams. Decking boards are then locked in place with a simple turn of the EasyKey.