FastenMaster Cortex for Decks Hidden Fasteners - Trex Transcend Tiki Torch 100 Lin.ft

My husband bought these for our deck to “fill in” the nail holes. He’s a general contractor and he said this was a great price, they were easy to use and did the job well

I used these screws for my brand new trex deck just on the borders and steps, as I used the trex fasteners for the majority of the boards. The plugs matched my trex boards perfectly and you can't even tell I used screws. They are expensive, but the end result is beautiful.

work and look good but are difficult to remove if needed

Wish I could just buy the plugs alone. These screws do not countersink right most of the time and you end up having to back it out, clean it off, screw back in, and repeat 3 times before sinking it finally. Also, the head snapped off the setting tool into a screw before it sunk. That was fun.

THESE REQUIRE PREDRILLING and the "setting tool" they provide does not set the depth. You have to go opd fasioned and tape off a drill bit. They do not provide a preser drill depth tool. You will spend 5 times as long to install your decking. Despite what it shows in the photos, when you get the box it has different instructions that tell you that you have to predrilled. In fact. These cannot penatrate Trex without predrilled. Read the many other reviews that say they also don't pull the decking down tight enough. I wish I had but for some reason those folks gave these a 3 instead of a 1. A tool that can't do the job you buy it for deserves a 1 not a 3.

a must if you do not want to see screws.

Perfect for what I needed. I'm a DIYer installing Trex Transcend deck. I'm using the Trex Hideaway fasteners, but there are some areas where they don't work well (very small pieces, edges, fascia boards, etc.) I'm using the Cortex screws in those limited areas. I've installed about half of the Trex so far (~350 square feet) and have gone through about half of one box of the Cortex screws. It is a lot of work to pre-drill, drive the screw, pick a matching plug, align the grain, and hammer it it, but the result is amazing. The screws are all but invisible.

These work. But you better predrill or you will regret it. The plugs work good as long as the hole is perfetly shaped. I found that hard to do because the screws didn't always grab all the way. A few screws I had to pound them in deeper before I could put in the plugs. If you have a huge job....I'm not sure it would be worth all the predrilling.