The Best Fastener for Deck Ledger to Rim Board Connections

In the past, a lag screw was the pre­ferred method for mak­ing the con­nec­tion between a deck ledger and a rim board. With Ledger­LOK, how­ev­er, mak­ing a ledger to rim con­nec­tion is faster and easier.

Connecting Deck Ledgers to Rim Board

What is a Ledger-to-Rim Connection? 

Before going into the details of con­nect­ing a deck ledger to a rim board, it helps to dis­cuss the mate­ri­als and con­struc­tion that go into these con­struc­tion com­po­nents. On the out­side of the home will be the pres­sure-treat­ed ledger board. 

Behind the ledger is the sheath­ing, which is typ­i­cal­ly OSB, usu­al­ly 0.5 inch­es to 0.75 inch­es in thick­ness. After the sheath­ing is the 2x tra­di­tion­al wood that cre­ates the rim of the house or an engi­neered wood prod­uct. This mate­r­i­al can be some­where between 1.0 and 1.25 inches.

To prop­er­ly secure the deck ledger to the rim board, deck builders need to dri­ve a screw through all three mate­ri­als, con­nect­ing the ledger to the rim board. 

The Traditional Method: Lag Screws

The tra­di­tion­al method for secur­ing the ledger to the rim board was to use a lag bolt – a thick and strong bolt that could hold firm­ly for decades. To install the bolts, builders would drill twice, once for the main body of the bolt, then anoth­er hole to bore out the width of the ini­tial sec­tion of the hole, to cre­ate more room and help to avoid splits. 

Installers then had to attach a wash­er and use a ratch­et to dri­ve the bolt through the ledger and into the rim board. All of these steps could be incon­ve­nient, required mul­ti­ple tools, and con­sumed pre­cious time on the job site.

LedgerLOK and the Appropriate Pattern

Ledger­LOK was cre­at­ed as a solu­tion to time-con­sum­ing lag bolts. It was designed specif­i­cal­ly for the deck rim joist cov­er appli­ca­tion. To install Ledger­LOK screws, sim­ply dri­ve the screw with a stan­dard drill until the built-in wash­er comes firm against the wood. No pre-drilling is required, and no ratch­et or wrench is need­ed to dri­ve the screw home. Ledger­LOK is avail­able with either a hex head or flat head.

Dri­ving the screw is sim­ple, but installers need to fol­low a spe­cif­ic pat­tern. To make a code-com­pli­ant con­nec­tion, installers should cre­ate a ​“W” pat­tern, with one high and one low across the entire ledger board. 

The exact dis­tance between screws is described in the tech­ni­cal bul­letin and will depend on the live load require­ment, rim mate­r­i­al, joist spans, and oth­er factors.

The Perfect Fasteners for Your Next Project

If you are look­ing for top-qual­i­ty fas­ten­ers for your next project, vis­it Fas­ten­Mas­ter today. From ledger screws to truss con­nec­tions, we have inno­v­a­tive mate­ri­als to fin­ish your projects faster and more efficiently.