Deck plank fastener

Abstract

A deck plank fastener for securing the deck planks to the underlying joists of a decking structure. The fastener includes a flat body, a top surface, a first end including a first hole, a second end including a second hole, and two upward tabs. One such fastener is attached to an edge of the bottom surface of the plank by inserting an anchoring element through the first hole and to an upper surface of a joist by inserting an anchoring element through the second hole. A second such fastener is attached to the opposing edge of the bottom surface of the plank by inserting an anchoring element through the first hole and is projected under an adjacent plank in the area of the second end. The two upward tabs ensure uniform spacing and parallelism between adjacent planks.

1 . A deck plank fastener for securing a deck plank to a joist, the fastener comprising:
 a generally flat body having a top surface, a first end, a second end and two opposing lateral edges;   a first hole in the first end;   a second hole in the second end; and   two tabs extending upward from the body at an angle to the top surface from two opposing positions located along the opposing lateral edges.   
     
     
         2 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the body is substantially rectangular; and   wherein the body has two longer edges and two shorter edges.   
     
     
         3 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the body includes a plurality of impressed contours.   
     
     
         4 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the first hole and the second hole are circumscribed by conical recesses.   
     
     
         5 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the opposing positions from which the tabs extend upward are offset toward the first end.   
     
     
         6 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 1 ,
 wherein the opposing positions from which the tabs extend upward are offset toward the second end.   
     
     
         7 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a plurality of wings extending downward from a plurality of the edges of the body.   
     
     
         8 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 7 ,
 wherein the wings extend downward at an angle to the top surface.   
     
     
         9 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 8 ,
 wherein the body has impressed contours which cooperate with the downward extending wings to reinforce the body.   
     
     
         10 . The deck plank fastener of  claim 8 ,
 wherein the wings are discontinuous along the two opposing lateral edges from which the tabs extend upward.   
     
     
         11 . A decking system, comprising:
 a plurality of joists arranged in a planar array at spaced intervals;   a plurality of planks in spaced and side-by-side relationship on the joists, each plank having a far and a near edge, the far and near edges of adjacent planks being parallel to one another and confronting one another; and   a plurality of hidden fasteners securing the planks to the joists,
 each of a first set of the hidden fasteners connected to the bottom of a plank at the near edge and to the top of a joist; and 
 each of a second set of the hidden fasteners connected to the bottom of a plank at the far edge and projecting under the near edge of the adjacent plank. 
   
     
     
         12 . The decking system of  claim 12 ,
 wherein the hidden fasteners of the second set are offset along the length of a plank from the hidden fasteners of the first set to avoid positions overlying a joist.   
     
     
         13 . The decking system of  claim 12 ,
 wherein a spacing between planks is established by a plurality of tabs extending upward from a body of the hidden fasteners.   
     
     
         14 . A method for assembling a decking structure, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a base formed by an array of spaced-apart joists, each joist having an upper surface lying in a common plane with the other joists;   affixing a first plank to the plurality of joists in a desired position to serve as a reference plank;   positioning a second plank in a desired position with a bottom surface of the second plank facing upward;   attaching each of a first plurality of fasteners to the bottom of the second plank at a far edge of the second plank and at positions corresponding to the underlying joists;   attaching each of a second plurality of fasteners to the bottom of the second plank at a near edge of the second plank and at positions offset from the underlying joists;   turning the second plank over so that the bottom surface of the second plank and the fasteners face downward;   then positioning the second plank in the desired position side-by-side with the reference plank with each of the first plurality of fasteners overlying a joist, and each of the second plurality of fasteners projecting under an adjacent edge of the reference plank; and   securing each of the first plurality of fasteners to a corresponding joist.   
     
     
         15 . A method for assembling a decking structure as defined in  claim 14 , further including the step of:
 installing additional planks by repeating the steps for installing the second plank for each additional plank and using the most recently installed plank as the reference plank.   
     
     
         16 . A method for assembling a decking structure as defined in  claim 14 , wherein:
 the step of positioning the second plank with the bottom surface upward comprises positioning the plank on the joists side-by-side with the first plank and in a position corresponding substantially to the desired position of the second plank in the decking structure; and   the step of attaching the first plurality of fasteners comprises attaching the fasteners at positions which overlie the joists on which the plank is positioned.   
     
     
         17 . A method for assembling a decking structure as defined in  claim 14 ,
 wherein the first and second plurality of fasteners are elongated and are positioned to extend beyond the edges of the planks when attached.   
     
     
         18 . A method for assembling a decking structure as defined in  claim 14 ,
 wherein the second plurality of fasteners projecting under the adjacent edge of the reference plank are not attached to the reference plank.   
     
     
         19 . A method for assembling a decking structure as defined in  claim 14 ,
 wherein the first plurality of fasteners have the same construction as the second plurality of fasteners.   
     
     
         20 . A method for assembling a decking structure having planks angled relative to the joists, the method comprising the steps of:
 providing a base formed by an array of spaced-apart joists, each joist having an upper surface lying in a common plane with the other joists;   affixing a first plank to a corner of the plurality of joists in a desired position and at the predetermined angle to the joists to serve as a reference plank;   positioning a second plank on the joists side-by-side with the reference plank and in a position corresponding substantially to the desired position of the second plank in the decking structure with a top surface of the second plank facing upward;   marking the bottom surface of the second plank along each joist with a marking line extending across the plank from the near edge to the far edge, each marking line being positioned to correspond substantially with the edge of the joist nearest the reference plank;   attaching each of a first plurality of fasteners to the bottom surface of the second plank along the far edge at a position such that one of the plurality of marking lines is visible through a first hole of the first plurality of fasteners;   attaching each of a second plurality of fasteners to the bottom surface of the second plank along the near edge at positions such that each marking line is visible through a first hole of the second plurality of fasteners;   positioning the second plank in the desired position side-by-side with the reference plank with each of the second fasteners projecting under the adjacent edge of the reference plank;   securing each of the plurality of the first plurality of fasteners to a joist   
     
     
         21 . A method for assembling a decking structure as defined in  claim 20 , further including the step of:
 installing additional planks by repeating the steps for installing the second plank for each additional plank and using the most recently installed plank as the reference plank.