When I tried to disassemble the first deck I built, after 15 years or
so, The "deck screws" attaching the cedar deck to the structure had a
bad habit of snapping when I tried to unscrew them. They were quite
rusty, enough that most wouldn't turn.

I just dismantled our back stairs I built about 6-7 years ago. I had a few
screws that snapped, but stripped heads were the more common problem. The
vast majority unscrewed just fine. Certainly easier and far less damage
than trying to pull nails (I try to repurpose old lumber whenever
possible).

For cedar and redwood I always use stainless steel screws. These prevent
the ugly black stains around the screws. Unfortunately, stainless is fairly
soft so it's easy to strip the heads, even when installing them. The newest
ones I used had torx heads and I didn't strip a single screw this time
around.

I prefer screws for decks. They don't work their way out the way nails can.
I've seen several decks that were nailed where the heads were sticking up
1/8 to 1/4 inch. Dangerous for bare feet.

Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com