Just installed a bunch of the ballusters for my cumaru deck and used 1/8" predrill. A couple of the first few snapped until I figured out I wasn't predrilling deep enough. After that no problems.

Sorry Guys I was just funen with Ya, A person just cant drive those little screws the same way the headcoat go in, it takes slowing down and thinking about it like changing over from framing to trim. Its not the screws fault they just demand a different way from the installer. John

The screws included are stainless steel and a LOT softer than regular screws. The threading is more agressive as well. Depending upon what material you are going into you may need to slow down the driving (use a drill instead of the impact) or predrill larger/deeper.

We just did a deck with 150 of the architectural baroque balusters from Deckorators and I think we had 1 pack missing a screw and broke 2 others total. You definately have to go slower with them...

Well, I'm not sure if their screws are what they should be as far as quality, but at least their service is top notch. I called them to compliant, and they said they will buy me screws that I feel that's sufficient. The lady said someone else had some problems a week or so ago, and they replaced that guys 4x4 post (ipe).

So, we will see if the screws I picked are any better. I can at least say the company does stand behind their product.

Very few grades of stainless steel harden very well.
The high nickel content interferes.
Pilot holes should be slightly (a few thousandths) larger than the root diameter.
Number size drill bits provide the smaller steps needed when the fractions steps (even at 1/64 inch) are to large.
I real drill driver works pretty most of the time, but you do have to lean on the driver to keep the tips fully seated in the screw head.

Nelson there are thousands of Folks running those screws in even as we speak,just slow down Man they will work good for Ya. J.

OK, John. I'm using a regular driver now, it seems to be working fine. I'm using the 5/32 bit for pre-drill, not the 1/8. Although I did test the new screws I got, by driving them into a 4x4, they seem to hold up slightly better.

I've been building houses and decks for over fifty years. Now that I'm retired I'm building my wife a large deck for her hot tub. Everything was going great until I started talking to Deckoraters. I called three different times to make sure I was getting the right stuff, and all the information I was given was wrong. When the railing showed up I didn't get anything in the right size. When I called them they all had a different story. So I kept going up the ladder to talk to a supervisor. After talking to about four different people I finally got to someone in charge her name was Darcy. When I told her what was going on she said that she would check the phone logs. She called me back the next day and told me there were no calls from me. When I told her that was not true she said that she trusted her employees more than me. By this time I was really getting frustrated and when I started to state my case she hung up on me. She left a message on my phone the next day basically telling that it was all my mistake and I could either ship everything back or buy the right sizes.