How important are stainless steel fasteners for redwood

stainless

I'm doing an earthquake retrofit on my house. I've read that you should use stainless steel instead of hot-dipped galvanized for any fasteners in redwood (and pressure treated lumber, too). How important is this? It's a pain to source the stainless steel fasteners… Are they going to be less structurally sound? I obviously don't care about anything cosmetic under the house. The redwood is decades old at this point.

Best Answer

Primary reason for using stainless fasteners are:

  • they are corrosion resistant
  • the have good strength/structural integrity
  • they are reasonably inexpensive

Secondary reasons:

  • they are aesthetically appealing compared to others
  • they are ROHS compliant

Anyway, the most important thing to note is that galvanized steel is significantly weaker than stainless steel. The corrosion protection is also less durable than stainless.

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