Decking profiles change how a board looks installed, how it is fastened, and how the joint is built. Use this page to choose a profile family, then confirm the installed face and hardware on the current product or species planner.
Explore tropical decking: Ipe, Cumaru, and Garapa. Catalog options change; a listed milling is not a promise that it is in the yard today.
Pre-Grooved
Installed appearance: a continuous walking surface with the fastener typically hidden in the joint.
Fastening method: hidden clips matched to the groove, plus any perimeter or stair boards the manufacturer requires as square-edge.
Joint construction: grooves are milled into the board edges so a clip can seat between boards. The illustration above is a joint diagram, not a mill drawing or a species sample.
Installed face width comes from the selected product’s current configuration. Do not plan coverage from a generic face number on this page.
S4S square edge
Installed appearance: visible face fasteners, or plugged fasteners when a plug system is used.
Fastening method: face screws, often with a pre-drill bit specified by the fastener manufacturer. Plug systems are optional.
Joint construction: square-edge boards leave a gap between faces; they do not use a clip groove. Stairs, benches, and many perimeter boards are specified as S4S because clips need continuous edge support.
Tongue and groove (covered work)
Some product listings are tongue-and-groove for covered porches and similar protected floors. That milling is not a substitute for open-air decking with drainage gaps. If a species planner prices Pre-Grooved and S4S only, T&G remains a catalog or quote option.
Hardware quantities
Clip kits, screws, bits, and plug tools are sold as each or package items. Exact coverage belongs on the current product record or the fastener guide. This page does not publish a required kit matrix.