Staples used on wood deck

Had a deck yesterday that was 75 percent rebuilt by a company that does not specialize in deck building/repairs, etc.
Anyways - I observed that staples were used to fasten the wood deck boards. I’m fairly confident I’ve never seen this before. There were plenty of staples used per board - but I’ve never even thought about anything other than a nail or screw for the wood decking.
Does anyone know if this is permitted? How big of an issue?
Thanks.

I have no idea the requirements for decking construction in your area and I’m sure they are different across the country to some extent. I personally have constructed many different types of permitted structures in California that allowed different types of fasteners such as screws, nails and even staples and that were approved for use and were noted on the engineered blueprints. While there are sections of a decking structure that generally use the approved method of attachment such as lags, screws or hanger with Teco nails, there are many areas of a decking structure such as treads, trim, railing and even steps where the staple type, gauge and size of the staple MAY be approved. Do you have any photos…

Unfortunately my pictures and the report for that specific issue have been transferred to a different server. However, the staples appeared very small but were installed with 3 wide. The boards were not exactly level throughout but they did appear to be secured…at least for now. The deck is built on a vapor barrier on grade.

Decking should be attached to joists using 8d threaded nails or #8 screws unless the materials manufacturer specifies otherwise or an Engineer specifies otherwise.

You can either reference the building codes for this or the AFPA (AWC) Deck Construction Guide built to codes and found here DCA 6 - Prescriptive Residential Wood Deck Construction Guide .

What Manny said.

And… I’d guess that thermal and moisture cycling are going to degrade the anchorage of those staples relative quickly. Recommend re-fastening that deck and the homeowner should hope those staples don’t start backing out like nails eventually do.

Can almost guaranty the staples will fail. Not to mentiion that must look like S H I %

Agreed.