Originally Posted by woodz77
you do want to leave a littl gap due to the wood expanding and shrinking . butt it all up and you mite get rising boards etc also some of the boards you get mite not be 100% straight and you will be fighting them to bend them straight to butt them up and then straight away your are putting a strain on the board and it will be wanting to move if you know what i mean.
Yip, I made up a couple of thin spacers and did it that way. also left about a half inch gap between house and first board so's let any rainwater through and not lie against brickwork and getting into house under patio door.
I just used the screws that the timber supplier gave me. never wasted one all went in no problem. Had a square hole on the head of the screw and got a wee drill bit free in box.