What You Should Know

Pilings are needed for proper dock and boat lift support. Pilings are driven with a full-sized, free-fall friction crane. This allows for maximum pile penetration for dock stability. When a hurricane brings extremely high water to your canal systems, often times your dock may get completely submerged. If the water level rises above the deck on your dock, the entire structure wants to act like one big float and pull the pilings out of the canal bottom. Proper pile penetration is crucial to preventing this. During Hurricane Charlie, this exact problem occurred all throughout Cape Coral canal systems. When you are seeking multiple bids for your dock project, be sure to ask my competitors if their hammer system is equal to ours!

Vertical structural wood ties strengthen docks against uplift. These ties help keep framework level which reduce deflection in plastic decking. These ties help keep framework level which reduces deflection in plastic decking. Honc Docks & Lifts installs a plastic spacer between wall board and seawall cap to deter rot from sprinkler systems.

Many people would be surprised to learn that a typical 2” x 8” board actually measures 1 1/2” x 7 1/4”.  Honc Docks & Lifts uses "full size" lumber, meaning that our framework boards actually measure 2” x 8”.  Our lumber is cut specifically for marine dock construction.

Ours - Fulll sized rough cut 2" x 8" framing and sub-framing.

Theirs - Dimensional 1.5" x 7.25 framing and sub-framing.

In our saltwater canal system, there is a marine boring worm that feeds on your wood pilings.  This worm floats up and down on the tide and eats through your dock piling, severely shortening it’s lifespan.  To deter this damage, Honc Docks & Lifts wraps each piling with a thin sheet of PVC, which the worms will not eat through.  Although this doesn’t entirely prevent worm damage, it will add years to the life of the piling and is relatively inexpensive.  It will need to be replaced every 8-9 years.

The picture shown is of a 5/8” galvanized bolt being used to attach a framework board to a piling. Notice the rust on the bolt and streaking down the board. This dock is only 5 years old, the damage is the result of the use of inappropriate bolt material and will greatly shorten the life of the dock. It is not uncommon for us to tear out old docks where the galvanized bolts have rusted through and the framework has failed. Bolt size is also critical- while many builders will use 1/2” bolts, Honc uses only 5/8” stainless steel.

Just like the bolts used to secure the framework of your dock project, the deckboard fasteners are critical to the life and safety of your dock. There is only one acceptable method to secure deckboards - stainless steel screws. Nails will pull out of deckboards, leaving you with a projecting toe-stubber, and allowing the deckboard to loosen and warp. Using nails rather than screws is a time- and cost-cutting measure in the beginning that will wind up costing you more time and money in the end. Even stainless steel ringshank nails will have a higher failure rate than screws.

Today, more than ever, we have a wide choice of materials available for decking. The standard 2” x 6” pressure treated wood decking has been around for generations and is still a good choice today. The drawback to wood decking is the requirement that it be sealed or stained every year to prevent the south Florida sun from destroying it. This inconvenience has spawned an entire market of wood alternatives such as composite decking, PVC or plastic decking, extremely hard woods such as Ipe, and so on. There is no perfect answer - all the products on the market have advantages and disadvantages.

One thing is certain - most of the alternative decking is a large step ahead of the standard wood deckboard. In the back of your brochure, we have provided you with some information regarding the different choices available to you. We will be happy to assist you in choosing the material that is right for your particular application.