Johnson Level & Tool 60-275 Deck Mate, Deck Board Spacing Tool, Orange, 1 Level

Does what it is built for. Built my deck with it.

I had purchased one of these items years ago when I was building a deck. When I started putting down the boards for my latest deck I wanted to get a second Deckmate Deck Plank Gauge. I looked locally and no one carried them. I was already familiar with the product so I knew what I wanted.I ordered two through Amazon, just in case needed three total. I should have ordered three. I'm using ten foot lumber for the deck boards and I could use one more.The tool works great. It does exactly what it says it it will do. I have also used it to build a 5' Cedar privacy fence for my parents in law. One side has a 1/8" spacer and the other is a 3/16" spacer. With wood decking as with wood fencing if the boards are warped you can switch spacers very easy to keep the boards lined up. If you need to really clamp down on the spacer in lining up the boards you can still remove the Spacing Gauge. It stays slightly elevated off the work so it's easy to pry it out if you have to.Overall this is the most handy tool I have found for spacing either deck boards or privacy fencing.

A couple of years ago I faced a dilemma - my cedar deck was starting to rot in places, the previous owner (who built the deck) painted the boards, which also made maintenance a nightmare.I got quotes from contractors to rebuild my deck which were insane. Composite, cedar, whatever, it was a very high number. Then I looked into doing it myself. The base of the deck was solid, but the deck boards, railing and skirting needed to be replaced, at a materials cost of around 25-33% of what was quoted to me. I decided to go cedar again, but ensure that the boards were spaced correctly and I would use stain instead of paint.Between this tool and a bowrench I felt I was able to tackle the job. I also needed a few other tools - sawzall for demolition, 2 cordless drills (one with bit, one with driver bit), compound miter saw, pocket jig, table saw and a planer (due to some angles in the way the deck was constructed I needed to thin down some 2x4s).I'm somewhat handy but NOT a pro. I was able to resurface a 15x30 deck (including stairs) over a couple months working an hour or 2 each night after work plus around 8 hours each weekend, by myself.This tool was very helpful in 2 ways - first, in ensuring proper gaps between the boards when using the bowrench, and second, to determine proper hole spacing when screwing the boards down.There's nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done, and many thousands of dollars saved!

Love them, nice and strong will be buying more soonWorks great for wood, composite and PVC

I purchased 3 of these spacing tools when I built my deck, thinking they would come in handy when laying the decking boards. Now that I have used them, I can't imagine building the deck without them. You can lay them against the in-place deck board and then snug the to-be-installed deck board against them. You don't have to worry about using a nail between the boards, which would drop down and be difficult to manipulate. You can easily work alone with these spacing guides. They are also very handy to locate and evenly space the decking screws used for fastening the boards to the joists. My only regret is that I purchased 3. A few more would be handy to place along the entire length of long boards as you work.