… as much as screw hardness in preventing Hydrogen Embrittlement issues

When we think of fastener integrity in the timber space – especially high-strength screws – the conversation often centers around hardness values. And rightly so. Exceeding critical hardness thresholds dramatically increases the risk of hydrogen embrittlement type failures.

But here’s where the less talked about topic of moisture management comes in:

Even if your screws meet all the hardness specs, you’re still not safe if moisture isn’t properly controlled.

Why?

Moisture – generally found onsite if the construction process is not accurately managed – acts as a source of hydrogen through reactions with coatings on screws. And this, especially when combined with tensile loads and insufficient care during installation, can lead to sudden screw failures.

Hardness is a known threshold. Moisture is a sneaky variable.

If you’re not actively planning for it and managing it on the building site – you’re leaving a critical failure mode unchecked.

Best practice: Treat moisture control as a core part of your hydrogen embrittlement mitigation strategy – right alongside material specs and design considerations.

It’s not just about what HV value your fastener has. It’s also about how dry your process is.

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LinkedIn post from Felix Scheibmair