Miami-Dade Warns About Window Screws that Don’t Meet Code

The Miami-Dade County building inspection department is warning about imitation window screws that have failed to pass crucial tests and may not meet the county’s famously rigorous wind-load requirements.

The Miami Herald reported Thursday that the building department put out a memo in May, noting that Stanley Black & Decker had issued a cease-and-desist letter to a fastener distributor, demanding that it stop selling masonry and concrete screws inappropriately marked with DeWalt and Ultracon trademarks.

“Although Manny’s General Fasteners Corp. has cooperated by discontinuing the sale of these screw anchors, there may still be some of these out there being installed,” reads the Miami-Dade memo to municipal inspectors.

The officials said that Stanley has not shared its testing data with the county, so questions remain about the ability of the screws to hold windows in place in high winds, the newspaper reported.

Some of the screws in question have smaller heads and have a small square stamped on the head. The actual DeWalt Ultracon screws have a wavy symbol, photographs show.

Contractors and installers should be aware of the differences and avoid the look-alikes, the Miami-Dade memo notes. A Manny’s manager said in an interview that about 20 installers had purchased the questioned Ultracon screws, the Herald reported.

A lawyer for Manny’s said in an interview that the mix-up may have stemmed from the fact that installers and others may refer to concrete anchors generically as “ultracons,” not realizing the name is a DeWalt trademarked name, the newspaper reported.

Once installed, the window screws are usually not visible, making identification difficult. It’s possible that property insurers, facing claims for wind damage, could take construction-defect subrogation actions against contractors or distributors over the use of the screws.

Related: Construction-Defect Subrogation on the Rise But it Just Became More Difficult in Florida