We are launching InvisiClip™, the hidden fastener system we have paired with our grooved PVC decking. It is the quietest piece of hardware on a deck, and the most consequential. The clip disappears under the board, the rail disappears on top of the joist, and the deck finally gets to look like the deck.
InvisiClip™ is the GRAD® system, the European-engineered hidden clip platform that has been quietly setting decks for years. We chose it, we tested it on our boards, and we stand behind it. Here is what it is, why we picked it, and where to see it.
What it is
InvisiClip™ is a three-part system. POM polymer clips snap onto pre-fabricated aluminum rails. The rails sit on top of every joist, running parallel to the joists, at 16 inches on center maximum. Grooved deck boards drop in from above. The groove catches the cradle on the clips. Done.
There are no screws on the finished deck surface. No plugs. No countersinks. No future stain rings. The board face leaves the mill the way you ordered it, and that is the way it stays.
Because InvisiClip™ is the GRAD® system under our label, every install detail from the published GRAD method carries over. Installer training, install guides, and the Grad keys already on the truck all work the same way they always have.
Why this system
Top-fastened decks tell on themselves. Every screw head is a future stain ring, a UV halo, a place for water to pool. Hidden fasteners look better the day they go in, and they keep looking better through every season after.
Patwin Plastics has been extruding precision PVC profiles in-house since 1971. We mix our own compound, cut our own dies, and run our own tooling for the boards. When it came to the hidden clip, we did not want to reinvent something that already worked. We evaluated the field, picked the GRAD® system, tested it on our decking, and brought it to market under the InvisiClip™ name.
The clean deck doesn't show its work.
Engineered for our decking
InvisiClip™ is designed to fit American Pro grooved PVC decking and any board manufactured to the GRAD® system groove profile. On our boards the geometry is exact, the engagement is repeatable, and the spacing is the published spec.
Highlights:
- Joists at 16 inches on center maximum, residential and commercial.
- One rail on top of every joist. The first rail no more than 4 inches from the deck edge.
- Type 316 stainless screws or hot-dip galvanized class D nails through the pre-drilled rail holes.
- Removable boards. Start Rails release individual boards with Grad keys, so you replace one board, never the deck.
American Pro grooved decking installed with InvisiClip™ was independently tested by Intertek Building & Construction, an IAS-accredited TL-144 / ISO/IEC 17025 lab, under ICC-ES™ AC174 Section 4.1.4 using methods described in ASTM E330. Three specimens recorded an average sustained uplift of 292 psf and an average pressure at failure of 306 psf. Failure mode was the engineered, repeatable release of the plastic clip from the aluminum rail. The full report is on the product page.
Where we are now
Samples are ready. We will mail you a real engineered section of the InvisiClip rail so you can feel the snap engagement, check the geometry against your boards, and run it past the installer who will actually be on site. Add a grooved deck board sample to test the engagement end-to-end.
The spec sheet is downloadable. The 3D Deck Visualizer lets you mock up your project with our boards before you order. And the contact form is the fastest way to get a quote, talk through a job, or chase a code question.
This is the part of the deck no one will ever see. It is also the part we are most particular about.