Hi Gina, I haven’t used Palight, but I have installed into Sintra and Komacel quite a bit. You are right that it isn’t great for pressure fitting - once it compresses, it doesn’t “push back”. It does hold a screw. For small to medium sized deck mounts, I can usually get away with under drilling 2-3 sizes down, but for wall mounts and larger diameter posts, I design the same as for mounts going into acrylic: two stems, screw tabs or other mechanical connection.