Advise me please - fixing oak cladding to green oak frame

[AJB Temple]

At long last I have almost finished assembling the home made frame of one of my two planned green oak framed buildings. It has taken forever, largely working on my own in my spare time.

Soon I will be fitting oak cladding boards (these are already on site) and am seeking some advice. I want the job to last, and I want it to look good, with evenly spaced nailing.

1 Does it make sense to use copper nails? I think copper heads might look quite nice.
2 Should I punch through with a pilot drill first to avoid the boards splitting?

I don't want to use nails that will rust, and obviously I could use oval galvanised. Maybe that would be best?

I can also screw the boards on, but that is not a traditional look for a hand made building.

Thanks, AJ

 

[Benpointer]

Not sure about copper - agree they would look nice, I just dont know how/if they would react with the oak tannin.

I'd avoid galvanised, I think the tannin will eat through them in no time. Personally we've used stainless annular ring shank nails like these, and they are looking good 8 years later - suspect they will outlast the boards.

http://www.silvatimber.co.uk/stainless- ... nails.html

If the cladding is green I don't think you will need to pre-drill.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

Hi - my 2d's worth:

In the past I've fixed feather-edge oak cladding with stainless ringshank nails (pre-drilling is wise near thin edges - even if the boards are green) and had no problems. I think you need to expect some movement of the timber.

I've no experience of copper externally exposed alongside oak - I suspect there will definitely be corrosion. The only time I've ever used copper is for fixing lead, but sheltered from direct exposure, or sometimes roof tiles.

Cheers, W2S

PS I wouldn't used galvanised - even hot-dipped

 

[RobinBHM]

I think stainless is the best option.

Any galvanised product will eventually lead to corrosion and staining.

If you prefer screws for fixing then the GRK FIN-trim ones have a very small head -although they come at a price....

http://www.grkfasteners.com/products/tr ... w/fin-trim

http://www.silvatimber.co.uk/fasteners/ ... crews.html

Im sure Ive seen chippies use paslodes for oak featheredge so maybe there are stainless options for such nails.

I dare say you already know but its best to fix each board with 1 fixing and the fixing for the next board should miss the previous board -otherwise if you go through the thin edge of the feather, shrinkage will cause a significant split. And generous overlaps with green featheredge -they certainly do move a lot as they dry out

 

[skipdiver]

Are copper nails even strong enough to hammer through oak? Not much experience with them to be honest bit i think i'd go for SS annular ringshanks regardless..

 

[n0legs]

How about, obviously if they're available, galvanised cut nails?
Failing that how about some of these:-

https://www.tcfixings.co.uk/main/produc ... ails-1kg/1

We used to use them for overhead work, mainly holding cable guard and warning notices on poles. I always thought they looked pretty cool from an architectural standpoint.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thank you gentlemen. All helpful.

I cut the final four braces today. Main frame erection half way through. I am ordering stainless and copper nails to test them out. Forgot about stainless - that was a helpful reminder.

AJ

 

[andersonec]

Copper nails will go black within a few months.

Andy