Power Nailer

[wizer]

Just looking at prices to hire a Power Nailer for a week (£52+vat). I would like to use this to make my decking project go quicker. Can I buy something like this that will drive home large nails for decking/joists and smaller nails like brads etc for general WW.

My budget is only about £150-£200

 

[Les Mahon]

Wizer,

Most power nailers are air driven, so you will need a compressor. Whatever you do steer clear of the rapesco and it's clones, they are a nightmare to use and then they break. At the very expensive end of the scale are the Plaslode (http://www.paslode.com/

I have a framing nailer (2-4 inche nails) and 16guage (up to 2" t-nails), and if you are doing a large project they come into their own (I put up 100ft of fencing yesterday in 7 hours with assistance from one mate and the nail guns) but they are well over your budget.

Argos do a compressor and nailer kit which is in you budget, but the nailer is 18 guage IIRC and 18Guage nails are a bit wimpy, certainly not up to decking or fencing.

FWIW my set up is fox and set me back about £500 over here.
There is a reasonably good explaination of the different types here:
http://www.homefocus.com/412/air-powered_nailers_.htm

 

[Anonymous]

£200 will get you the oiled compressor and masonry nailer from APTC. The nailer drives 13ga t-heads, up to 64 mm depth.

Although it's a masonry nailer, the t-heads are good for other stuff too. But, 13ga too hefty for general WW; you'd need to get an 18ga brad nailer, or a headless pinner, at sometime in the future for that. On the other hand, that's the plus side of the compressor route - you can always add stuff to the collection as and when you need it.

(note of warning - the oiled compressor from APTC doesn't have enough oomph for the big framing nailers)

 

[wizer]

thanks for replying guys. I think it looks like it will be more benificial to just rent the nailer for a week. I'm not sure how much use the power nailer would get to justify buying a good one.

 

[Vormulac]

Hi WiZeR,

I bought a compressor kit from B&Q about a month ago - set me back about £60-£70, the compressor is only a diddy one (6 or 10 litre receiver), but it came with a 20mm-50mm 18ga nailer and all the usual accessories like spray guns etc. I used it last weekend to help build my decking (held the thing together until I could get some screws in there - I've only got one pair of hands!) and it's finding a lot of use in general. The 18ga brads are a little wimpy as suggested by Les, but with your budget I daresay you could pick up a 16ga gun as well to add to it - that's my plan for heavier stuff.

Hope this helps,

Vormulac.

 

[wizer]

Thanks Vormulac

Are you talking about this one: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/product/p ... ID=7940115

?

When you say "held the thing together until I could get some screws in there" Are you talking about the deck frame? and if so.... I was intending to use just nails for building the frame/noggins etc. Is it better to use screws? I actually like the idea of using screws. I am not great with a hammer It seems a good idea to use the nails to just hold it together temp until I can come back with the screw gun. I will be installing the deck on my own.

 

[Vormulac]

Hi WiZeR,

Yup, that's the chap I got, noisy little begger when it's running, but it fills the reciever and shuts up pretty quickly and having never used a nail gun before I am finding it extremely useful! It's not heavy either, so I don't think twice about lugging it around to wherever the job needs to be done.

The only problem I've had (and to be honest, this isn't really a problem) is that the one time it mis-fed a nail and jammed, it's a bit of a faff to get the cover off and remove the bent nail - not difficult or anything, but it takes a couple of minutes with allen keys to get it done. Mind you, having no experience of other nailers, this could be common to them all, I wouldn't know!

I built a small area of decking in the corner of the garden (roughly 2-3 metres on a side) and I used the nailgun to get the frame together before screwing it, then hold the joists in place before screwing them, hold the noggins in place before screwing them, then hold the deckboards in place before screwing them down - if you see what I mean.
I am deeply paranoid about the structural integrity of things (probably something to do with going to 'Brunel' university!) and tend to grossly over-engineer things, but I don't believe that 18ga nails alone would have held it together. Bigger nails as mentioned by the other gentlemen in this thread may be altogether better if going for a screwless option.

Having used a nailgun now I can't imagine tackling a project without it, the ability to pop a nail in precisely wherever you want with one hand is fantastic, even if you're just tacking something temporarily in place.

V.

 

[Anonymous]

When you've watched joiners put together a timber-frame building using power nailers you'll wonder why anyone would ever want to use a hammer again. I had an extension built on our house in the US and it took one day to pour the foundation, one day to erect walls 22' x 10' x 8' and put the roof on, one more day to make it weather-tight and fit the door and windows, and by the end of the week the clapboards and outside trim were all done and ready for the painters.... Try that with bricks! The other advantage of the power nailers is no more incessant bang-bang-bang-bang-bang... Or bent nails.

I later built on a cedar deck and used a power-driver to screw down all the boards using screws on a roll - 30 minutes total for 12' x 8'. Brilliant tool but the screws were expensive (stainless).

I recall a 'Grand Designs' programme where a couple bought a Deck House kit from the US and the british joiners put it together using hammers. Took over 5 times longer than the allotted time to complete construction if I remember correctly.

 

[Nailer]

the british joiners put it together using hammers.

:shock: :shock:

Hammer ????..........Whats one of them ???? :lol:

I've had both the Paslode framing and finish nailers (IM350 & IM250) since they came out in this country about 4 years ago,i think........and wouldn't be without them now.
You'll not find many site joiners these days without one......and if you do there's some thing wrong with them

A little expensive at near £400 each but they soon pay for themselves

 

[Anonymous]

You'll not find many site joiners these days without one......

I must know a lot of ancient joiners as I have come across a lot without one..... :?

Incidentally, you should try hiring a nailer when your name is Naylor

 

[Nailer]

I must know a lot of ancient joiners as I have come across a lot without one..... :?

Should i re phrase that......joiners under 35 (just about scrape in)

I must admit...my dad's the same,he won't use one either :?

Your right in a way though as i usually get "What do you want one of those for ?"........until they have a go and they soon change there minds.......the next question is "how much ?"
Which is usually greeted with "I'm not paying that".....which i find a bit strange due to the time and effort they save but thats typical of the building industry in this country.

I'm a firm believer in....if its going to save you time and effort,then its worth every penny

 

[Sam Salter]

I just finished my 10'x18' deck yesterday.

I already had a Porter-Cable "pancake" compressor & 18g nailer that I use for general furniture making. They were on sale for $279 Cdn a while back. (That's 120 GB pounds).

I found a cheap (Chinese) framing nailer for $148 Cdn (63 GB pounds). I found it in one of those liquidation type stores.

I was a little dubious, but it worked great. Took 3 1/2" clipped head nails. Never jammed once. The small compressor would do about 10 nails before it cut in to recharge the tank.

 

[seaco]

I have one of these and it works fine on wood also...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 42597&rd=1

 

[jim4321]

Hi WiZeR,

I did a decking project last year, it was quite a small one and on a reasonably flat surface. I used great big nails to fix the frame in place and then used decking screws to attach the decking. (I also tend to be pretty useless at nailing and spend more time trying to take bent ones out rather than hammer them home)

My dad last year took on a pretty big deck project (he had to build a deck which went over a number of levels, some of the supporting posts had to be cemented into holes and some had to be bolted into concrete.) He also used nails aswell as joist hangers (because of the uneven surface) for the frame and he screwed all the decking down. this gives him the option to get access under the deck if he ever needs to.

if you have an alsford timber near you, they stock and deliver everything for decking at a very reasonable price.

Jim

 

[wizer]

thanks guys. I'm pretty sure i'm gonna get a compressor and nailer.

However I just noticed this.. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 4380929810

Is £200 a good bargain? I might consider buying it at £200 if I can sell it on at the end of the project. I'd use it for fixing the joist framework. Could also come in handy when building the shed.

Your views much apprecieated.

 

[wizer]

Well... I bought it.

Could someone recommend what sort of nails I need to buy? Can I use the box of nails I allready bought? Or do I need to buy specific paslode nails?

 

[Jake]

I'm no expert, but I think that for a Paslode gun you'll have to buy their nail packs which include the gas cartridges as well. At a price...