If your future studio is in a building that has an 80 year old, highly pitched roof covered with slate, then make sure to screw your new ceiling joists to the existing roof joists rather than nailing. 80 year old lumber is hard as a rock, and trying to pound a nail into it can cause the slate to come clattering down, like deadly frisbees.
Stupid Studio Construction Tip #1
- Thread starter ob
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John Sayers
Solar Power!!
You have to drill and screw all our hardwoods over here
cheers
JOhn
cheers
JOhn
knightfly
GrouchyOldFartOnBatteries
You can also use a nail gun with old lumber - a pro one will put a nail thru almost anything, but then you have the problem of splitting.
There are circumstances when "screwing around" actually makes sense, and old/hard wood is definitely one of those...
On not so old, reasonably hard wood an old-timer trick when hand nailing near the ends is to first "blunt" the end of the nail by placing the head on a piece of metal, then hitting the point squarely with the hammer, just enough to flatten the end and cause kind of a burr - then, when you drive the nail the flattened end "punches out" part of the wood instead of trying to spread the fibers, and the wood almost never splits... Steve
There are circumstances when "screwing around" actually makes sense, and old/hard wood is definitely one of those...
On not so old, reasonably hard wood an old-timer trick when hand nailing near the ends is to first "blunt" the end of the nail by placing the head on a piece of metal, then hitting the point squarely with the hammer, just enough to flatten the end and cause kind of a burr - then, when you drive the nail the flattened end "punches out" part of the wood instead of trying to spread the fibers, and the wood almost never splits... Steve
RICK FITZPATRICK
New member
I don't use nails. ESPECIALLY on old hard 2x. I buy square head recess screws in bulk.
Ever use em? You won't go back to anything else. You can drive the head right through a new 2x if you want. Pulls things up tighter than shit, but in old stuff or MDF, you should drill a pilot hole. Most pro millworkers use a special double tapered pilot drill/countersink and special screws called confirmats for MDF. Especially for edge work with veneered stock. Nails-whats that?
(you can use sheetrook screws in mdf)
fitz
Ever use em? You won't go back to anything else. You can drive the head right through a new 2x if you want. Pulls things up tighter than shit, but in old stuff or MDF, you should drill a pilot hole. Most pro millworkers use a special double tapered pilot drill/countersink and special screws called confirmats for MDF. Especially for edge work with veneered stock. Nails-whats that?
(you can use sheetrook screws in mdf)fitz