1930s Semi Refurb - Part 11 of ... (Summer House)

Buffman said:
Why would they ruin your hands? (to be fair it's a lot of screws!) id have thought will be OK with an impact driver?

I'm probably not going to buy a 1st fix nailer as my dog is scared of the noise from nail guns :X. And instead manually hammer/screw it.
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Holding the screws to get them started. It's all fine but basically a cheese grater by the end lol. A proper paslode isn't too loud, it'll save absolutely ages too.

danlightbulb said:
I'll probably have a week off work when I do mine. But floor, 4 walls and roof, think will need for a week at least.

I'm concerned about using screws tbh, not because of the strength but because of splitting the wood. Even the tiniest of screws I use at home seems to split the wood if I don't pilot hole it. 6mm structural timber screws at 150mm-200mm long, could ruin every timber I try to drive into.
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Yeah I jest a bit. It's taken me what, 9 days to get to the stage I'm at? Joist hangers are a **** take for time too.

The 200mm screws comment was that welshmans comment for incorrectly strapping the roof (imho. They make hurricane straps for a reason). You'd only need 100mm for normal construction.

Mercenary Keyboard Warrior said:
Interesting dilemma on the screws vs nails.
An unheated outdoor space I would probably lean nails because the wood can gain/lose 7% in length (width, height) etc depending on orientation as it absorbs and looses moisture.
The general rule is screws when you don't want something to move, nails when you want to allow movement.

If I was building something like lockers I would put skylight(s) in, we have one in our gazebo (with shuttered sides) and it lets loads of light in.
Nice to go into when its raining, shutters down, and sit with the rain pounding down on the skylight.

They arent expensive for outbuilding type stuff. Let a lot more light in than windows unless your going to put windows all round.

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Id absolutely love skylights but I just can't risk getting the 800quid rubber wrong. Maybe a future thing as it'd definitely be a winner!

danlightbulb said:
Do you think it's feasible to build something like what dlockers has done here, using hammered in nails? (Not gun)
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Yeah watch oakwood..he did a whole build hand nailed.
 
dlockers said:
Holding the screws to get them started. It's all fine but basically a cheese grater by the end lol. A proper paslode isn't too loud, it'll save absolutely ages too.


Yeah I jest a bit. It's taken me what, 9 days to get to the stage I'm at? Joist hangers are a **** take for time too.

The 200mm screws comment was that welshmans comment for incorrectly strapping the roof (imho. They make hurricane straps for a reason). You'd only need 100mm for normal construction.


Id absolutely love skylights but I just can't risk getting the 800quid rubber wrong. Maybe a future thing as it'd definitely be a winner!


Yeah watch oakwood..he did a whole build hand nailed.
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Incorrectly strapping the roof…….so hundreds of carpenters are using them, yet a diy bodger thinks its incorrect. I mean you cant even correctly build the thing, without calling out someone else.
 
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200sols said:
Never had an issue with screws messing my hands tbh. Like I said impact driver will get them in single handed. Built several outbuilding, summer houses home offices all timber framed and never used nails. I'm a screw guy, I love screwing.
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Same here, used over 1000 screws over the past few weekends. Never once had an issue with my hands and went into the timbers without a single split…….. theres DIYers and then theres dlockers. The guy who fits a kitchen and then rips out the floor afterwards
 
200sols said:
Of course it's feasible. Probably even traditional.
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Yeah but those old timers were skilled.

This will be my first stud framed construction.

Whacking two nails per joist top and bottom sounds like it should a lot easier than screwing. But then they start to bend obviously and it turns into a nightmare.
 
Tend to go to screws as well myself, if your using timbers that are far from perfect then with screws and clamps its far easier to get them into shape.
Although saying that, I tend to go for nails for outside constructional stuff on eg decking since I prefer the movement it allows.
 
danlightbulb said:
Yeah but those old timers were skilled.

This will be my first stud framed construction.

Whacking two nails per joist top and bottom sounds like it should a lot easier than screwing. But then they start to bend obviously and it turns into a nightmare.
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Once you hammer in 1000 nails you will level up to level 1, where your chance of a fumble is reduced to 1:100 ;)
 
200sols said:
Never had an issue with screws messing my hands tbh. Like I said impact driver will get them in single handed. Built several outbuilding, summer houses home offices all timber framed and never used nails. I'm a screw guy, I love screwing.
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Yeah but I've got hands like Lenny where as yours are probably like the bottom of my feet.
 
£260 best price I've seen for the nail gun. I'd probably buy one at that price, sell it after maybe.

I've seen that nail gun nails are typically <3mm diameter, compared to 4-5mm equivalent nails for hand driving. The speed of the firing must make that possible, try to hand drive a 90mm 3mm nail and it would just bend I imagine.
 
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Thought the damage to hands was the torque, or recoil from the gun - RSI ?, not callus's, but doesn't the more expensive kit have less kick-back.
(so the guy who overtightens my wheel nuts at kwikfit is probably fine)
 
jpaul said:
Thought the damage to hands was the torque, or recoil from the gun - RSI ?, not callus's, but doesn't the more expensive kit have less kick-back.
(so the guy who overtightens my wheel nuts at kwikfit is probably fine)
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Hands are mashed because of CTS. My comment about mashed hands from screws is mainly from spax floorboard screws. If you Google them, they're threaded bottom and top not middle. So I found myself holding middle, but as soon as you screw your basically holding the top thread. Gloves fix it obvs. I'm just being dramatic.
 
200sols said:
Never had an issue with screws messing my hands tbh. Like I said impact driver will get them in single handed. Built several outbuilding, summer houses home offices all timber framed and never used nails. I'm a screw guy, I love screwing.
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Hours of impact driving made my hands cramp. So I decided to drill pilot holes to make things easier but that doubled the job time, still preferable over dodgy hands. In fairness, I was hand cutting studs at the same time which probably didn't help the hands.
 
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