Have a small storage shed on a slab and need to replace rotted-out sill plate. The original one was obviously nailed down but my question is how do you drive a nail through a 2x4 into concrete? I have access to a Bostitch framing nailer, will that do the job? or other? which nails?
TIA Bob
The framing nailer won't work. You can use a powder-actuated driver (you can rent these), but I would personally use screws. Tapcon screws are good. You drill the correct hole (they will sell you a carbide drill for the purpose), make sure it is deep enough, and drive the screw right into the concrete. The hole is not as large for Tapcons as for screws using an anchor.
You buy special hardened concrete nails and use a heavy hammer. A 32 ounce framing hammer will do it. Seat the nails through the 2x4, then haul off and hit them as hard as you can.
If you like tools, Remingon sells a powder actuated nailer for the purpose for about $25. It uses a blank .22 shell and a piston to shoot a nail into the concrete.
I'm no pro but I think it depends on the age of your concrete, and if there is a lot of scrap buried in it. I can't speak for the nailer, but some people here suggested Tapcon screws and I don't doubt that they are good (These screws are robust!). But in my case I wasn't succesful with them. So don't take for granted they will work.
I initially tried standard concrete nails with an average hammer on 50 year-old concrete, but the concrete kept breaking no matter how hard I tried. Then I bought those expensive tapcon screws, but I must have hit some small stone or something because it wouldn't go all way through, even if I had drilled a hole before. I broke my bit trying to screw it. It's the first time that it's not the screw head that gets all eaten up when there is resistance.
I ended up nailing the concrete nails in the holes I had drilled for the tapcon screws. The holes prevented the concrete from breaking. That did the job for me and it holds well. I don't know if it's a good practice but it was for a shed too, so I didn't care much.
Max.
A Paslode Model#F350S with #401548 nails will do the trick. Bostich makes a dedicated nailer for concrete fastening, around $800.00.
Unless there is a problem with high winds or side loads of some sort, why not use construction adhesive and save all the aggravation? If your slab is typical of most shed slabs the thickness is on the slim side and whacking away with concrete nails isn't what you want to do to a delicate old piece of concrete. HTH
Joe
If the nails held in the holes you drilled for tapcons, either...
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I use plastic anchors. It is easy to put, easy to screw a screw in it and easy to unscrew if you need to remove the stud. I use 5/16" drill to drill and hole, nail the anchor and use regular #10 2 1/2" sheet metal screws. Works great with minimum effort.
When carpet was installed in our basement, they nailed all the tack strips down by hand. I was a bit surprised. Don't know what kind of nails and hammer. It was a big hammer though.
I used nails my carpenter friend gave to me. He called them masonry nails or something like that. They are big and ribbed. Trying to nail them in the old concrete just resulted in sparks and lots of concrete breaking up. The drilled hole in the concrete was just a little smaller than the nails, so there was enough pressure to hold them once nailed in.
I bought a pack of screws that came with a masonry bit, so unless there was a packaging error it should be the right size. The screws started going in but about halfway through, they came to a dead stop even though the hole was deep enough. There seems to be some small rocks in my concrete, rocks that are hard as hell to drill through, I think the screw hit one of them.
As I said I'm no pro so I normally go by trial and error until I find something that is good enough.
Max.
I used nails my carpenter friend gave to me. He called them masonry nails or something like that. They are big and ribbed. Trying to nail them in the old concrete just resulted in sparks and lots of concrete breaking up. The drilled hole in the concrete was just a little smaller than the nails, so there was enough pressure to hold them once nailed in.
I bought a pack of screws that came with a masonry bit, so unless there was a packaging error it should be the right size. The screws started going in but about halfway through, they came to a dead stop even though the hole was deep enough. There seems to be some small rocks in my concrete, rocks that are hard as hell to drill through, I think the screw hit one of them.
As I said I'm no pro so I normally go by trial and error until I find something that is good enough.
Max.
Special hardened nails for cement. Or buy/ borrow a nailgun and shoot the nails in.
replying to Stormin Mormon, Volkan wrote: I have a ryobi light duty nail gun. I was hoping to finish my project of nailing plywood into concrete. Do you think standard nail guns and standard nail would do the job?
This may work if the concrete hasn't quite set.
I do believe that the concrete is well set by now .. as the post Volkan was replying to was made *THIRTEEN* years ago!
tragedy but at least he didn't lose his life. o_O
OMG! Here all this time we thought you were the sock puppet of DD, now we find out you're Stormin too?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA, I sometimes wonder if these people that respond to O-L-D posts have just awoken from a coma?
Huh? What? (rubs eyes) Did anyone make coffee?
Coffee? What's that?
- . Christopher A. Young learn more about Jesus .
"...and not eat excessive meat."
It's getting harder and harder to find a decent cut of excessive meat these days. There's a mom-and-pop meat market near me that only carries excessive meat during the holidays. None of the big chains carry it any more.
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