Screwing Down Backerboad for Tile... (Rant)

[Rich256]

If you have a really strong drill you might be able to use their recommended screws.

[Robert Gammon]

For the novice without access to a power nailer (electric or air driven), nailing any Hardi product is an invitation to disaster. home handiperson NEED to stick with screws and pre-drill with a carbide tipped drill bit.

Way to easy to miss the nail and BANG the Harid product, fracturing off the corner, forcing you to remove the product piece entirely and start again.

Pro installers can do this with their power equipment. Folks who have done this over many many jobs can swing a 16oz hammer JUST right to make this happen without damage to the board. The rest of us MUST stick with screws, else we face disaster.

[Rich256]

James Hardi product?

Maybe so but I sure could not get those screws to countersink with the equipment I had.

I have laid a lot of it with nails and never had any problem like you describe. The hardest part I thought was to hit it hard enough to keep the head flush and it is one hell of a lot of nails.

[Al Bundy]

[e-mail] (Chris Lewis) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You're right.

When I fixed the last "see through to back of other shower wall" I tried screws. Always prefer screws. When I had the head issues, mfgr's instructions said roofing nails OK. Since it was a wall and not floor, I went for it. Worked fine without all the predrilling and countersinking.

For a floor, I'd want them screws and would pre-whatever is necessary.

Damn things are so thin nowadays, sometimes they snap going in deep wood with the longer screws not threaded to the top. You pull out some 3" screws from old cabinets and it looks & feels like a bolt compared to one today.

Too short? Can't find them where I am now but back in VT I used to get them up 8 & 9" long. Used them for various things like restoring old real wood shutters where the rails have to be replaced and screwed through the wide styles.

As such, under these sorts of stresses (eg: differential

[krw]

I'd *never* use nails. Screws are far more secure.

Might? I had little problem with my Porter Cable 14.4V drill.

[Chris Lewis]

According to Al Bundy :

Back in the old days, screws were cut threads, and the shank was the same diameter as the outer edge of the threads. These days they're "rolled" (I think this is the terminology), and the shank is the same diameter as the inner diameter of the thread (more or less). Old types really doesn't buy you a heck of a lot. Except having drill pilot holes far more often, and to use three drills (thread, shank and countersink) instead of two when compared to new type.

Furthermore, due to the manufacturing process, they had to make them thicker to avoid defects weakening the screws. For the most part, you don't need screws that beefy.

But you can certainly still get screws that heavy - #12s and #14s. I almost never use those.

You can get ordinary #14s up to about 5". There are longer ones - "gutter screws". Lee Valley has them to at least 7".

Aside from that, the industry has switched to lag screws.