I have to redo the fence I put in 25 years ago and somehow I have gotten older? There is no joy in the prospect of handnailing each plank. I see nail guns in many price ranges and guages.. including staples. I have a compressor, no problem there.
What would be the proper guage and length of nail to put up 1/2 inch treated fencing?
Thanks, Leonard
You might do better with stainless steel screws.
With them you will not have any rust coloration running down the boards and you can back them out and reuse them.
Either way you will want enough length to go through the boards and 1 inch into the rails.
Screws - #8. Nails - 10 penny.
Nail guns - standard guns that can handle up to 2 inch headed. Screw guns - any 3/8 inch drill with a screw setting head.
I did my 200 foot fence with screws and it was very easy.
What would be the proper guage and length of nail to put up 1/2 inch treated fencing?
Thanks, Leonard
The best nail would be a screw. With the pressure treated today, you need a specific galvanized screw or stainless. Check out
If you want to use nails, get a framing nailer and the right nails for the job.
What they all said, Leonard, "screw it"..
My last fence was 230 6" redwood pickets and was built in one day by 4 of us.. I didn't even use my tools, Home depot rented a screw gun that would have been way out of my tool budget for about $10 a day..
We drove over 1,000 screws that day and it was SO nice not to mess with nails..
If you want to nail, I'd say that you want at least 1 1/4 or 1 1/2" nails... My dad always said to make sure that the nail went further into the board that held the picket than the thickness of the picket.. YMWV
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
What the f*ck don't you understand about using plain text?
Lew
I built 2 or 3 fence sections using screws, never again. TOOOO slow. I used to use screws with the anticipation of it being easier to replace a rotten board years later. A rotten board almost falls off anyway so you don't really save any time later.
A framing nail gun will work nicely. Typically I use a galvanized 1.75" nail for the pickets but those can often be hard to find. 2" is more common but may come out the back side of the 2x4 rails.
Now if you want the picket nailing to go quick, spend a little more money and run a 1x6 PT board horizontally along the ground and attach each end to the outer picket side middle of the posts at ground level. This board serves 2 purposes, it helps prevent water/dew from wicking through the bottom of the pickets and causing premature rot, and it speeds the build. Simply set each picket on top of that 1x6 and you do not have to worry about the top of the pickets being lined up with a string. Working by yourself you can put up 110 pickets, 50' using this method in about 45 minutes working at a leisurely pace.
Use a nail gun that has stainless steel nails available to prevent corrosion from the PT chemicals.
If you buy "ACQ" Galvanized nails the corrosion is not an issue is will be much cheaper than stainless steel.
Treated wood is gonna get wet, then dry, and that's bad for nail tightness. And screw tightness is worse (you can split the slat because the screw is too strong to follow when the slat swells).
I'd look into roofing-style staples, about 1.5" long. Two prongs holds better than one...
Galvanized doesn't always work with treated wood, it might do best with stainless or coated fasteners.
SS nails are not hard to find. I use them in outdoor cedar work.
replying to LLBrown, jerryjhonson wrote: Find your answer?
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