Hammering small nails into plaster without damaging it?

Question

Hi. I need to run some speaker cable around some walls. Im going to be running it up flush to the ceiling coving, using cable clips (small plastic u-shaped clips with a small nail to fix them). Im just wondering, is there a technique to hammering small nails into plaster without the plaster breaking around the nail and coming out in small chunks? From past experience Ive found this always happens.

Ive thought about drilling with a very fine bit, to get through the layer of plaster and then nailing into the hole but this will be time consuming as it will need to be done for each clip and I reckon I will be using 30 or more of them!

Would it be possible to nail the clips into the bottom edge of the coving or is this going to damage them more than the walls?

Any suggestion greatly appreciated.

Marc

Andy Dingley · Accepted Answer

Don't hammer them, use a push-pin instead. This is a thing that looks like a screwdriver handle with a spring-loaded tubular nose. It holds the pin straight, you just push.

Also don't use small pins in plaster - the plaster just isn't strong enough at that small scale and they're too liekly to work loose. I wouldn't trust anything less than 1" wire nails.

Peter Ashby · Answer

Buy a staple gun that takes round head staples for stapling cable. Machine Mart have a couple around the 8 quid mark though the one I bought doesn't do right into corners very well, its too wide as it is multi functional.

Peter

Mike Harrison · Answer

As long as the plaster is strong enough in the first place, the trick is tohammer with lots oflittle taps instead of a few hard ones.

Stuart Noble · Answer

hammer with lots ofA glue gun might be easier for small cable.

Cokey · Answer

Thanks for all replies. I used the 'lots of little taps' method andthis worked very well with no damage at all to plaster.hammer with lots of

Hammering small nails into plaster without damaging it?

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