The End of Nails

I don't mind saying, I do the same. I would use clout nails if fixing roofing felt, but I'd try to avoid felt ...

I don't suppose it has anything to do with the fact that such guns are much more expensive than a hammer, need batteries and chargers, and will eventually wear out and need replacement. Well, the pros can put them down as "business expenses", but we'll just have to pay up and bear it.

Mind you, are any of these guns any good at removing nails? ;-)

The nail guns can bang in nails 10x or more quicker than a hammer.

Pay a tiny fraction of a £200 nailer which lasts for hundreds of jobs, or pay extra labour costs at £lots per hour.

Hmm...

Theo

The big attraction of nailing was speed of installation, and cheap fixings. That meant widespread use, even on jobs where you may have felt you would do a better job with screws, but could not face winding in hundreds or thousands by hand.

Technology has changed that... screws are now the obvious "go to" solution for any case where a screw would be preferred, since they can be whizzed in with no manual effort, and just as quickly as you could nail by hand.

For cases where nailing is still a valid choice like framing studwork, nail guns ramp up the speed of installation, by such an amount that the reduction in labour costs far outstrips the cost of the expense of the "hammer"

Not necessarily a bad thing... I still do most of my plumbing in copper rather than plastic because I prefer the aesthetic and the quality and robustness.

Yes, but we're talking about diy here by the home user, and trying to justify the cost of a power tool for that use. I can't remember the last time I needed to buy nails, or a hammer for that matter, but I've most certainly used some nails of varying sizes over the last dozen years.

The last time I used over a hundred nails at once was fitting new felt on a shed. I must have gone though a couple of hundred 1/2" clout nails. Even so, buying a nail gun for that job (can they do clout nails?) wouldn't have been even vaguely cost-effective.

Faced with failing strength I put my woodshed together with a ulra cheap electric screwdriver instead...

A generic framing nailer, no, but roofing nailers exist

If you're DIYing, use screws - an impact driver is quicker than a nail.

If you're putting up a closeboard fence where every slat wants nailing, use a nail gun. If you have an air compressor an air nailer is about £30. (if you don't have a compressor a budget one is about £100 and has many other uses).

The one place I use nails is on cable clips which I hate - I wish screw in cable clips were more common.

There are battery clout nailers, but at a pro roofer price:

I've not used any nails for years either, except as above for roofing felt.

I haven't used nails for some time. I have a few different hammers, but can never recall where I left any of them, whilst I can always find my drill/driver.

I can't decide if the "where's that hammer?" is cause or effect.

Make it wear a wooly hat with a bobble, and a red/white striped shirt. Then you'll find it.

The only hammering I do now is tent pegs or Picture hooks...... :-)

Every room we've had redecorated we've had picture rails put back in -> no more disfiguring wall with nailed-in picture hooks.

We use Command strips - they stick to the wall, with a glue that can be released by pulling a tab parallel to the wall. Leaves the wall and the paint surface intact.

They've only failed once, when the paint surface was so bad it was coming off in giant sheets. That wall needed repainting anyway.

They also stick to things you can't put nails in - glass, uPVC, tiles, ...

Nails outclassed, I'm afraid.

Theo

Picture rail also means wall is ceiling coloured down to the picture rail ->

breaks things up a bit.

I did some awning pegs, just a week or so back - but I mallet them.

Funny, I don't feel the need to be 'cost effective' around the house. I take the view that I am saving so much money by diying that I can buy a £200 tool if I want it. Never wanted a nailer though.

Actually I years ago bought a rechargeable SIP nailer/stapler. It was useless. Also at one time had a compressor and an air nailer - what a faff! I would need persuading now before cluttering up my tidy life with another.

TW