Brad nailer for hanging drywall?

[Bob Davis]

Can a brad nailer be used successfully to hang drywall?

[David Binkowski]

Uh... No. The head on the nail is nearly non-existent and thats needed to hold the wallboard to the stud.

[Traves W. Coppock]

On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 05:32:23 GMT, "Bob Davis" Crawled out of the shop and said. . .:

that's lousy bait...sit back and watch BAD do it...

[Gfretwell]

It might hold it long enough for a bead of drywall adhesive to set.

[David Binkowski]

Actually, why not use hat pins ? Or perhaps a thumb tack.

[JD]

not even that.

[Leon]

Ahhh... Did you spit the bait back out before the hook set? LOL

[Phisherman]

I would avoid using any kind of nails for drywall, at least in my house. Use drywall screws and avoid those ugly nail pops years later. Brads should not be used at all for drywall.

[Bob Davis]

Thanks for the informative, serious reply. In the meantime, I looked up Senco nailers and see they sell a dedicated drywall screw gun. That gave me a clue that drywall should be treated special.

Screws and my trusty dewalt drill will do fine for the amount of drywall I have to hang.

Bob

[Bob Haar]

By all means, use drywall screws. Note that the fine thread variety are meant for use with steel studs. Use the coarse threaded ones for wood studs. Another reason to use real drywall screws is that they are coated to resist the corrosion that causes rust spots to bleed through drywall joint compound.

If you are hanging a large amount of drywall, a real screwgun pays for itself in the time savings and convenience. But you can do just as good a job with a cordless drill.

Even if you were going to nail up the drywall, you would not want to use brads. Without heads, they would not hold the drywall against the wall securely. Most of the nails would pull right through the drywall and provide no holding power.

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]

[Abe]

I hate to *ahem* admit it, but because I had no help and was sick with the flu... Ok, no excuses. I hung the drywall in part of my garage using a framing nailer. There, I've said it. It took a while to get the depth right, but once it was set, it worked pretty well. About 3 out of 4 nails were sunk just to the point of dimpling the paper. The fourth, of course, was blasted into the drywall to the point where the head was barely visible down in the rock.

So... taping and cleanup were a bitch. I don't recommend this approach, if for no other reason than that it'll be a PITA getting all those big nails out of the studs and joists if I ever decide to go back and do it right. It also just has to be some kind of code violation. But the point is, it can be done using larger full-head nails, if you're desperate. Brads certainly won't hold up anything.

As everyone else is saying, screws are the way to go. Next time I've got to hang some drywall, I'm getting a screw gun and enlisting some help.

Cheers, Abe

[Renata]

Get one of those nifty bits that helps set the screw to proper depth. Less than a buck.

Renata

smart, not dumb for email

[Dave Balderstone]

Screw drywall...

;-)

[Kevin L. Bowling]

One more reason to use drywall screws: In case of fire, drywall nail heads can pop off and let the sheet fall on the firefighter's head.

Kevin

[Lawrence Wasserman]

I don't think so.

[Tim Douglass]

OK, I've got to try this. I admit to looking at the nail gun and wondering if it would work, but never tried it. I can run about 8d nails through the gun, so they aren't that much bigger than drywall nails. OTOH, I've hung a *lot* of drywall over the years with screws or hand hammered drywall nails and none of it has ever fallen down.

Tim Douglass

[Lawrence A. Ramsey]

[Walt Conner]

Brad nailer or stapler? I don't think so if you want it to stay there.

Walt Conner

[Trent©]

What Renata said.

You can usually find them at the Dollar stores...or some other cheap discount chain.

If yer doin' ceiling, buy a couple. They clog up easily.

Have a nice week...

Trent

Certified breast self-exam subcontractor.