Ask the Builder: Nail guns save time and money

Are you a serious DIYer? If so, you know that the quality and type of tools you use will not only determine when the project gets done, but also play a major part in the quality level of the job.

One of the biggest time savers, in my opinion, happens to be nail guns. These tools have a rich heritage dating back to the late 1700s. A nail gun using compressed air was introduced several years before the U.S. Civil War. Nail guns, as you might know them today, stepped on stage in the 1950s during the economic explosion following World War II.

If you’ve never used a nail gun, this recent story should greatly interest you. Two months ago, my son and I started to finish off 1,300 square feet of space in his basement. For all intents and purposes, we were building a small house under his house sans all exterior finishes.

Step one of the process was to frame over one hundred feet of 2x4 walls. Some of these were parallel with the concrete foundation walls, while others were partition walls separating rooms.

My son’s neighbor is a mechanical engineer who has never seen wall framing up close. I invited him to help us one morning, even though I knew it would slow us down. I spent quite a bit of time explaining all the steps one has to take to frame the walls.

I was using my Paslode framing nail gun. This is an amazing tool that shoots nails using a tiny combustion engine. A gas cartridge contains the fuel and an onboard small lithium-ion battery provides the energy to the spark plug that ignites the gas each time you squeeze the tool’s trigger.

The neighbor was astonished at both the speed and accuracy of the nail gun. Numerous times he exclaimed that he’d purchase one should he decide to tackle his own basement project. He mastered using the tool in seconds.

Nail guns are made to drive nails for just about any purpose. I’ve had finish nail guns for decades. They drive nails through trim boards like baseboards, door and window casing, and crown molding. The tools automatically countersink the nails, saving you vast amounts of time. In the old days, a carpenter would have to carefully tap a finish nail using a nail set to drive the head below the surface of the wood.

Twelve years ago, I used a nail gun to attach asphalt shingles to a shed roof. The gun saved my thumb and hours of time. It’s easy to adjust the tools so the nails are driven the correct depth as called for by the shingle manufacturers.

I started using air-powered, pneumatic nail guns in the late 1970s. One of the largest manufacturers at the time, Senco, was based in Cincinnati, Ohio, not too far from my house.

My Ask the Builder media career started not long after meeting Senco’s marketing manager at an Irish dancing fest that both our daughters attended. He found out I was a carpenter and asked me if I used nail guns. I responded,“ Oh yes! I use Senco guns and they save me hours of time and wear and tear on my body.” I had no idea at the time he worked for Senco.

Just after that chance meeting, the corporate executive nominated me to be named one of the Big 50 Remodelers in 1993. That national award launched this syndicated newspaper column. But I digress!

Pneumatic nail guns are still made, but they come with a slight disadvantage. You need an air compressor and hoses that run between the machine and the nail guns. It takes time to set all this up and stow at the end of a work day. My gas tool is ready to go the moment I open the case and place it in my hand. The same is true for all of the electric-powered nail guns.

Old-fashioned hammer-driven nails can hurt you. I’ve been struck in the face by nails that received a glancing blow from a hammer and then bounced up off the wood. Nails driven by nail guns can be lethal. The Internet is littered with X-ray images of long-framing nails that have been driven into workers' skulls.

A serious nail gun accident happened at one of my jobs. A carpenter was working too fast and drove a 2½-inch nail through the center of his big toe bone. We had to cut out the piece of the subfloor his foot was nailed to and transport him and it to the emergency room.

On a job site, I almost drove a long framing nail through my chest one day. It’s a long story, and the nail missed by a fraction of an inch.

I share all these grim stories to alert you to the power and danger of the tools. When you decide to use a nail gun, remember what Spiderman said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

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