Because of a crooked chalkline or a bad guess, I sometimes miss the stud or joist as I nail off the drywall. I used to remove these nails by plucking them out of the wall with my fingers, which is an annoying task, or I’d drive them through (the sloppy solution). Then a friend showed me this simple trick: drive another nail right next to the misplaced one, but angle it toward the framing, as shown in the drawing. When this nail is set it will pull the dud down tight, under its head. This takes little time, and the resulting dimple can be finished normally with mud.
Kurt Lavenson, Berkeley, CA
