need some advice on nailing hardi siding
alwaysoverbudget
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
i’ve started siding the new house by blind nailing hardi siding,most pieces look ok,but about 20% hang loose at bottom.i’m using a porter cable roofing nailer,shooting 1&1/4 galv. nails about 3/4″ down from the top.i’m nailing into 7/16 osb & 3/4 fir and it doesn’t seem to make much difference, they still hang a little loose.i can go in and hand nail every 36″ with siding nails and that fixes it but doesn’t look to great with the heads showing. any ideas? also whats your opinon on the galv. nails?[i think they are called electro plated] i was spot priming each one but gave up after the first 100 nails!!!! thanks for the info larry
Replies
What's your reveal? I've had similar problem where we shortened them up a bit under a window. I think that inch and a quarter may be a little short - you should have that much into the stud. Time to buy another gun!
i'm using the 8.25 siding,with a seven inch exposure.sometimes i go back and hit the nails with a hammer just to make sure that there set down good. i'm about to start dabbing a little pl glue to the top edge so that when the next one overlaps it's stuck!!!thanks for the input,it's so cold here that i don't think much will be happening for a few days.
We had that problem on a job where we went behind some bad framers, and we went back to the trouble spots with a galvanized trim nail. Didn't take all that many.
They also have a hardi clip that will set the exposure and grab the bottom of the piece. I haven't ever personally used them, but a good friend of mine did on his shop. He did the whole shop (20x24) by himself in a day with no experience.
Don't know if the clip would do any good in reality because you would have to know where the "pushout" will happen before you put the piece on. but the trim nails might help.
The clip doesn't hold the bottom tight it just sets the reveal and eases installation.Trim gun with 1 inch nails and a dab of caulk works for me .
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
kyle,if i follow what your saying,your taking a finish nailer and shooting it along the bottom,then cover it with caulk? what gauge nails are you using? i guess that they are not galvanized and thats why the caulk. i like this idea that it would be pretty much invisible and would go pretty quick. thanks larry
Sounds like a bad idea to me. Those nails will eventually rust and bleed through.
Sooner or later, they'll be back.
Joe H
The only trim nails that I've ever seen have always been galv. Do you still think they
would rust?
the only face nails we use with FC are SS.. 8d coil nails with our Bostich siding gun..
all the rest are blind nailed.. and they are HD Galv ( Maze ).. why would you use a product that will last forever applied with a fastener that will rust ?
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I though EG nails rust.
Only ss or Hot dipped do not rust.
I REALLY WONDER WHAT THE MARKET IS FOR EG NAILS?
why have them at all - too many people use them where they then rust
I think what's more important here, he said he's using 1 1/4" roofing nails. Should be 2 1/4" siding nails, though I don't think that has anything to do with the gap problem. What is the stud spacing? What kind of sheathing?
hardie spec sheet says roofers nails are ok - but i can not remember the length they specify
edit - they say
Wood framing: 1 ¼" corrosion resistant roofing nails.
****OR****
A. Wood framing: 1 ½" corrosion resistant roofing nails.
****OR****
Edited 12/12/2003 1:58:33 PM ET by wain
Just checked hardie inst. spec., you're right, but it still doesn't sound right to me. I was just certified for certainteed siding, must have stuck in my head - they say min. penetration into the stud - 1 1/4".
Hardie says blind nail is good only for 16" centers.
re: Hot dips, back when we used to hand nail ext. decks, occasionally would knock plating off of hot dips.
I'd say: get some stainless ring shank siding nails and use only where needed.
Hope this helps.
Hope it warms up a little too!
yaeh hardie suggest of 1 1/4 seems short
i thought a 1 1/4 sounded okay being as the siding is only 5/16 thick.should i be hitting the studs every 16"? i'm using 30# tar paper for house wrap so when that goes on i'm losing the studs and just nailing,so maybe that is one of the problems in that i'm only hitting osb most of the time.whats the easiest fastest way to keep track of stud locations? the weather hasn't gotten any better-this afternoon i'm on a 13/12 roof siding a dormer while it's snowing! you know when i was 13 i can only imagine how much fun i could of had sliding off that roof into a snow drift but doesn't sound like so much fun now at 48! thanks larry
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you'r only hitting the OSB, you'll need to face nail the whole thing. Go to hardie website and download installation instructions. If it is that bad out, you wouldn't see me.
Check this out by our own Tim Uhler. He did this article for JLC.
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/3fdab4940018b6a3271a401e1d290676/Product/View/0312inst
Joe Carola
If I were to sheath the wall with 1 1/4" ply, would that be an adequate base for blind nailing?
James Hardie website has inst. spec. you can download in PDF.
Read carefully, not just what you want to hear.
They have some sort of disclaimer about "high wind" situations.
You have to be a *&^%# lawyer and a detective to accomplish anything these days.
I was talking with my SIL a couple weeks ago ( he sells a lot of the stuff), and he mentioned that most of the guys buying from him were using screws.
Didn't question him at the time - just thought to myself how so many people seem so enamored w/ these cordless drills.
How much area do you have to cover? With the price of sheet goods there ought to be a better solution.
I don't use a trim nailer or nails for interior trim. I ususally use what ever type of casing nail that I have in my box which is usually 1-1/4" or 1-1/2". And they are galvanized so they won't rust.
As for as the caulking goes, I leave that to the painter. So i'm not sure what he uses. I assume he probably caulks it.
One more thing, if you do this while you are installing the peices, you can put them in the studs with no problem. Just put a few nails in your pouch and if you see a problem just throw a nail in here and there.
Edited 12/13/2003 8:36:52 PM ET by Kyle
Are the electro - galv nails the really shiny ones? Could slippery nails combined with not enough nail into not enough wood be the problem?
with blind nailing we use either a Maze Hot Dipped Galv 1 3/4" roofer
or a 6d hot dipped galv sidewall nail..... watch your exposure.. keep the lap to max..
make sure each course is calmping the one below before you hang the one above.
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore