What would be a good nailer for cement board? I’m going to side my own house with it, and that will likely be the end of my siding career. If I hand nail, the tendonitis will surely wipe me out before I finish. I recall some people here like a certain Hitachi model. Is cement board a particularly tough material to nail? That was the reason the Hitachi was preferred, since it reliably set the nails correctly. But for a one off job, are there other suggestions?
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Replies
The Hitachi siding gun everyone is talking about is model NV65AH I believe.
The most important part of fastening the siding is to leave the nail head proud sitting just snug with the face of the siding. Think of it like drywall, if you puncture the paper on drywall the screw will not have good holding power.
For a one of job like yours you might consider renting if it was a small job you could finish quickly, not likely though, you could always buy the Hitachi and then sell it on e-bay when you are finished they seem to sell well there, or post the sale here in the classified and someone will probably pick it up.
good luck.
one other thing, some people use roofing nailers, if you happen to already have one it's an option, though I've never used a roofing nailer myself yet.
I have a Makita AN611 coil siding nailer that I have absolutely no complaints about after siding 2 homes with it. The Hitachi is the one all others are measured against, I guess, though I've never used their siding nailer.
The key, as stated previously, is to flush the nail head, which these siding nailers are designed to do. (and they are a little on the spendy side, but well worth it, in my view).
my vote is for the MAX gun...been using it all summer, it is sweet.
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