Is there a reason not to nail up drywall?





.everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0;
}






up vote
7
down vote

favorite












I have a bunch of drywall to put up. I am staring at a loaded 15-gauge framing nail gun, and a drill + a box of drywall screws, and boy oh boy does that nail gun look tempting.



When attaching to wooden studs, is there any reason not to just nail the drywall up, rather than using screws?










share|improve this question


















  • 7




    Inability to control the depth of the nail gun which is made for attaching hard thick boards together not soft thin drywall
    – Kris
    Nov 18 at 1:23






  • 6




    And the classic nail-pop that inevitably follows.
    – bib
    Nov 18 at 2:09










  • Well dimpled/set nails, rarely pop, even in locations with extreme seasonal changes (Especially if you spend the extra $$ to get ring shanks and use a proper drywall hatchet). +1 on the control; a nail gun would never work for this.
    – tahwos
    Nov 25 at 4:40



















up vote
7
down vote

favorite












I have a bunch of drywall to put up. I am staring at a loaded 15-gauge framing nail gun, and a drill + a box of drywall screws, and boy oh boy does that nail gun look tempting.



When attaching to wooden studs, is there any reason not to just nail the drywall up, rather than using screws?










share|improve this question


















  • 7




    Inability to control the depth of the nail gun which is made for attaching hard thick boards together not soft thin drywall
    – Kris
    Nov 18 at 1:23






  • 6




    And the classic nail-pop that inevitably follows.
    – bib
    Nov 18 at 2:09










  • Well dimpled/set nails, rarely pop, even in locations with extreme seasonal changes (Especially if you spend the extra $$ to get ring shanks and use a proper drywall hatchet). +1 on the control; a nail gun would never work for this.
    – tahwos
    Nov 25 at 4:40















up vote
7
down vote

favorite









up vote
7
down vote

favorite











I have a bunch of drywall to put up. I am staring at a loaded 15-gauge framing nail gun, and a drill + a box of drywall screws, and boy oh boy does that nail gun look tempting.



When attaching to wooden studs, is there any reason not to just nail the drywall up, rather than using screws?










share|improve this question













I have a bunch of drywall to put up. I am staring at a loaded 15-gauge framing nail gun, and a drill + a box of drywall screws, and boy oh boy does that nail gun look tempting.



When attaching to wooden studs, is there any reason not to just nail the drywall up, rather than using screws?







drywall installation construction fastener technique






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Nov 18 at 1:18









Jason C

4783715




4783715








  • 7




    Inability to control the depth of the nail gun which is made for attaching hard thick boards together not soft thin drywall
    – Kris
    Nov 18 at 1:23






  • 6




    And the classic nail-pop that inevitably follows.
    – bib
    Nov 18 at 2:09










  • Well dimpled/set nails, rarely pop, even in locations with extreme seasonal changes (Especially if you spend the extra $$ to get ring shanks and use a proper drywall hatchet). +1 on the control; a nail gun would never work for this.
    – tahwos
    Nov 25 at 4:40
















  • 7




    Inability to control the depth of the nail gun which is made for attaching hard thick boards together not soft thin drywall
    – Kris
    Nov 18 at 1:23






  • 6




    And the classic nail-pop that inevitably follows.
    – bib
    Nov 18 at 2:09










  • Well dimpled/set nails, rarely pop, even in locations with extreme seasonal changes (Especially if you spend the extra $$ to get ring shanks and use a proper drywall hatchet). +1 on the control; a nail gun would never work for this.
    – tahwos
    Nov 25 at 4:40










7




7




Inability to control the depth of the nail gun which is made for attaching hard thick boards together not soft thin drywall
– Kris
Nov 18 at 1:23




Inability to control the depth of the nail gun which is made for attaching hard thick boards together not soft thin drywall
– Kris
Nov 18 at 1:23




6




6




And the classic nail-pop that inevitably follows.
– bib
Nov 18 at 2:09




And the classic nail-pop that inevitably follows.
– bib
Nov 18 at 2:09












Well dimpled/set nails, rarely pop, even in locations with extreme seasonal changes (Especially if you spend the extra $$ to get ring shanks and use a proper drywall hatchet). +1 on the control; a nail gun would never work for this.
– tahwos
Nov 25 at 4:40






Well dimpled/set nails, rarely pop, even in locations with extreme seasonal changes (Especially if you spend the extra $$ to get ring shanks and use a proper drywall hatchet). +1 on the control; a nail gun would never work for this.
– tahwos
Nov 25 at 4:40












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
17
down vote



accepted










Nobody uses a pneumatic nailer for drywall. And in a world where shortcuts are revered, that has to tell you something.



You know this already, but screws are the gold standard. They stay put and they pull the drywall as close to framing as possible. Badly set screws can pop, but properly set ones don't.



Nails were common in the past, but they were usually ring shank (for holding power) and with a slightly bigger head than a framing nail. (They also had a propensity to pop as framing dried out, in spite of the fancy ring shank.)



If you had to use nails, the trick is to set them just slightly below the plane of the paper without cutting through the paper. The dent from a hammer made this work. A pneumatic nail is either going to be set too deep (ripping the paper, and being out of the way of the taping knife) or set too high (not ripping the paper, but being in the way of the taper). There's really no way to get the dimple you need with an air nailer.



If you are seriously only looking at a drill, get an impact driver. You'll get way more control driving screws. (And impacts are great for a lot of other stuff as well.) If you have a ton of rock to put up, consider getting an actual drywall screwgun.






share|improve this answer



















  • 2




    You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
    – ratchet freak
    Nov 19 at 10:12






  • 1




    +1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
    – Moshe Katz
    Nov 21 at 18:18











Your Answer








StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "73"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});














draft saved

draft discarded


















StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdiy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f150810%2fis-there-a-reason-not-to-nail-up-drywall%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown

























1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes








1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes









active

oldest

votes






active

oldest

votes








up vote
17
down vote



accepted










Nobody uses a pneumatic nailer for drywall. And in a world where shortcuts are revered, that has to tell you something.



You know this already, but screws are the gold standard. They stay put and they pull the drywall as close to framing as possible. Badly set screws can pop, but properly set ones don't.



Nails were common in the past, but they were usually ring shank (for holding power) and with a slightly bigger head than a framing nail. (They also had a propensity to pop as framing dried out, in spite of the fancy ring shank.)



If you had to use nails, the trick is to set them just slightly below the plane of the paper without cutting through the paper. The dent from a hammer made this work. A pneumatic nail is either going to be set too deep (ripping the paper, and being out of the way of the taping knife) or set too high (not ripping the paper, but being in the way of the taper). There's really no way to get the dimple you need with an air nailer.



If you are seriously only looking at a drill, get an impact driver. You'll get way more control driving screws. (And impacts are great for a lot of other stuff as well.) If you have a ton of rock to put up, consider getting an actual drywall screwgun.






share|improve this answer



















  • 2




    You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
    – ratchet freak
    Nov 19 at 10:12






  • 1




    +1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
    – Moshe Katz
    Nov 21 at 18:18















up vote
17
down vote



accepted










Nobody uses a pneumatic nailer for drywall. And in a world where shortcuts are revered, that has to tell you something.



You know this already, but screws are the gold standard. They stay put and they pull the drywall as close to framing as possible. Badly set screws can pop, but properly set ones don't.



Nails were common in the past, but they were usually ring shank (for holding power) and with a slightly bigger head than a framing nail. (They also had a propensity to pop as framing dried out, in spite of the fancy ring shank.)



If you had to use nails, the trick is to set them just slightly below the plane of the paper without cutting through the paper. The dent from a hammer made this work. A pneumatic nail is either going to be set too deep (ripping the paper, and being out of the way of the taping knife) or set too high (not ripping the paper, but being in the way of the taper). There's really no way to get the dimple you need with an air nailer.



If you are seriously only looking at a drill, get an impact driver. You'll get way more control driving screws. (And impacts are great for a lot of other stuff as well.) If you have a ton of rock to put up, consider getting an actual drywall screwgun.






share|improve this answer



















  • 2




    You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
    – ratchet freak
    Nov 19 at 10:12






  • 1




    +1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
    – Moshe Katz
    Nov 21 at 18:18













up vote
17
down vote



accepted







up vote
17
down vote



accepted






Nobody uses a pneumatic nailer for drywall. And in a world where shortcuts are revered, that has to tell you something.



You know this already, but screws are the gold standard. They stay put and they pull the drywall as close to framing as possible. Badly set screws can pop, but properly set ones don't.



Nails were common in the past, but they were usually ring shank (for holding power) and with a slightly bigger head than a framing nail. (They also had a propensity to pop as framing dried out, in spite of the fancy ring shank.)



If you had to use nails, the trick is to set them just slightly below the plane of the paper without cutting through the paper. The dent from a hammer made this work. A pneumatic nail is either going to be set too deep (ripping the paper, and being out of the way of the taping knife) or set too high (not ripping the paper, but being in the way of the taper). There's really no way to get the dimple you need with an air nailer.



If you are seriously only looking at a drill, get an impact driver. You'll get way more control driving screws. (And impacts are great for a lot of other stuff as well.) If you have a ton of rock to put up, consider getting an actual drywall screwgun.






share|improve this answer














Nobody uses a pneumatic nailer for drywall. And in a world where shortcuts are revered, that has to tell you something.



You know this already, but screws are the gold standard. They stay put and they pull the drywall as close to framing as possible. Badly set screws can pop, but properly set ones don't.



Nails were common in the past, but they were usually ring shank (for holding power) and with a slightly bigger head than a framing nail. (They also had a propensity to pop as framing dried out, in spite of the fancy ring shank.)



If you had to use nails, the trick is to set them just slightly below the plane of the paper without cutting through the paper. The dent from a hammer made this work. A pneumatic nail is either going to be set too deep (ripping the paper, and being out of the way of the taping knife) or set too high (not ripping the paper, but being in the way of the taper). There's really no way to get the dimple you need with an air nailer.



If you are seriously only looking at a drill, get an impact driver. You'll get way more control driving screws. (And impacts are great for a lot of other stuff as well.) If you have a ton of rock to put up, consider getting an actual drywall screwgun.







share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited Nov 18 at 4:59









manassehkatz

5,695926




5,695926










answered Nov 18 at 4:56









Aloysius Defenestrate

8,74311224




8,74311224








  • 2




    You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
    – ratchet freak
    Nov 19 at 10:12






  • 1




    +1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
    – Moshe Katz
    Nov 21 at 18:18














  • 2




    You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
    – ratchet freak
    Nov 19 at 10:12






  • 1




    +1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
    – Moshe Katz
    Nov 21 at 18:18








2




2




You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
– ratchet freak
Nov 19 at 10:12




You can very likely rent a screwgun from a local shop as well.
– ratchet freak
Nov 19 at 10:12




1




1




+1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
– Moshe Katz
Nov 21 at 18:18




+1 for the Impact Driver. I have no idea how I managed to do any projects that required screws before I got one.
– Moshe Katz
Nov 21 at 18:18


















draft saved

draft discarded




















































Thanks for contributing an answer to Home Improvement Stack Exchange!


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


  • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

But avoid



  • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

  • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




draft saved


draft discarded














StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdiy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f150810%2fis-there-a-reason-not-to-nail-up-drywall%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest















Required, but never shown





















































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown

































Required, but never shown














Required, but never shown












Required, but never shown







Required, but never shown







Popular posts from this blog

AnyDesk - Fatal Program Failure

How to calibrate 16:9 built-in touch-screen to a 4:3 resolution?

QoS: MAC-Priority for clients behind a repeater