Best Nail Gun for framing , cladding and roof timbers

[GerryKnowles]

Hi All, I am building a 30 square metre outhouse . I am want to buy a nail gun to to help with assembly of the frame roof structure and cladding. Dont want to spend a fortune and am thinking of a rechargeale battery type.

Can anyone make a reccomendation or is anyone selling one?

Best Regards


Gerry

 

[artie]

Do you want one that will last for 20 years or one that will do this job?

 

[mikej460]

I bought a 2nd hand Paslode 350 off eBay that hadn't been used much and has served me very well for a few projects now, including a roofing project where it performed effortlessly. It is a gas nailer that also uses a small rechargeable battery to light the gas. The only problem I have had is that the gas in the fuel cells has a limited life (it's printed on the canister) and when I haven't used it it for a while I can get misfires as the fuel won't light, I've learned to check the expiry first. I've contemplated moving to all battery type but I've read reports that they are very heavy and some are not very powerful. I have used an air powered finish nailer on the same roof which is great but the air line is a real phaff on a roof. Hope this helps.

 

[Lons]

I have a DeWalt 18v and it's as powerful as the Paslode it replaced, gets used regularly, rarely sticks or misfires and batteries last for ages. Mine is one of the originals with 4 amp batteries the newer ones have 5 amp and are 2 speed.
You can pick them up s/h, one of my mates does a lot of fencing work and bought one off Facebook marketplace for £90 inc a case and 2 batteries.

As Mike says, the Paslode is fussy about gas, but also doesn't like some brands of nails or the cold weather and it needs stripping and cleaning far too often in my experience. just my opinion have owned both and with plenty of use.

 

[Armagh]

I'm also happy with my Dewalt framing nailer. It's cheapish too if you've already got dewalt batteries and only need to buy the bare unit. It's not as fast, or as powerful as the Paslode, but you don't have to worry about gas or getting it serviced regularly.

 

[Lons]

I'm also happy with my Dewalt framing nailer. It's cheapish too if you've already got dewalt batteries and only need to buy the bare unit. It's not as fast, or as powerful as the Paslode, but you don't have to worry about gas or getting it serviced regularly.

Just a question Armargh no argument but wondered why you find yours not as powerful, maybe there's a difference in the later models or my Paslode was getting tired.

I was very lucky to get mine free when I was one of those approached to give a pre launch test and appraisal so I was very thorough and directly compared the DeWalt side by side with my Paslode 350 over a period of a month during which I found the DeWalt would easily sink nails to the same depth as the Paslode and was as quick, in fact in bump mode it was faster. That was a number of years ago, I sold the latter machine a few months later, the DeWalt has been in use ever since and I find it reliable enough not to part with it.

My mate who bought the s/h machine a few months ago said the nails didn't go in far enough but that was before I showed him the depth adjustment knob.

 

[Ollie78]

I didn't buy one yet but have been looking seriously at nail guns. I have come to the conclusion that the brushless Hikoki one with the mini air tank method of firing looks the best for me. No gas or trailing air hose but fires like a pneumatic gun. Not silly money either.
Just waiting for a suitable job to justify it.

Ollie

 

[Cirks]

Depends on budget and whether needed for many other jobs. I don’t have experience of others but I bought A Paslode IM360Ci in brand new condition (it had supposedly been used handful of times) for same work as OP with aim of selling afterwards but it’s been a godsend so will prob keep!
for the cladding, I still need to find the right no-mar(k) tip for it (I asked this on another thread butno replies yet)

 

[Dr W]

FWIW I'd add another vote for the DeWalt 18v framing nailer. I've never used the full sized Paslodes but I had a Bostich 2nd-fix nailer and it put me off gas-powered nail guns for good because the shelf-life of the gas canisters is so poor. Also tend to be problematic when it's cold (as it is in my workshop for much of the year). If you're an occasional user who isn't getting through fresh refills at a regular lick, a battery powered nailer is much more reliable.
Had mine for ~6 years now and although I don't use it that often, when I do need it, it's a god-send and has never let me down. Got about 50' of featherboard fencing to put up soon, so I'll be relying on it for that. Only downer is that it's quite a lump, so if you've got puny arms like mine, extended usage take its toll!

 

[GerryKnowles]

Do you want one that will last for 20 years or one that will do this job?

Something that will do the job and then for occasional use after that

Thnaks


Gerry

 

[GerryKnowles]

I have a DeWalt 18v and it's as powerful as the Paslode it replaced, gets used regularly, rarely sticks or misfires and batteries last for ages. Mine is one of the originals with 4 amp batteries the newer ones have 5 amp and are 2 speed.
You can pick them up s/h, one of my mates does a lot of fencing work and bought one off Facebook marketplace for £90 inc a case and 2 batteries.

As Mike says, the Paslode is fussy about gas, but also doesn't like some brands of nails or the cold weather and it needs stripping and cleaning far too often in my experience. just my opinion have owned both and with plenty of use.

Thanks for the reply, I will look on facebook but was worried about picking up something that was stolen?

 

[owen]

Thanks for the reply, I will look on facebook but was worried about picking up something that was stolen?

Only way to avoid the chance of that is by buying new or from someone you know. Buy the dewalt 18v one with batteries then sell it on when you no longer need it. You won't lose much money if you keep it in decent nick

 

[Claud1]

I have A Bostitch air powered one heavy and you need to drag a compressor around very powerful, I also bought a early Dewalt which is the way to go in my opinion not as powerful as the Bostitch but plenty ample for most jobs.

 

[AJB Temple]

I use DeWalt 18v. However, do you really need to fork out for a nail gun for this? For structural roof timbers you could use Timberfix bolts driven in with an impact driver. Many framers do this (me included) and it tends to do a better job that first fix nailer. 30sq metre building is roughly garage sized so not especially big. To clad that even though I have nail guns, I tend to nail cladding on with stainless steel annular nails knocked in by hand. You will easily do the entire cladding on your own in a day, even hand nailing.

 

[GerryKnowles]

I use DeWalt 18v. However, do you really need to fork out for a nail gun for this? For structural roof timbers you could use Timberfix bolts driven in with an impact driver. Many framers do this (me included) and it tends to do a better job that first fix nailer. 30sq metre building is roughly garage sized so not especially big. To clad that even though I have nail guns, I tend to nail cladding on with stainless steel annular nails knocked in by hand. You will easily do the entire cladding on your own in a day, even hand nailing.

Thanks for the advice, these have Hex heads though so how do you get them flush to the Timber?

Regards


Gerry

 

[Tris]

If you've got enough power behind them they will pull themselves into the wood, even managed that with a handbrace to drive them

 

[artie]

Something that will do the job and then for occasional use after that

Thnaks


Gerry

I know you wanted answers and not questions but aren't you going to need two.
One for the framing and one for the cladding.?

 

[Cirks]

The other option of course is to hire a gun. Around £60 a week for a Paslode etc. It’s an option if you don’t want to risk buying 2nd hand or having to buy new when you might not use it again after this project.

 

[CaptainBarnacles]

Another vote for the DeWalt. I've had mine for over 5 years and it's been great. The only thing I find it won't do is drive ring-shank 90mm nails into dry timber, it just leaves them a bit proud so I have to go around and give 'em a whack with the hammer. Other than that it handles everything I've ever thrown at it. Compared to my old Hitachi gun it's a dream - the Hitachi was great when it worked... it just didn't work very often!

 

[Armagh]

Just a question Armargh no argument but wondered why you find yours not as powerful, maybe there's a difference in the later models or my Paslode was getting tired.

I was very lucky to get mine free when I was one of those approached to give a pre launch test and appraisal so I was very thorough and directly compared the DeWalt side by side with my Paslode 350 over a period of a month during which I found the DeWalt would easily sink nails to the same depth as the Paslode and was as quick, in fact in bump mode it was faster. That was a number of years ago, I sold the latter machine a few months later, the DeWalt has been in use ever since and I find it reliable enough not to part with it.

My mate who bought the s/h machine a few months ago said the nails didn't go in far enough but that was before I showed him the depth adjustment knob.

Sorry. I only just saw your question. I was using my dewalt recently building a timber frame on site. My workmate was using his paslode 350. We were firing a lot of 90mm rawl plug nails into c24 6x2. The dewalt was a lot more likely to find a piece of hard timber it didn't like and jam. Admittedly the jams are easily fixed and the gun is back on track. The gun is also less likely to sink every nail home. I was using bump fire to nail on the sterling board with 50mm nails. The dewalt was quicker than the paslode, but certainly sunk the nails less well. This is my second dewalt gun and both have also been unable to since 90mm rink shank nails, but thankfully that's rarely a requirement. I still like the gun because I'm getting a nice mixture of work and don't use it every day. If I was roofing, joisting, or first fixing full time I'd have a paslode.