I’m installing about 32 squares of Hardie on my own house and am wondering if it’s worth buying a nailer and shears for this job. I am an advanced do-it-yourselfer with a background in design and building. If so, what shears and nailer are recommended based on experiences? Thanks.
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The Max coil siding nailer, nails sourced from Maze, and the Malco or Kett shears are what you want to look at.
Often it makes complete sense to buy these tools new, use them, clean them up and list them on eBay, and then let the bidders go crazy. Clean almost-new tools, when described well and presented with good photographs, sell well and quickly.
I would get the nailer, but would make the cuts with a skillsaw with a diamond FC blade. Lots of dust, but just wear a mask. Nails are hard to get started in FC with a hammer. I also recommend the little spacer tools by Malco (available from Amazon and others), especially if you're working alone. Using them, it is easy to keep the courses straight and spacing even. Just remembered that I have seen ads for a manual FC shear, I believe from Malco and not expensive, but I have no experience with it.
Yes, get the gun, shears and http://www.thelaborsaver.com/ to space the pieces. I don't like the Malco tool at all.
But ask Mike Smith, whose post "Adverse Conditions" in the photos folder here shows a great looking FC job going start to finish, with details.
One of his photos shows two Malco shears, the second one just purchased to add capacity for the crew. He apparently works them with success.
you better believe it is worth it...
the Kett is better than Malco's and using a saw will be a serious mess...
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Been there, done that, crew used a FC blade in a 7-1/4" circ saw, no shears, and a Bostitch N66 coil siding nailer and Bostitch stainless coil nails. For a "do-over", I'd skip the saw in favor of the Porter-Cable shears. The Bostitch is on it's second large Hardie job and doing fine (except for the goober who put a coil of roofing nails in it and wondered why it jammed).
For a one off job I'd strongly encourage the nailer and forgo the shears.
A circular saw with diamond or Hardi blade will get you by just fine.
did my first FC job this past winter. hand nailed it and used the shears. wish I had the siding nailer but was hesitant. hindsite..should have bought it. the shears are good but a blade in a saw is faster. went to that and wore the canister masks. cut outside and keep in mind that the siding is floppy so the clips look good. I had a helper but I bet the clips make a big difference (and cheaper too). good luck. hope you still like carpentry when you are done.
Jason
I would get both the shears and the siding nailer, 32 sq is a decent amount and you wouldn't like the dust after siding a shed. I would look for both on Ebay if you are going to resell them, then your paying used prices and can resell for a very similar price.
For the shears, I have snapper shears http://www.pactool.us/snappershear/, the porter cable ones use the same cutting head, the kett is different (the blades are not reversable). You could use the malco if you have a cordless drill, but the resell might be less.
For the nailer, I would go with either the makita AN611 or the hitachi NV65AH, the max is suppose to be nice but parts are difficult to get and they will not get you as much on the resell.
If your curious about the dust, just imagine cutting drywall with a circular saw, its pretty similar. The shears only cut one piece at a time but its completely dustless.
From one DIYer to another, I'd recommend shears (Malco) and a roofing nailer if you're blind nailing- more generally useful to a DIYer than a siding nailer would be. The dust IS nasty, even outdoors.
You can hand nail the few face nails you need to do without cursing too much and without pre-drilling.
The Malco shears allow you to trim pieces to fit etc. right there on the ladder or scaffold, and that was enormously helpful on my job.
Shears and nailer
Do it. The job will thank you. Plus, it's your house, don't you want the best job possible?
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BillD60,
I can HIGHLY recommend a saw for Hardie planks .... Its a Makita 2 3/8" cordless - 12 volt. I get about three houses on one carbide blade. THe blade turns so slow (~ 700 rpm or so) that there is almost no dust and what there is is made up of large enough particles that they don't float around. The cut will be very smooth and will require no clean-up. I usually work all day on one charge ... but it goes into the charger at lunch. Really! this is a great tool for this.
I have shown it to Hardie Demo's at trade shows but for some reason they don't pick up on it. Their shears ..... by comparison are like something Fred Flintstone would use. Don't bother buying the shears.
PS I realy like Hardie Planks and similar brands .... yes I would rather install clear cedar bevel siding but Hardie is hard to beat. 50 year warrenty, fire proof, a green product, takes paint very well.... etc.
I only install with a rainscreen or stand-off system. I live in an area with wild 24 hour temperature swings and high humidity and I would worry about condensation against my sheathing otherwise.
Good Luck
Like the other posts said, get the nailer and shears (I use a Snapper), and the laborsaver spacing tools. all well worth the investment. If you can't make up your mind on the nailer, rent one for a day. If you're using the 7 inch reveal with the 1-1/4 inch overlap, the laborsaver is a must have. Besides, once you have the tools, you may get a hankering to do the neighbor's, too.:)