Replies

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 16, 2000 09:24am | #1

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   What region do you live in? What is your current wall finish (smooth, splatter, etc.)? How old are the walls ?

   joe d

2. 
   John_Gregory | Apr 16, 2000 10:27am | #2

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   I live in Oregon. The new home is in Portland. The walls are splatter and the house is about 6 months old. This home is a 2400 sq ft 2 story where my previous home in Eugene was a 1400 sq ft ranch style home. The first house showed no settling, however it was built in s dry spell and I was onsite every day and know how it was constructed. I don't know any of the contruction info on this house (weather etc..). I hope this is normal settling for a 2 story in this area. I have noticed it in a few of the homes we looked at recently in the Portland area before buying.

3. 
   Guest_ | Apr 16, 2000 05:33pm | #3

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   Wait for your 1 year warranty period. (For all the nails to pop) then have your builder come back to fix them. Not difficult to do. Took our contractors drywall guy about 1 hour to go through our house. I believe that nail pops are a result of wood drying out and not house settling. I was wrong once before though. LOL

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 16, 2000 09:19pm | #4

   *nail pops are the result of using nails..there is usually a gap between the back of the drywall and the stud.. then the stud closes up and the nail gets pushed back thru the joint compound..the nail didn't move, the stud did....the old way to fix it was to double nail everything..the new way is to screw everything..drive a drywall screw right next to the nail, pull the board up tight and then drive the offending nail..spackle or joint compound over...

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   Guest_ | Apr 17, 2000 03:57am | #5

   *Wow John, A hit from the home turf. I'm a Portland area contractor who specializes in commercial work. I'm going to tell you that nail pops are guaranteed to occur with current materials and techniques in our area. Furthermore the repairs should not be made until the house has been heated for a year or so. Your house's drywall was screwed not nailed possibly into the wettest lumber imaginable. I say possibly, covering my @s. There is an outstanding aerosol splatter touch-up made by Homax available locally (Roddas, Millers, Dick's). First dig out the mud from the screw head, tighten the screw, mud over the screw and sponge or sand flat, now spray the Homax splatter touch-up. Oops you got the splatter everywhere, better mask off everything around the repair. Now repaint the wall. That's a start i'm a regular here so feel free to ask again.joe d

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 17, 2000 04:07am | #6

   *joe, settle down son, yer gettin the floor wet again.

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 17, 2000 06:42am | #7

   *You looking for trouble again Luka? ;-)

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   Guest_ | Apr 17, 2000 07:46pm | #8

   *Mike is right on nails being the source of nail pops. Lack of good nailing technique (breaking the paper, etc.) can make it worse. However, once you start replacing them with screws, nails hold just well enough so that socking the screw in tight (as suggested) will pop all the others in the vicinity.Waiting for all to pop, yes; Replace with screws, yes; try and pull the board up tight, well, you may end up replacing all of them. You did say it was just a few, so far ....Jeff Clarke

3. 
   Guest_ | Apr 17, 2000 10:37pm | #9

   *Guys i beg to differ,Nail pops should be called fastner pops but they aren't.The primary cause is wet lumber. As lumber shrinks the fastner effectively sticks out further from the edge of the wood board. This can be made worse by using a longer fastner. That is why you should always use the shortest workable fastner for attaching sheetrock to lumber.The pond dried green Doug Fir presumably used to frame John's house is virtually guaranteed to have nail pops.Log in John, nails or screws at your house?Luka go back to your corner.joe d

4. 
   Guest_ | Apr 17, 2000 11:57pm | #10

   *hey.... difernt strokes......i don't think so..i think most NAIL pops around heah anyways.. were a bridging problem...most nail poping (fastener poping ) disappeared when drywall screws came on the scene....when i started , the quality board hangers were double -nailing.. almost no nail pops..then , everyone started screwing and the greater pulling force eliminated a lot of the bridging due to bowed studs or high-low joists..also , a lot of the houses actually got dried- in in those days.. now everything happens so fast not much gets dried-in joe d... i don't think the stud shrinks away from the surface of the drywall... and i don't think the head of the fastener winds up any further from the surface of the wood it is driven into after the wood has shrunk than before ...at least not to the point of a nail pop.. most nail pops i've seen approach 1/8 inch...what i do think is that green lumber has more bowed studs and more bridging problems than KD...but i been wrong before... might be again..course......there is another (small ) problem... we don't dry wall much anymore either... 90 percent of what we do is skim-coat over blueboard... i think the tendency is to use more screws and thus we get better contact (less BRIDGING) more screws because the plasterers don't worry about how many little dabs they have to make to cover all those damn screws....it don't matter so they would rather have their board hangers hang em strong////\hell, son.. it's surely worth arguin about though...i'll be back later to see what u want on that slice of humble pie....hah, hah, hahb but hey , whadda i know?

5. 
   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 01:48am | #11

   *JoeD and Mike S.-yer both kindly right- nail popping (two p's there mikey) occurs as the framing lumber dries, typically during the first year. Screws certainly diminish the problem.As you point out Mike the pops are caused by the differences in studs or joists. (bridging- meaning that the board might be tight to most of the fastening surfaces but stand out in others.) So what happens when the wet goes away and the studs shrink? The board that's tight moves with the studs and "pop" here come those fasteners in the bridged areas.JoeD is building his houses somewheres in the great northwest where sunshine is only a rumor. (heck I'll bet their saws come with snorkels) So it makes sense he'd get more fastener popping 'cause his wood is shrinking more when it dries out.This is a good time for me to deliver my battle cry for the tree saving fingerjointed studs and I-joists that I build with. Straighter, dryer, stronger, don't absorb as much moisture during building- oh yeah virtually no nail pops in the five or so years I been using them...

6. 
   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 01:55am | #12

   *again? When did he stop?:-)Rich Beckman

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   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 01:56am | #13

   *nail pops around here are usually from nails and cheap, high speed "get it done for a buck and run" construction bid out to the three guys that arrive in one pickup with bungeed on tail gait...near the stream,aj

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   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 02:09am | #14

   *> get it done for a buck and run constructionWasn't somebody looking for a company name?Rich Beckman

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   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 02:14am | #15

   *Please check your county DBA filings before proceeding with above company name choice as it is taken in all my surrounding counties for sure!near the stream LOL...aj

10. 
    Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 05:16am | #16

    *Well, at least it's easy to figure out where YOUR problem lies, anyway, Doug.If yer peeing twice on every nail, then the obvious problem is that the nail pops out when the drywall drys and shrinks again.

11. 
    Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 05:40am | #17

    *Guys i'm stickin to my guns on this one. Those of you who know me well, know this means business.Mike, i'll only respectfully disagree with you. Anyone who references Pogo regularly is good company in my book. I've always appreciated your input on this board. So as long as you don't use a sidewinder as your saw of choice i won't dis you.joe d

4. 
   John_Gregory | Apr 18, 2000 08:46am | #18

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   I have only had one come through the drywall so far. It was a nail. I have about another dozen or so bubbles starting, all of which are in localized areas. Nothing bad, I just want to know the correct way to fix them. The builder will fix them the first time, however I sure in time I will be doing some more and I can also keep an eye on the builder and make sure he is doing it right also. After all the guy does close his tail gate with a bungee cord. Maybe AJ does know him, hummm?

   Thanks to everyone for your responses to my question. New to the discussion group, but hopefully I can lend someone some advice and return the favor. Take care!

5. 
   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 09:02am | #19

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   John,

   Was there a faint yoo rine smell about the nail ? If so, I think I know who you should blame....

1. 
   Guest_ | Apr 18, 2000 05:07pm | #21

   *joed....when i started i was a hunnert & 40 lb. weaklin..and i couldn't lift a worm.....now i'm a 160 lb he-man, thanks to liftin sidewinders....but i do OWN a worm.....8 and a qtr Skill #5865...had it about 4 years now... still in its shiny blue box... think i'll show it the light of day on our next house..leave it on the cut bench.. see how the other sidewinders like it....

6. 
   John_Gregory | Apr 18, 2000 05:07pm | #20

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   Just moved into my second home and unlike my first home this one has a few "nail pops" coming through the drywall. What is the correct way to fix them so I only have to do it once?