I’ll bet all you pro framers out there are nailing multi-plies together. Right?
So why is the gang of “pros” on This Old House screwing theirs?
I’ll bet all you pro framers out there are nailing multi-plies together. Right?
So why is the gang of “pros” on This Old House screwing theirs?
Few people understand it. Nobody agrees what it is, how to learn about it, or who's responsible for it. It has never been more important
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Replies
We nail em or bolt em depending on the application. We will screw em when someone drops off the free screws and drivers. :) .....Rik....
Were they screwing them together with drywall screws, or something like Simpson SDS screws?
C'mon, Boss! You've seen TOH on television.
Whaddya think they were using?
Actually, I'm not allowed to watch TOH or anything on HGTV. I make fun of what they're doing, and DW gets pissed off. (-:
When a true genius appears in this world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him. [Jonathan Swift]
Why would you want to nail them and "hope" that they suck together, when you can use the new Simpson screws made specifically for the purpose, and let the screws do the work of drawing them together?
Bob
Can you testify from personal experience that the SDS screw suck them together?
Because if you can, that is a pretty good reason not to nail.
Our inspector won't abide nailing up multi-plies with nailgun spikes. Makes us use either hammer-driven 16ds or SDS screws. I've watched my framer crew have little "multi-ply nailing parties" all happily pounding away, but farting around with clamps to get things tight.
I'll bet we can set them all up on a few horses, all cut and ready to go, and let the helper zip in the SDS screws using a nice impact driver. Zip, zip, zip. All done!
"
Can you testify from personal experience that the SDS screw suck them together? "
Sure can- I've seen them take 1/2" gaps between LVL's and make them suck up tight. And you're right- air-nailers won't do it- if you're gonna nail them, you need to use the good ole manual hammerin' method.
You do have to go easy when sucking the gaps up, though. If you just go hogwild with a cordless drill, you may strip the screws out. Better to sneak up on them slowly.
Bob
Don't know if you're aware, but there are 2 basic reasons for fastening LVL plies together. First is just to hold them together. This would be the case if they were top loaded. (All the load applied evenly across all the plies) The fasteners aren't really structural in this case.The second case would be if they were loaded from one side only, and the load had to be transferred to the other ply or plies. Then the size and spacing of the fasteners becomes more important.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. [Voltaire]