Nail gun for house extensions and reno

The framing gun will split the cypress t & g. Because you are working on the one site i would go for the compressor option. Most people end up with the paslodes because of the nuissance factor of loading and unloading compressor, hoses etc. It might be worth looking at hiring a secret nailer for the flooring.

You will blow the flooring to pieces using any gun. Cypress is best top nailed, by hand - pre drilled. Even secret nailing splits it sometimes and as jiggy said you can hire them. Unfortunatley, you will need 3 guns, but might get away with 2. A good quality framer and and good quality fix out gun. The 3 rd option gun would be a coil gun for the cladding and ply bracing but a framer will do the cladding and you can hand nail the ply. Paslode do a awesome air framer that packs more punch than the gas version and will last forever. They cost about $ 600. The quality of the fix out gun is less important but dont buy cheap crap. $250 - $ 300 will get you a good trade duty air fix out gun that again, will last forever if treated nice. Get the best quality name brand compressor you can afford if you go the air route.

The only flooring to use your framing gun on is ply or chipboard.

Tools

Hi guys.

That makes sense. I should have clarified earlier that the 'cladding' I will be putting up will most likely be greenboard, so no gun required.

As for the flooring, what gun could I use? The flooring I have in my current house has been shot in with a gun. I have also read in places it is wise to use a glue as well as nails.

I would much rather buy a good quality product instead of something that will get me through the one job and then die, unless of course it is more cost effective to hire them (but with kennards prices at the moment, you hire something for 2 or 3 days and you may as well have bought it!). I am also doing work at my house, so if there is a cordless option, I would probably rather that route.

Appreciate the help.

Are you fixing direct to the joists or onto a platform like yellow tongue or ply ? Either way, bostik ultraset is the only glue to use IMO. What sort of flooring is the existing ? I suggest you contact a flooring company and ask how they fix cypress. I have some freshly milled cypress T & G flooring that is not a secret nail profile so I dont know if you can even get it in anything other than standard T & G for top nailing. The stuff I have is 130 mm wide though so maybe the 86 mm stuff is the right profile. Secret nailers are about the $ 500 mark. I guess you could always sell it after. Air only with those as AFAIK

Im fixing direct to joists, which I assume will be a softwood. The house I am in at the moment is fixed direct to hardwood with a gun. Thanks for the tip on the bostik, i"ll definitely grab some of that.

Im slowly coming round to the idea of an air gun. They seem to have better performance, are cheaper and require less maintainence. If I want to use it at my current house, then I'll just have to buy a nice compressor for there too.

Thanks guys.

I face nailed 80 sq/m of 108mm end-matched T&G Tassie Oak into MGP12 joists with a Paslode finishing nailer. It came with a 16G nib and on advice from the great guys and Belmont Timber and Hardware (I get most timber there too) I bought the optional 14G nib and used 65mm ND brads (the thickest amd longest ones my gun takes). The odd miss, but no splitting and 95% of them countersunk perfectly with the adjustable nose. Some required a little more encouragement with the nail punch. No glue. 7 years on and not one issue, none at all. I started the job hand nailing, "Stuff this for a joke" and went and spent the money within an hour of starting. I love that gun. Paid for itself many times over since then.

I'd suggest getting a few pieces of cypress and try gun nailing first with a finishing gun - even hire a few different guns for a day like a finisher and a T Nailer and have a play. If it turns to poo you will have saved yourself some $$$ and can come up with another plan. Maybe even go around a few building sites with a few 6 packs and ask the guys if you can shoot a few nails - cheaper still. Just take a few short cypress boards and whatever joist material you want, and cold beer.

That's a good idea. I pretty much got lucky that my purchase did the trick, and did it so well. But I also wasn't going to go home without an option other than hand nailing. Here's a picture of a rare 'miss'. It's the only time this happened.

Ask your builder to show you his nailer/ framers with a piece of cypress. Free demonstration!! No beer required.

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I ended up buying 2 guns on the weekend. Toolies had a massive sale! It was hard to drag myself away form them...

They had reps from Senco there, and they assure me that their fixout gun can be used on cypress, and the paslode rep said the same. I ended up getting an air framer and air fixout (Senco) for less than $800. They were over a grand off the shelf in toolies so no complaints there! They had bits of wood set up and all so I could give them a go. 5 years warranty too!

Now I just need the extensions to start so I can give them a go... Ah bugger it. Coke cans in the back yard it is!

Thanks again.

"Ah bugger it. Coke cans in the back yard it is!"

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

I'm sure you could whip up a dog house or cubby instead! A far better way to get to know the tools, I think