How to nail Drywall
The PROBLEM with DRYWALL NAILS!!
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hello and welcome to Vancouver carpenter
today we're going to talk about drywall
nails and where they should be used and
where they shouldn't and where they
shouldn't is most places about the only
acceptable use I can think of for them
is to nail on steel corner bead but we
wouldn't have a video if I didn't show
you why you shouldn't be using them so
what I'm gonna be doing is I have this
little mock wall in my garage I'm gonna
nail all the drywall on and I'm gonna
show you the problems that happen from
nailing on drywall so actually there is
one practical place to use them and
that's on the bottom of your wall the
reason is is it kicks up less dust than
using a drywall drill when you're
screwing off using a drywall drill what
it does the motor blows a bunch of dust
up in the air so actually going along
the ball it's actually not that slow and
the nail pops that are gonna result from
using a hammer aren't gonna cause a
problem down at that level also let's
really quickly get into what type of
hammer usually is used so this is an
actual drywall hatchet and I'll make a
video about why it's like this someday
but the main thing we need to know for
this video is that it has a convex face
and so the idea of it having a convex
face is that it's going to leave a
little bit of a dimple in the drywall so
it leaves the nail just a little bit
below the surface of the drywall without
leaving a big circle like a flat faced
hammer would although to be honest I
don't actually find a huge difference
they both crush the drywall and leave
blisters but let's get to nailing this
on
let's take a close look at these so
these ones in the flat aren't too bad
but I tore the paper a little bit not
once okay a little tear and you can see
it's kind of dimpled in there and so
that's actually sort of how you want it
I would say this one right here is kind
of close this one right here is not that
bad this one right here is actually
probably my best one and when I tap on
it it actually sounds relatively intact
now let's look at these boots so you can
hear it's all loose and crushed and it's
all too common when guys are rushing
that they leave these let's look closely
at a piece of drywall if you look close
you could see it's full of tiny little
bubbles over the years they've added
more and more air to drywall so why I
bring that up is I believe over the
years drywall has gotten more and more
fragile and the reason they added air
it's called air entrained it's like an
aero bar the reason they've done this is
to make it lighter and then also they're
using less product so there's actually
less gypsum going into the drywall so
while the hangars are gonna enjoy having
lighter sheets what this does in the
long run is it makes drywall just
crumbly and less strong the old trouble
when I started out 15 years ago wasn't
anywhere near as soft and crumbly as it
is these days I bring that up because
some of the only people I've ever heard
defend nailing drywall are old-school
hangers and what they say is nail the
perimeter screw the fields so what that
means is that they'll do nails around
the whole perimeter of the sheet and
screws in the field so the field is the
center of it and the theory behind that
is that nails underneath the drywall
tape
blister so this is not true they do and
that's why we see nail pops underneath
tape along flap joints or in ceiling
angles so one good hit
all of a sudden let's listen to the
difference in this drywall so right here
is where I haven't hit it right here's
where I have you can hear that paper is
loose I'm gonna do another hit closer to
the edge so that's where I hit it and
you can see that it's crushed it and
it's made the paper come loose and
that's why it makes the blister sound
now let's go tapping around on my work
that one's not too bad but I was really
hitting it gingerly how about these ones
yeah there's a blister yeah these ones
yep now I don't care how good you are
with nails the fact is I think modern
drywall simply cannot take any hit with
a hammer and even if you're so good and
you managed to get all of your nails
under the tape and just like the one
that didn't make any sound I don't
believe you I think at least 10% they're
gonna be blisters so that is why I think
that nails are not good under any
circumstances when hanging drywall again
the only exception being corner bead
because there isn't really that many
better ways I mean other than stapling
it on but I'm a paper bead guy anyways I
don't actually like the idea of my
corner beads being fastened to the
framing that moves and shrinks and
twists so that is why you'll almost
never catch me using nails when
installing new drywall only occasionally
on steel corner beads if I'm feeling
masochistic enough to use them or on the
bottom plate if I don't feel like
kicking up dust so anyways I hope you
found this useful I hope you understand
a little more wide nails used to be more
popular and why they're not very popular
anymore it's really only the Cowboys
that are doing it these days it just
makes for blisters so thanks for
watching Vancouver Carpenter I hope your
projects going well until the next video
