Siding Nailers Lawrence MA

Source: TOOLS OF THE TRADE Magazine
Publication date: November 1, 2000

By Michael Davis

Siding is finish trim. Granted, it's not the mahogany panels and crown molding you'll find in the governor's library, nor the corbeled cornice and facia adorning his roof, but it's a far sight removed from rough framing. Also, siding not only has to look good, it has to be tough enough to brave the elements and, in fiber cement's case, it even has to stand up to fire. So, the nearly invisible tacks and brads you see the trim guys shooting just won't cut it on the sunny side of the wall.

For a long time, exterior siding was a tool industry orphan and manufacturers tried to deal with it by tweaking their framing nailers. Years ago, you'd tell your nail supplier you'd just landed that big siding job. He'd hand you a couple of rubber bumpers that fit over the nose-safety of your framing nailer, telling you that the device made the tool a "flush nailer." Others would pull the driver out of your framing nailer, grind a 1/4-inch off, and return it to you with the same promise. And some would recommend turning your air pressure down to some absurd level and shooting really slowly.

None of these techniques worked very well. You either shot halfway through the siding or left nail heads sticking out. Actually, it was worse than that. In the course of nailing off one run of siding, you'd do both. So now you had to have your hammer in one hand driving in shiners, and a putty knife in the oth...

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