What tools for basement finishing

[Tom Slick]

General thoughts:

I see RAMSET mentioned a lot - percussive nailing. I just don't know anything about how/where/what to buy though??? I understand the purpose (attaching bottom plates to concrete) but just don't know much about it.

Nailers - I really like the idea of the Paslode cordless - I will pitch that idea and see what the wife thinks. Anyone know if those bad boys are loud??

Also, I understand I need (rather, would prefer to use) a framing nailer - and probably a 15 (prefered) or 16 gage finish nailer - so does that leave the 18 gage out of the picture or would that come in handy too? From my woodworking perspective, I'd find more uses for the 18 then anything else, but I know I don't think like a homebuilder...

Corded drills - I don't really understand what a hammer drill versus an impact driver versus a regular drill - I mean I kinda understand what an impact driver is ... well anyway I was just gonna get a regular ole drill....what are the advantages of the other styles?

Ramsets are available at home depot or at the lumber yard.

Paslode nailers are not any louder then any other nailers

15ga vs. 18ga, or both? it depends on what do you plan to use the nailer for? for just regular interior trim you can easily hang it with a 18ga no problem. some guys in the trade are moving to 23ga pins for basic interior trim, especially if it's stain grade.

Hammer drill vibrates as it drills so that you can drill into concrete and block.
Impact driver works the same way that a tire store's impact gun works for installing your lug nuts except the impact driver is for screws. they are lighter and more compact then a drill and once you use one you will not know how you lived without it. it will drive a deck screw all the way though a 4x4 and out the other side if you want it to.

I do some remodeling work on the side and I use my impact driver far more then my regular drill, especially when framing. it is also much quicker to have both a drill ready with a drill bit and the impact driver with a screwdriver bit instead of constantly switching between bits.

[JimD]

The cheap percussive nailers go "bang" when you hit them with a hammer. Home Depot and Lowes have them. There are nicer ones with a trigger but I think they are treated as guns and so a bunch more paperwork involved, and more expense. They use what are effectively 22 blanks to power the nail - different colors are different strength. The display at the home center will give good advice on what you need. You can even blow nails into structural steel to attach a 2x if you need to. I have just used my cheap one to attach bottom plates and I think I used "green" shells.

I have a "Skil" hammer drill which is a pretty basic one. The idea behind a hammer drill is to cause the bit to slam forward to break aggregate in concrete. If you have to drill holes in concrete they work a lot better than regular drills. If you are not sure you will use it, I would rent one rather than buy it. Better models hammer harder so they go faster to make bigger holes. I mostly have used mine to make little holes for tapcons and for that it is fine.

Impact drivers kind of knock the bit but do it sideways to provide more torque. I don't think they would be much good at drilling holes in concrete. They are reportedly handy for screws and lag bolts. I have a pneumatic impact wrench but not a cordless or corded electric one. I use drills for screws and sockets for lags.

Jim

[jonmulzer]

You want to bore your studs roughly at outlet height. Do you have a drill press or access to one? You can set up a simple stop and make it very quick and easy to bore them. Or perhaps maybe just a simple jig to make a mark and tell you where to drill them with a cordless drill. Check to see if you have locally available prebored studs. Huge timesaver.

You are going to at least need access to a Sawzall to cut out your bottom plates at doorways. Get some long blades that are for wood with nails, handy for demo work. You will also need a circular saw. Use the miter saw with a GP blade for all the cuts you can but there will be some things you can't use it for.

I will also second the others recommendation for a big ShopVac and plenty of halogen lights. Try to get a vac that takes drywall bags.

Don't waste your money on just a drywall screwgun unless you are going to get a collated model. You can get adjustable bits for your cordless drill that will work almost as well for your purposes.

Consider your ceiling before you get started. Hung drywall will look the best but I know lots of people who wish they had a drop ceiling when it comes time to add an outlet upstairs or a water leak develops or whatever. Weigh the pros and cons for each.

I had some other tips I was going to point out but my father called and I forgot all of it, so I may be back.

[Garasaki]

Well I've finally dejunked the basement and begun some construction. Although I'm maybe 1% into the project so far, the following suggestions have been extremely useful:

This may be obvious, but get good lighting. Those halogen megawatters on a stand are ideal. Something likethe one from Northern Tool:

I picked up some 6 dollar single light halogen lights - 2 floor mounted ones then this one:



Which I use pretty much every time I'm down there - it's super easy to just prop it right on a joist and helps a ton.

I picked up a fatmax hickory framing hammer based off some comments found elsewhere on this forum. Very pleased with it, although I am still coming to terms with the ergonomics of it (feels too "long" right now, but feels good when actually in use).

Reconditioned pneumatic nailer and miter saw from hitachi have worked very well. I also picked up a bunch of cheapo brad nailers and a paslode finish nailer - haven't used that yet but when the time comes, I think I'll be glad there is no compressor involved.

Picked up a 6 foot level and am using the heck out of that. Can't imagine not having it.

Just bought but havent used yet a cordless impact driver. Got very frustrating using a standard drill as a driver - I think I'll be happy I did this for sure.

Got to use my percussive nailer for the first time yesterday. That's a fun little tool. Works great, easy to use, makes a big bang and some smoke - what could be better!??!?!?

Just bought some kneepads this morning - only took one day of trying to work on the floor w/o them to motivate me to get a pair.

Anyway thought I might update this for anyone else who might be going thru the process in the future. I'll try to report tool purchases that were well worth it and those that weren't worth the $$ to buy....

[bfrikken]

THe only thing I can really add is when I bought my lumber to finish my basement, I bout pressure treated lumber for the floor. When I went through my local BORG, it was soaking wet on the shelves. I bought what I needed for the floors and a few extras. That way it could dry in my basement until I was ready to frame it in. I had some weights on each end hoping it wouldn't warp as it dried.

[big tim]

All you really need is a Porter-Cable Deluxe Basement Finisher. Harbor Freight has a cheap knock-off, but it's underpowered, so I'd avoid it.

I agree, Bosch makes a better one. Try Amazon.com, they have them frequently on sale.

Tim

[Crash2510]

I would recommend that you build your walls on the floor. Build them about half inch short of the ceiling so they have room to move if your floor moves up and down (could crack upstairs drywall) if it is to tight. This allows it to float up and down. Definately mark everything well check and recheck for square. THe carpenters most important tools are a chalk line a square and a tape measure.

[Garasaki]

THe only thing I can really add is when I bought my lumber to finish my basement, I bout pressure treated lumber for the floor. When I went through my local BORG, it was soaking wet on the shelves. I bought what I needed for the floors and a few extras. That way it could dry in my basement until I was ready to frame it in. I had some weights on each end hoping it wouldn't warp as it dried.

Believe me I know what you mean. I bought my PT wood for the sill plate a few weeks ago - literally frozen. I mean all 4 sides of every board was coated in ice. Like 1/4" thick or more.

I stickered it all in my garage to thaw slowly. It did. I have now started putting it down on the floor - it's remarkably WET still (no surprise there) but very few of the boards (I picked em all by hand so I know they all started straight) have warped.

My understanding is that with construction lumber, you want to install it wet, and build is so that it cannot warp as it dries. This is of course totally the opposite of hardwood. But construction lumber will warp as it dries. Ideally you get the lumber from the yard and installed the same day you buy it.

Saying that, each time I run into town I buy 50 or so handpicked studs from a borg and have em all stacked in my garage. I'm up to 140 of em now. I prefer to pick my own wood and the thought of doing it all at once is too much for me.

[Garasaki]

I would recommend that you build your walls on the floor. Build them about half inch short of the ceiling so they have room to move if your floor moves up and down (could crack upstairs drywall) if it is to tight. This allows it to float up and down.

That is more or less my plan, but thanks for the insight on floating the walls a bit (leaving the gap). I think I'll do that.

[JimD]

I do not understand how leaving space at the top of the wall is necessary. Houses do not have this space. I have built walls short but when I do that, I shim it solid at the top when it is in position. It takes a little longer to cut each stud and then toe nail it in position but I've done that too. Overall I agree it is best to make it a bit short but I would then shim it solid at least every other stud to make sure it is solidly in position.

Your reaction to your percussion nailer is like mine. Kind of like a pneumatic for concrete.

I used 18 gauge for fastening casing to wood around windows and doorways. This only takes a 1 inch fastener and there is not much to the casing so more strength in the fastener does not seem necessary to me. Where I fastened through wallboard, I used my 16 gauge. I did not have the 24 gauge pinner at the time I did the last basement but if I had it, I would have used it for corners of casing (with glue).

Jim

[Crash2510]

I do not understand how leaving space at the top of the wall is necessary. Houses do not have this space. I have built walls short but when I do that, I shim it solid at the top when it is in position. It takes a little longer to cut each stud and then toe nail it in position but I've done that too. Overall I agree it is best to make it a bit short but I would then shim it solid at least every other stud to make sure it is solidly in position.


Jim

Floating walls are more important for houses built on unstable clay soils

Jim take this for what it is worth. The basements of houses built on concrete slabs can sink or heave if the floor heaves from a freak water problem on something else happens. having the walls jammed tight against the floor joists can cause this heave to show in the upstairs and in severe cases can crack the drywall. This is essentially a way of keeping the upstairs seperate from the basement except for the steel support posts. This is the theory anyways.

They make a special connector to achieve this float while still making the wall solid. This same thing can be achieved by drilling a hole slightly larger than a nail and setting the nail tight or slightly shy through the top plate into the floor joists.

[Garasaki]

In some places it's actually code to float the walls.

Just depends on local soil conditions.

[glenns5900]

A framing gun is absolutely wonderful to have. I love the one I have and it saves a ton of time. I picked it up brand new off craigslist for $100 and it is a Dewalt clipped head model.

You may want to check your local building code as some don't allow you to use clipped head nails.

I bought a cheap knockoff workmate table from Harbor Freight and put my mitre saw on it with a couple of clamps. It is just the right height. I also use an adjustable height roller stand for support on long pieces.

Do an internet search on "floating walls" and you will most likely find an article on building them. I will be starting to finish my basement soon and it came with a good example of floating walls where the builder put in the framing and drywall for the stairs going to the unfinished basement. My house is built on expansive soil (Bentonite) and the local building code requires floating walls in basements that have a concrete slab. If I build the walls non-floating then if the slab heaves it could possibly lift the house off of the foundation (not a good thing).

Basically you build the floating wall about 4 inches shorter than the floor to ceiling height with a header and a footer (regular framing lumber not pressure treated). Then you lay down the PT studs on the floor with a ramset or other method as listed above by other forum members. Then you hang the built wall on the first floor joists so they line up above the PT you set on the floor. My walls have holes drilled down through the footer of the wall slightly larger than the diameter of the spikes. A 6-8" spike drops into the drilled hole and is nailed into the PT that is anchored to the concrete floor. The head of the spike floats 2-3" above the top of the footer. This way if the floor heaves or sinks, the PT and the spike float up or down through the loose hole in the footer. The spike keeps the wall from swinging out away from vertical.


======================== Main floor (upstairs) floor joist
======================== Header (attach to joist)
|| || || ||
|| || || ||
|| || || || Studs
|| || || ||
|| || || ||
|| T || || T || Spikes slide through holes and anchored in PT
====0===============0=== Footer with holes for spikes
| | 3-4" gap between footer and PT
======================== Pressure treated secured to concrete floor
------------------------------- Concrete floor


As the concrete sinks or heaves the spikes move up or down in the footers holes.

I hope my crude text drawing helps explain it.

Also, basement bathrooms can be tricky as the bathtub is usually caulked to the wall so the wall will also need to float. If the floor rises it will lift the bathtub as it will be setting on the floor. That can crack the wall or ruin the seal between the tub and wall. You just build the wall upside down for this. The wall this time will use PT for the footer and be anchored to the concrete floor and the wall will float up and down with the floor.

[Garasaki]

That sounds like such a pain Glad I don't have to go to that much trouble.

I picked up a hitachi nailer from the reconditioned tools outlet they have. Couldn't be happier with it so far. Was 200 bucks, came in like new condition, and has a really good reputation.

Like the percussive nailer (my new fav tool), what it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in pure fun