HOW TO
Please
go to the Legal
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Skill
Level
One hammer: Novice
Five hammers: Experienced |
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No
nail gun needed – consider using steel in your remodeling
project
By
Jeremy Vesbach
Building
a wall with steel studs is surprisingly easy. In fact, if your
upcoming remodeling project requires building a new, non-load-bearing
wall, consider building that wall fully or partly with steel
— especially if you don’t own a nail gun. Steel studs
are easily cut with a tin snips and assembled with a screw gun
or reversible drill — little noise, little mess, and no
rattling plaster off the walls with your hammering.
Remodeling
with wood studs, as you may know, is extremely difficult without
a nail gun. Hammering nails is normally impossible for at least
a few if not most of the angles required — and securing
wood studs in place with screws is no easy option either. If
you do own a nail gun, the most compelling reason to use steel
is that steel is always straight, never twisted or warped. If
you don’t own one, the most compelling reason to use steel
is that you won’t have to buy one.
Steel
and wood studs are comparable in price. For the average remodeling
project the price difference between using steel and wood won’t
amount to much. However, something to consider is whether or
not you will have to hang heavy objects from the wall. Screws
don’t have the holding power in steel that they do in wood,
so if you plan to hang something heavy from the wall, like kitchen
cabinets, wood makes a better choice than steel.
However,
even if steel studs are impractical because you’ll be hanging
something heavy like cabinets from the wall, you can still combine
wood studs with steel track — eliminating the need for
a nail gun and the search for a straight wood top and bottom
plate.
Go
to pictorial on how to use steel studs.
| Tools
& Materials |
Drill,
tin snips, gloves, self-tapping screws (sharpies), steel
studs & track, plum bob or four foot level, vise-grips
or small clamp, safety glasses. |
| Where
to Purchase |
Parr Lumber
Go www.parrlumber.com
for nearest location |
| Permits
& Codes? |
Log onto:
www.opdr.ci.portland.or.us |
| Average
Cost |
Will vary on amountof product
needed. |
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