Max Voltaire wrote:
"The Mays" wrote in message
...
Have a small storage shed on a slab and need to replace rotted-
out sill plate. The original one was obviously nailed down but my
question is how do you drive a nail through a 2x4 into concrete?
I have access to a Bostitch framing nailer, will that do the job?
or other? which nails?

I'm no pro but I think it depends on the age of your concrete, and
if there is a lot of scrap buried in it. I can't speak for the
nailer, but some people here suggested Tapcon screws and I don't
doubt that they are good (These screws are robust!). But in my
case I wasn't succesful with them. So don't take for granted they
will work.

I initially tried standard concrete nails with an average hammer
on 50 year-old concrete, but the concrete kept breaking no matter
how hard I tried. Then I bought those expensive tapcon screws, but
I must have hit some small stone or something because it wouldn't
go all way through, even if I had drilled a hole before. I broke
my bit trying to screw it. It's the first time that it's not the
screw head that gets all eaten up when there is resistance.

I ended up nailing the concrete nails in the holes I had drilled
for the tapcon screws. The holes prevented the concrete from
breaking. That did the job for me and it holds well. I don't know
if it's a good practice but it was for a shed too, so I didn't
care much.

If the nails held in the holes you drilled for tapcons, either...
1. you had *huge* nails
2. the holes were the wrong size for screws...might be why they broke.

--
dadiOH
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