I am looking at using an air nailer to put on my cement board siding.  Last time I tried this with a framing nailer, we had problems with either driving the nail to far or not having them go in far enough.  Since I am blind nailing, I was wondering if 2 inch roofing nails would work for this application?  I think this would prevent the nails from going through the siding.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

thanks,
MC

Here are a couple pictures from one of my jobsites of two pros putting on Hardi Plank.

I took them a couple weeks ago and forgot to post them.  Note the wood gauge to keep it straight and the air nailer in the background.  The air nailer appears to be a standard framing nailer using shorter nails.

QuoteI am looking at using an air nailer to put on my cement board siding.  Last time I tried this with a framing nailer, we had problems with either driving the nail to far or not having them go in far enough.  Since I am blind nailing, I was wondering if 2 inch roofing nails would work for this application?  I think this would prevent the nails from going through the siding.  Let me know if you have any ideas.

thanks,
MC

That's what we use 2" roofing / coil nails with a Bostich gun. Also what Hardi recommends IIRC . Any face nails , under window and up in the rake's / gable areas we use a 7 penny siding nail,  no closer than say 1 1/2" from the edge's / ends , tend to split / crack the Hardi if in ya get to close to the edge's , sort of like pond ice , not safe near the egde/ bank

G/L , PEG

   We built our garage with hardi planking.  
 
  Planking split or corners broke off, also overnailing was a problem when using an air nailer.  We finally predrilled with a small concrete bit.  Then hand nailed.   It may have taken longer this way, but were satisfied with the finished product.

  We have found that air nailers are great for framing, roof decking, etc.  We did have problems when installing shingles and siding.

Hand nailing worked fine, and we did an entire house.  No splits.

BOSTITCH Coil Roofing nailer FTW!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AMK5F/104-0113243-2628716?v=glance&n=228013

Fast and easy, perfect tool for the job. The one I use is older and has a lower profile that the one I linked.

Quote

BOSTITCH Coil Roofing nailer FTW!!

More Aconym's  FTW , FTN , FT (add first letter last word)

F$$$ The World , F$$$ The Navy , F$$$ The (add first letter last word)

I don't quite see your point Pala on this one  :-/ Have I miss construde , or is it construded your FTW?  :-/

Our Bostich guns work much better than hand nailing a whole house of Hardi, my congradulations and condolense's to the folks who have done that

Sorry my World of Warcraft jargon somtimes slips into unlikely places:

FTW= For the Win!!  

As in, "It shoots, it nails, no predrilling; Coil nailer For the Win !!"

A little late on responding (I am a newbe) but I use a finishing gun and put 3 (Galvanized) nails in the form of a triangle. A friend told me about this and he did his house about 7 years ago and no problem. Works Great and one can nail close to the edges if needed.

Well that is by 1 cent worth. (Working my way up to 2 cents.)

Mark

Welcome to the forum, Mark.  

You put groups of 3 every so often?  Always looking for new ideas here.

Hardi plank will love you . They'll never have to worry about a warrenty claim as you have voided it, just like your friend has.

Welcome to the forum , PEG

Thaat shows you how close I've been to a Hardi plank -- the two pictures above.  I didn't even know a paper pulp and cement board could have a warranty. :-/

Funny thought, PEG.  Does the maker of real wood have any warranty requirements?  Good Luck, eh?

Yup

[highlight] FACE NAILING
Corrosion Resistant Nails (galvanized or stainless steel)[/highlight]

6d (0.113" shank x 0.267" HD x 2" long)

[highlight]Siding nail[/highlight] (0.089" shank x 0.221" HD x 2" long)

[highlight]Siding nail[/highlight] (0.091" shank x 0.221" HD x 1-1/2" long)*


BLIND NAILING**
Corrosion Resistant Nails (galvanized or stainless steel)

[highlight]Siding nail [/highlight](0.089" shank x 0.221" HD x 1-1/4" long)

[highlight]11 ga. roofing nail [/highlight](0.121" shank x 0.371" HD x 1-1/4" long)


IMPORTANT: FAILURE TO INSTALL AND FINISH THIS PRODUCT IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE BUILDING CODES AND JAMES HARDIE'S WRITTEN APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS MAY LEAD TO PERSONAL INJURY, AFFECT SYSTEM PERFORMANCE, VIOLATE LOCAL BUILDING CODES, AND VOID THE PRODUCT ONLY WARRANTY.

Link: http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/installation/hardiplank_installation.php

QuoteFunny thought, PEG.  Does the maker of real wood have any warranty requirements?  Good Luck, eh?

Sure they do at least for nailing / installing . Go the the cedar shingle and shake bureau, they all have some thing about installing their stuff.

Just like steel

Well, might as well throw in my 2 cents worth here too. I did my garage totally alone with Hardi planks. It has 10' side walls and a 4:12 roof pitch. I used my trusty Porter Cable framing nailer with the SS nails, blindnailed everywhere. Also trimmed the whole bldg with Hardi dimensional material...also completely alone.
The trick was to make two hangers out of 1/8" X 1" flat steel straping material about 16" long. I bent hooks in the ends and drilled holes up at the top.
First I marked and ran a string line for each corse. Then I nailed the hangers so that the bottom of the hook was even with the marked line and spaced to hold the siding depending on how long each piece was. And I could do a full length piece...can't recall if that is 16' or 12' but could do it regardless. I then just layed the plank into the bend in the hangers and nailed each piece in place...done, no problem. When you work alone, you find ways to do things....sometimes like John says, just sitting there in the early morning thinking about how can I do this next job and what do I need today to do it.
Okie Bob

Oh, I forgot to mention....
After nailing a few nails in each piece of plank, I would pull the nails holding the hangers so I could slip them out from under the piece. Then they were ready to be nailed up for the next piece.
And I did do one thing different than Hardi recommends. Believe they say to over lap each course by about 1 1/2" or for the planks with the flat indention what ever that dimension is. But, I overlapped a full 2". Not sure what that bought me but, figured it couldn't hurt and didn't cost that much more. And my garage is 24' wide by 50' long and tha's a LOT of Hardie material to put up alone!
Okie Bob

When I went to install my Hardi siding boards the comapany instructions stated only use stainless steel nails. I thought the price of gas was high, but those stainless steel nails must be made of gold.

NOW they have revised that to as Peg states;
[highlight]" FACE NAILING Corrosion Resistant Nails (galvanized or stainless steel)"[/highlight]

If I had to guess I would say that company readjusted thier standards so they could increase sales.

I did read ALL the installtion instructions and the waranty information but decided to go with process that was simple, cost effective, and tried.  Almost forgot to add that I had a finishing gun already but not a framing gun (use what you got theory). PEg I went by your saying  on the install,[highlight] "When in doubt , build it stout with something you know about ."[/highlight]

To me waranty is important but if the product is a good product then waranaty is only needed to make the lawyers happy.

Okie_Bob, nice instruction on doing the install yourself. I thought about overlapping my 8 1/2 boards 9" but the boss (wife) did not like the look. (Ha!Ha! - no extra charge for the dump joke)

FYI- Hardie or some company now makes a strap/clip that hangs the board like you coverd, Lowes has it.  

Thanks for the Welcome to your group.

Mark

I just finished my fiber cement siding project this weekend.  There is nothing like standing on scaffolding 15 feet in the air when the wind is blowing 20 mph and the air temp is 18F!  I will post some pictures later tonight of my handiwork.  I couldnt be happier with how it turned out.  If I can promote anything, buy, rent, or borrow a fiber cement siding shear.  It was the best tool I have purchased to date. No dust and cuts over 80 inches/minute.  It saved countless hours.

McLausen, that is great news about the completed siding job. I glad the wind was not at 21 MPH it would not have been safe at that speed. (Ha!) But with wind like like one does not have to worry about dust.

How much did the shears cost? Is the shears bo Porter Cable that look like scissors??

Send them pictures on down.

Mark

 I just read in the recent issue of Journal of Light Construction a way that an installer installs fiber-cement clapboards without caulking the edges.  I lent the issue to someone doing fiber-cement on her place, but if I remeber correctly the installer butted the joints together tightly without caulk and used a strip of metal flashing behind the joint.  The claim was that the joints looked cleaner than the caulked joints which I believe are more standard.

Tom

tc-vt, I used caulk and don't know why anyone would want to do it differently? The way I caulk the joints is to put a small bead of caulk along the joint line then take my finder and force the caulk into the joint and then take a damp rag and wipe away the excess. If you do it quick it hides the joint very well and closes the gap completely. After painting, you have to look pretty hard to find the joints. Be sure to use the caulk recommended by Hardi. Wish I had some pics to post but unfortunately I don't know how to do that on here.
Okie Bob

I put a cut section of tar paper behind each joint and before installing the next board to be butted up to the end of the last board, I would lay a line of caulk on the end of the last board. When the next board was butted up to the last the excess caulk would come out and one would wipe off the excess caulk.  This took a little extra time up front but save a lot of time at the end. To me it seems if one is sealing from the backside out one would get a better sealed joint than for the outside in.   The tar paper did 2 things, if helped in holding the caulk in place up to the joined ends (less caulking used) and if any rain did make it through the joint the tar paper would keep the rain out from behind the boards.  As Bob states the caulking makes the joints look a lot clearing/crisp looking than without caulk.

A Little extra time on a good Caulking job to me is a lot better and cheaper than  repairing water damage down the road.