The greatest nail ever made

[jraabe]

We take them for granted - nails are nails, right? The December, 2006 issue of Popular Science (p. 41 & 106) will open your eyes to a simple solution that will save billions of dollars over the next few years. This is a story about a builder/engineer who has reinvented the nail to provide nearly double the protection against the destructive forces of hurricanes and earthquakes.

For a cost of about $15 more for a 2000 sf house this is by far the cheapest insurance you will ever find for disaster preparedness. The company is making these nails as fast as the factory can pump them out. Currently they are available only in the Gulf states.

Check with your supplier and ask for "HurriQuake" fasteners.





See the Manufacturers slideshow here - http://www.bostitch.com/xhtml/interactive_hurriquake/hurriquake_show.html

The downside is that they are designed for power nailers and they are no fun to pull out.   - So, you better have that window in the right place.  

[jraabe]

These nails, when proper testing has been done, should allow for simpler shear walls and home bracing for racking resistance.

It will take the engineers a few years to get up to speed but we can use them right away to make buidlings stronger and longer lasting.

I guess you can tell that I think this is a pretty good idea!   Doing more with less - the only kind of true progress!

[glenn-k]

From some of the writings of Ken Kern, I have already been using screw nails or ring shank nails in nearly everything as they hold about 9 times better than straight nails.  These look even better.

[MikeT]

I have tried to find a retail supplier here in Portland, OR but have come up empty.  I will keep trying but if anyone gets any leads, let us know.  The video on the site is very interesting.  Until this post, I hadn't even thought that I needed to do anything more than standard nails.  Now I know better.

Thanks,
mt

[MikeT]

So I contacted Home Depot who contacted Bostitch about these nails.  Available through HD via special order BUT they only work with one model of the Bostitch nailers, or so they told me.  

I think Glenn's comment of using the shank nails or screw nails might make sense if one were not interested in buying a specific nailer for this one nail.  I do not think I am interested.

mt

[jraabe]

Good information, Mike. Thanks for running that to ground. Buying a new nail gun certainly ups the cost of the protection.  

Ring shank nails are much better than hot-dip galvanized and HDG are better than electroplated. All of these nails are better at withdrawal resistance. I don't know for sure if they add much resistance to shear forces

Here is a good report on building roofs for wind resistance:
http://www.blueprintforsafety.org/windretrofit/wrkeeproof.aspx

Here is some interesting information on nails with good photos - this dealing with the construction of pallets.
http://www.nwpca.com/PDS/FastenerSpecifications.pdf

[glenn-k]

Senco makes some very nice ring shank galvanized 10d nails that won't leave streak stains on natural wood.  They lock into the old creosote treated posts on the RV garage so tight that the 2x4 braces ripped out and left the nail in the post when I removed the temp braces.

A bit expensive but available at Home Depot by the air tools.  They run in any 21 degree framing nailers - the most common ones.

[sherab]

If you have a little time to kill, here's the patent on it the HurriQuake nail.
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPAT6758018&id=P2IQAAAAEBAJ&dq=6,758,018

Julian

[glenn-k]

I just found out about the Google patent search yesterday, Julian.  Looked up an old Tesla patent.

[Dimitri]

Will these nails be avalible to guys like me that perfer the hammer method over the nailer method ??  :-/

Dimitri

[jraabe]

That would be a question for the Bostich folks. No reason they couldn't be hand driven that I can see.

[Dimitri]

Well when I am in a position I can start building my small house (not for a few years  ) I'm definatly gonna email them, if they hold up through high winds and the like they will do just fine for ice stroms and the like.  

Dimitri