My father has been using a really loud and strong nail gun to mount stuff in our new place that has cement walls. I did some research and found that you should drill a hole and do a bunch of other stuff as safety precautions. The website i found said that if there was an earthquake, the walls would crumble if you used a nail straight into cement. Is this true?I live in an area where we dont even have earthquakes often at all, which is Southern Ontario, Canada, but im still a little concerned because we had one last summer. Also, We live on the 10th floor, so if an earthquake does happen, it would shake a lot more up here. He also has been mounting stuff on the cement ceiling as well.Should I be concerned?
I have been using a Hilti Nail Gun for years To fasten 2 bys onto concrete to fasten Garage Doors to. I have never had to pre drill holes! Couple of times doing this the board split and I had to start over. Trying to pull the Nails out from the nail gun was impossible, I ended up breaking them off> That's what they are designed to do. They will even shoot them into steel beams.
No. Always drill into cement or concrete. Drilling makes a cleaner hole without cracks. When you crack cement, water and get in and when it freezes and melts it expands and contracts, further cracking the cement and allowing more water in. Salts in the water and also dissolve chalk in the cement and water can rust the re-bar if it gets to them. If you think about it, a drill uses a screw to pull material out of the wall. A nail merely pushes it out of the way. Since cement isn't that flexible, it tends to crack when expanding or deforming. A drill hole also makes a more secure anchoring point, since you don't have cracks around it and the spiral hole gives more grip on bolts you wish to put in it. There are lots of how to videos on this, but use a concrete bit and use liberal amounts of water on the bit. This both cool the bit and helps dampen the vibration caused by the drilling.
