Nailing Into Concrete Wall

The wood could be a 2 x 4 bottom plate for a wall or a simple 2 x 2 cleat for some utility shelving in your basement or garage.

Nailing into concrete wall.

Place the tip of the masonry nail against the marking you made and hold it steady with your fingers. My diy way to screw brackets into cement same as brick. Both hex head and phillips head styles are available. Drill a pilot hole into the concrete wall using a drill and masonry bit.

A masonry nail also known as a concrete nail is made of tough steel and designed with fluted shafts that help them drive into concrete without breaking. Hammer the nail into the anchor. Concrete screws come in 3 16 and 1 4 inch diameter in lengths up to 3 3 4 inches. If you expect to be doing a lot of concrete nailing you may want to consider investing in a powder actuated nailer.

Actual gunpowder from a modified 22 caliber shell propels specially designed nails through the wood and into the masonry. The hole should be the same size in diameter as the masonry nail anchor. Insert the anchor into the hole so the top rim is flush with the surface of the wall. Be sure to wear safety goggles when hammering masonry nails into concrete.

Hold a masonry nail against the concrete wall with your fingers. These nails are driven through a board and into concrete underneath much like nailing a wood board to a wood floor. Some concrete nails are the cut nail design shown in the photo with a thick flat shank and a tapering v profile. Choose a length that will penetrate the concrete at least 1 inch.

Masonry nail anchors will hold light to medium weight objects such as furring. These nails are cheap hold well as long as they penetrate at least inch into the concrete and are extremely hard to pull out. Watch our hang a shelf on a brick wall. A concrete nail gun is a dead simple tool consisting of a hollow metal barrel and a firing pin.

Other nails have a thick shank that sometimes has spiral ridges for improved holding power. Concrete nails are shaped like thick common nails. You can use regular 16d sinker nails as concrete nails in an upcoming project where you need to attach a piece of treated lumber to a poured concrete slab or a wall.