I want to mount a pegboard tool holder on a concrete wall. It will simply be 1 x 2 furring strips and pegboard.

All the how-to articles I read use a hammer drill and then insert masonry screws. None of them mention Hilti-type concrete nail guns. The nail gun option seems more intuitive to me since it avoids hassles with breaking drill bits etc.

Which is the best tool for this job?

 

Which tool do you have? If you need to buy one or the other, I would go with the hammer drill and Tapcon screws. Both methods will work fine but you will find more use for a 1/2" hammer drill in future than a hilti gun in my opinion.

 

Neither - I'd borrow one or the other from a buddy who has both. So assuming I want the most appropriate tool for this one specific job, should I assume the concrete nail gun is easier since I don't need to drill holes and then go back and put in screws? Seems nail gun gives me a single step process. Again, I have no actual clue, but I was curious because all the articles use hammer drills.

 

The thing about powder actuated nail guns is that you have to hit on the right combination of load, pin length, density of concrete. Sometimes the nail will blow right through the board and split it, sometimes it will not sink in and stand proud of the wood. Cement blocks are soft and holding power may be iffy. I suspect you really want to play with that nail gun and make some noise so yeah, go for it. I would lay a bead of construction adhesive under each furring strip though.

 

toolmon is right about the nail gun splitting the wood. ESPECIALLY since you are putting on 1x2's. If you would predrill the 1x2 and then use a low power load and nails that have washers, then MAYBE you would get away with it.

But IMO I would definitely just use 1/4 x 1 3/4" tapcons. it really is not that hard to do... especially if you can have one drill to keep the drill bit in, and one drill (an impact) to drive the screws. Just try and learn to take your finger off the trigger as the screw gets tight. An impact will strip the screw otherwise, especially in block.

I also think you would have trouble getting a powder driven nail to stay in the block. And I agree that a little glue under the furring is a good idea.

 

toolmon - Really interesting point about having to hit the right combination of those variables. I'm gonna give it a play in a section which won't make my house come down if I mess it up. Great tip on the construction adhesive.

 

XSleeper - Thanks for your tips as well. Regarding your point about having trouble getting a powder driven nail to stay in the block - are you referring to the 1x2s or the concrete itself? Whichever it is, how come?

 

Cement blocks have thin walls. When a .22 cartridge fires the nail and the nail penetrates the hollow portion of the block, it blows out the inside of the block around the nail. So if you happen to nail into the hollow part that is only about 1" - 1 1/4" thick and half of that chips away, there just isn't much holding power.

If you can always nail into just the mortar joints that would be better. You really don't want to nail to the cement block if you don't have to.

 

I was just going to say...but matthew brought it up himself. Where did block get into the conversation? He said concrete walls...I assumed it was poured concrete?

I've attached furring strips and full 2X lumber to both block and concrete.....a powder gun is great for the concrete after you determine the load and use the right nail. To prevent most blow through, use nails with the washer attached and that will penetrate about 1- 1 1/2" into the wall. I used 3" and a #4 (yellow) load in my single shot Remington to attach 2x6 framing to 100 y/o poured concrete and it worked just fine. I did get one or two that were a bit proud from the wood (because I didn't hold it tight) but a few whacks with a 3lb drilling hammer set them flush. I also used the 3" with #3 (green) loads to attache 2x4 with adhesive to block and they are holding well. A bit of blowout on the back part of the block in the hollow space....but just a thin disc...no cracking. Once the adhesive set, they weren't going anywhere.

The problem I've had with tapcons is the drilling. You can't wiggle around or enlarge the hole at all or they don't hold...and if using any sort of power driver (as mentioned) you have to be very careful not to overtorque or they will strip out. Snug is all it needs. I just don't like all the pre-drilling of the wood and the wall...very slow even with 2 or 3 tools (hammer drill for the masonry, reg drill with wood bit, impact driver) ...if you are doing more than a few.

 

good point... for some reason I was thinking about CMU.

 

We've had cable installers in the current project at work try to use the powder nail guns to hang wires for J-hooks from old post-tension concrete trusses, and many of the attempts resulted in blown-out concrete holes.

Granted, these trusses are probably upwards of fifty years old.

They ended up switching to the hammer drill and hammer-drive concrete anchors. I've used them on concrete walls to mount time clocks and they seem really solid even when the clock is pushed and pulled on in its daily use.