Seeking advice: Nailing baseboards

I recently obtained a used Ryobi Airstrike P326 16g electric nail gun, hoping to use it to reattach my 3/4” wood baseboards to studs through 1/2“ drywall through my house. (They were all removed for painting as part of the house remodel.) This nailer seems to work fairly consistently with up to 2” nails, but has trouble driving 2 1/2 inch nails fully and usually leaves 1 to 3 mm sticking out. (I adjusted the power to full, and the depth to maximum. And I lubricated all visible external parts with silicon spray. I am using a fully charged and fairly new Ryobi battery.) NOTE: I realize that a pneumatic air gun might have advantages, but my question here is about the possibility of using this electric air gun. I believe that for a secure hold to the studs with 16 gauge nails through 3/4” wood baseboard and 1/2” inch drywall, I should use 2 1/2” nails if I’m not going to use glue. (And I would like to avoid using glue). - First question, would you agree that 2 1/2” nails would be recommended? In playing around with the silicon spray, on a whim I decided to apply some to the 2 1/2 inch nails. Suddenly the 2 1/2 inch nails go all the way in, and then some. But I suspect that in principle, it may not be a good idea to lubricate nails, as it can reduce their holding power. But one friend thinks that using a little bit of silicone spray on the nails might not be bad, because most of the silicon would be removed as the nail goes in through the wood, and so thereby might not reduce the holding power very much. Second question, do you think that it might be reasonable to use some sort of lubricant in order to be able to use this gun to fully drive 2 1/2 inch nails? And if so, would there be a different lubricant that would be better to use than silicon? (And again I want to avoid using glue, as when I removed these they had been glued, and it made a terrible mess with damage to the drywall.) Thank you in advance for sharing your experience and expertise! submitted by /u/ConsciousName1826 [link] [comments]

Apr 10, 2025 - 18:29

I recently obtained a used Ryobi Airstrike P326 16g electric nail gun, hoping to use it to reattach my 3/4” wood baseboards to studs through 1/2“ drywall through my house. (They were all removed for painting as part of the house remodel.)

This nailer seems to work fairly consistently with up to 2” nails, but has trouble driving 2 1/2 inch nails fully and usually leaves 1 to 3 mm sticking out. (I adjusted the power to full, and the depth to maximum. And I lubricated all visible external parts with silicon spray. I am using a fully charged and fairly new Ryobi battery.)

NOTE: I realize that a pneumatic air gun might have advantages, but my question here is about the possibility of using this electric air gun.

I believe that for a secure hold to the studs with 16 gauge nails through 3/4” wood baseboard and 1/2” inch drywall, I should use 2 1/2” nails if I’m not going to use glue. (And I would like to avoid using glue). - First question, would you agree that 2 1/2” nails would be recommended?

In playing around with the silicon spray, on a whim I decided to apply some to the 2 1/2 inch nails. Suddenly the 2 1/2 inch nails go all the way in, and then some. But I suspect that in principle, it may not be a good idea to lubricate nails, as it can reduce their holding power. But one friend thinks that using a little bit of silicone spray on the nails might not be bad, because most of the silicon would be removed as the nail goes in through the wood, and so thereby might not reduce the holding power very much.

Second question, do you think that it might be reasonable to use some sort of lubricant in order to be able to use this gun to fully drive 2 1/2 inch nails? And if so, would there be a different lubricant that would be better to use than silicon?

(And again I want to avoid using glue, as when I removed these they had been glued, and it made a terrible mess with damage to the drywall.)

Thank you in advance for sharing your experience and expertise!

submitted by /u/ConsciousName1826
[link] [comments]