I had a house today with metal framing. I was not impressed. Sheathing was coming loose all over the place, which was also seen outside where the shingles were buckling in straight lines 4 ft up and down or 8 ft across where edges of sheathing were lifting up.
In the attic I observed that the roofers had used their standard nails to attach plywood sheathing to the metal framework. It is my understanding that only screw should be used with metal framing. But I have not built with metal before. My research on google did not turn up much.
Anyone here have experience using metal instead of wood for attic structure?
From what I could find online, only screws are to be used with steel framing, not nails, which seems like common sense to me.
Bert, please post of what it looked like from the outside. Thanks!
Yes, screws are to be used because there is not enough material around a nail when nailed into thin sheet of metal to provide enough pull out strength especially long-term as things move and the holes around the nail get looser.
Marcel, the actually used nails, not screws. Nails in a dozen sheets of sheathing are already pulling out and pushing up on shingles. Crazy. They needed a screw gun like you had.
They make a special nail for installing plywood to metal studs with these guns. I’ve used them in the past and they don’t pull out.
At the very least, they could of at least center the plywood joints on the framing and used those wafer head tek screws. Hard to tell what they used, but obviously needs repair by the appropriate tradesman.
Not a big fan of residential metal framing. All to often it’s improperly installed. Not enough fasteners. Poor connections, etc. Here’s one I came upon last year. It’s a crawlspace photo of metal used in a basement sub-floor. Excessive moisture caused the OSB to buckle and forced the metal to buckle/fail.
My buyer decided not to get the house. He is shopping for another and he says he will definitely get me to inspect the next one.
The roof leak into the front wall going all the way down to the hardwood floor in the dining room was the big issue.
I try to find at least two major defects on every inspection. If the first unfixable defect doesn’t kill the deal, I have a back-up life threatening defect to put the client on the path to a second inspection fee on a different house. It’s called cash flow.
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