Screws instead of nails for laths

[simibr]

As the title says. I'm getting ready to fit new laths as part of an ongoing I sulfation project. As it's in the attic room, the eaves dwarf wall. I'm concerned about using nails and causing a lot vibration with the roof tiles not far away.

I'd like to use screws but struggling to find a recommended type. (did find one a while back as part of my research, but must've closed that tab )

Any recommendations and links from yourselves ?.

 

[a twig]

The appropriate length of the surprisingly helpfully named “lath screws” in stainless steel should do the trick. Also known as truss head.

A few of the brands claim to not need pilot holes but I would always test that on your particular batch of lath before hand as there are variations in both lath construction (sawn or riven) and in wood type and density.

 

[simibr]

When i search for lath screws I don't find ones called that. Just other suggested ones.

Like this

Lath nails are suggested at 50mm would that be the same for screws ?.

When I'm not a 100% sure on something I like to ask the stupid questions , so I don't make the stupid mistakes

 

[a twig]

Strange, google gives me pages of purveyors.

Definitely don’t get those ones - they are zinc plated rather than stainless steel.

If you don’t mind contributing to Bezos, these would probably do the job:

Stainless Steel Lath Screws, 8 x 1-5/8, Sharp Point Modified Truss Head Phillips Drive (Quantity: 100) https://amzn.eu/d/53vzNoK

Definitely don’t need 50mm, I’d even suggest that those I have linked are perhaps a bit long if your laths are quite thin, in which case there is also an option for 8 x 3/4 on the same page.

 

[simibr]

Greatly appreciated, glad it wasn't just my Google.

 

[Zebra]

I used countersunk BZP (zinc plated), around 20-25mm long, although undoubtedly stainless would have been better. I did pilot the laths.

 

[Toby Newell]

17 to 25mm should be fine. Spax Wirox pan head come in 3x17 and 3x25mm. Not sure if they do SS though. Simpson Strong Tie do modified truss head in SS, maybe contact them, not sure they sell them in UK. Am sure any SS small pan head would do but I prefer Spax or Simpson if possible as they are world leading. I have seen clients screw lath and done a few myself. I would 100% pilot drill and buy a few x10 packs of 2mm pilots. If staining might be an issue then consider using Wera SS bits as normal steel can mar and cause galvanic corrosion. I would also screw by hand with a nice holder and bit eg Wera / Wiha.

 

[a twig]

For some reason I would have thought you were an imperial screw sizing man Mr Newell, to be in keeping with all those magnificent imperial sized floorboards!

 

[Toby Newell]

I was born in '71. I have no recollection of imperial screws. I did study engineering. Also everything on site has always been in mm. Cut nails come in 2in, or 3in but that's about it. Old polishers might talk about a quire of paper, we still say I need a gallon of meths when it comes in 5l and not 4.5 but we really mean 5l, its just easier to say. We also may substitute I need a pint of something again, because it's easier to say than half a litre or 500ml, by a pint we mean around 500ml. Imperial always seems so archaic with it's fractions, yet they built the Saturn V in imperial. I guess when working in thou there is an argument that imperial is actually easier. I think all good machinists use both.

If you are the old screw fetishist, the good troll.

I think it's PTSD. Pre 1930s screws are often beautiful with wide, deep heads and finely machined slots but uncoated, rusty and difficult to remove. Post WW2 esp. 50s -80s saw cheap, rubbish screws from the far east which look crap and are just as difficult, if not more to remove. So no love for older screws.

I love modern screws because they are insignificantly small, yet powerful and engineering has transformed them. Before the 1980s framers just used nails, you were looked on as a madman if you used screws. Nails were for construction and screws simply for fixing things to things.

Even these days a lot of old carpenters frown on screws because they don't know how they have changed. Simpson Strong tie sell torx screws for all their hangars. You can build a house with zero nails.

Old screws were not tempered but had massive heads, cheap eastern screws were made from poor steel and thinner heads so could snap. High quality screws are made from better steel and high tensile are tempered so they don't snap.

I was one of the first people in the UK to use the 3.2mm T10 lost head screws, now everyone uses them. No need to hire a portanailer, you can secret nail using screws. I've used tens of thousands of them. I still have 3kg of cut nails slowly rusting way in a box somewhere. Good riddance.

 

[Toby Newell]

Fixings and adhesives have been the prime movers in building engineering in the last few decades, maybe with polymer foam.