Is everything getting smaller? or is it poor memory?

I wanted to put a new roof on one of my old hogsheds. It is 14x14, open on the front, and doesnt have much pitch, maybe 12" in 14'The old rolled roofing had blown off last winter, and exposed the OSB sheeting. The sheeting has deterioated from the rains, and swollen. ANYWAY- I went to my local lumberyard this morning, to buy materials.I asked for 1/2" OSB for sheeting, and was told that 7/16", was what had replaced 1/2" CDX, as sheeting, and that they didn't carry 1/2" OSB.I asked their price on 1/2" CDX, and it was only $2.00 a sheet higher, so I asked for 8 sheets of 1/2'CDX. I told the guy that I wanted 5 lb's of #8 common nails. He went to his bulk lazy susan bins, and started filling a paper sack, I had drifted along behind him, and saw what looked to me like #6 nails being put in the sack.I stopped him and repeated that I wanted #8's. He said that was what he was putting in the bag. (I am not going to repeat our arguing here) but I showed him the diameter of a #6 and the diameter of his suposedly #8's were the same size visually, only the length was longer. I then pointed to the size nail that I wanted, and he called it #12. It was the proper looking diameter, but was about 1/2' longer than I liked.I settled for # 12's, and took my materials and left pizzed. 2"x6"x14' runs 1 1/2"x5 1/2"x 14' long. OSB sheeting is 1/16" under 1/2", and now the diameter of nails has shrunk, OR is it just me!

2X"s have measured that way for many many many decades now, and sheeting also.

Nail penny sizes refer to length, not diameter, so technically he was right. Whether or not his nails were any good is another thing; most nails these days are made in China and not worth the box they come in. If you want GOOD nails, find some Maze galvanized siding nails. Lowes carries them, I think. You pay a little more for a quality, made in the USA product, but you'll save yourself a lot of aggravation trying to drive butter-soft Chinese nails.

1/2" OSB is certainly available, but a lot of places don't carry it because of the popularity of 7/16". Personally, I wouldn't use anything less than 1/2" unless going over existing sheathing. The roof on my shop is 5/8" OSB and it is very solid. A lot of houses in our area were built back in the '70s with 7/16" plywood roof sheathing; if you try to replace the shingles without re-sheathing the shingles will blow off in a year or two.

Right now, I'm working on a house built in the '20s. The 2x4 studs are very close to today's dimensions, although they're rough-sawn and so have a little bit more material than a modern stud.

There was a time when three bundles made 100 square feet of coverage. Now it may take four, five, or even six bundles to make 100 square.

Vern, are you talking about shingles? If so, that hasn't been my experience. I've shingled at least a half-dozen roofs in the past fifteen years, and my estimates are usually dead on. Just take the actual roof (NOT the house) dimensions, add 10 percent for the peak cap and round up to the next higher square. I usually have a couple of bundles left over, and this is after wasting maybe a bundle of shingles.

wife keeps sayin the same thing not sure what she means though,
RICK

The house I live in here in NWIA was built in the very late 1800's or early 1900's and it has new dimension lumber with round nails. I've torn down houses built in the 1890 time frame and they were full dimensional with square nails. Four and five bundles per square comes in when you use those thick decorative shingles. Jim

I kind of have an idea, but I know for sure it ain't the belly that's getting any smaller.
Maybe that's good news! What's really happening is just an optical illusion.

I don't think nail sizes have changed. One or both of you were wrong. Do some searching on line and you can find nail size charts. 7/16 has been the standard for OSB for years.

Nail diameter isn't determined solely by penny size, 'common' or 'box' nails have different diameter in the same penny sizing.

8 commons are much bigger that 8 box. Commons are normally speced for framing and box for trim, decking, sheathing or interior work.

key word there being "may", that's the frustrating part.

Most times it's 3, but not always - so you have to search for the info to be sure.

Maybe thinking about sinker nail sizes that are a little different.

If you want true 2"x6" lumber you'll have to buy rough cut from a sawmill. 40% more lumber in it then finished sizes.

Bought some 16d nails last week and they're smaller diameter then the ones I have from the last prodject.

Dimension lumber has been that way since the early or mid 1960's. A 2X6 is 1 1/2 X 5 1/2. Prior to the change a 2X 6 would have been 1 5/8 X 5 5/8. Sometime in the late 70's or early 80's 2X10's and 2X12's got a little narrower and they now measure 9 1/4 and 11 1/4.

As for the nails the penny size refers to the length. The difference in the diameter may have been the type of nail. The nails you bought were probably sinkers and you might have wanted common nails which are larger in diameter. Sinkers pretty much replaced common nails in the early 60's.

7/16 OSB has been available for a long time. It's much more common than 1/2 OSB. IMO either 7/16 or 1/2 OSB makes for a lousy roof sheathing.

The 1/2 CDX the OP bought is probably 15/32. Again, been that way for decades.

3 tab shingles are 3 bundles to a square. Architectural shingles are usually 4 or more bundles to a square. A square is still a square (100 square feet). They package them like that because architectural shingles weigh more per square.

3/8 cdx was an approved roof sheathing at one time. Not a good idea though. IMO 1/2" 4 ply CDX is the minimum acceptable roof sheathing. 1/2" 3 ply will hold nails just fine but 3 ply tends to warp badly.

When shingles blow off it usually is caused by improper installation. You be surprised at how many roofers don't nail the shingles properly (they nail too high). The next most common cause is installing shingles when it's too cold for them to seal to each other or when it's windy. And sometimes they blow off because the sheathing is rotten or delaminating.

Sinkers are shorter
Sinker sizes

Where does the term, "SINKER" come from..what
does it mean?

Don't like OSB for sheathing at all. doesn't hold nails the same as 1/2 inch four ply plywood.

When I had my dump truck a company that I hired onto was putting gravel on a road. It was the super's first supering job. He told me that he would need me for two days, but it ended up taking four.When we got done he told me that he had figured his yardage as it comes in the truck, but what it took to put the depth required on the road was compacted. The gravel got a lot smaller.

I built in 93 and 7/16 osb was not legal sheeting. Only 1/2 was, just the same as plywood. 7/16 was for utilty projects.

Funny, my granddad after buying a box of Box nails because they were cheaper and bending half in old oak said they outta hang the man that invented Box nails.

I saw that too a few weeks ago, I went to buy a sheet of plywood, I knew it wasn't 1/2 inch, but it said 11/32 s above it. I dident know what the heck that ment. Guy walks over I told him I wanted this sheet, he says ok 1 sheet of 3/8s?? I was telling my brother about it, and he said ya they no longer make 1/2 inch 3/4 inch ect! News to me, but the plywood was $28.00 a sheet, give you less and charge you more. As far as nails go, there just china made junk, iv never seen nails bend so easy. I bought 3 peanut butter jars of older nails at a garage sale for a buck each 10 years ago, maybe 1 in 20 would bend if that, nailing in china ones seems like 4 outta 10 would bend!

Lot of difference between brands of nails. Keystone used to be American made and had probably the best nails. I believe they are out of business now though. Some of the other brands now will almost bend in your fingers. Last house we did we shot over 20,000 8's through the nail gun. They call them 8's but we go by the length more than the size. 2/38 is what we want to use. Maze is another good brand. 7/16 OSB will turn in to 1/2 OSB with the first rainfall if you don't keep it protected. We don't put any up without housewrap applied right behind it. I never use it on a roof. 1/2 CDX 5 ply is still the best for roofing but it has to be fir-not pine or you will have a mess also. A square of shingles is still a square of shingles. There aren't as many in a bundle now as there used to be but they have gone to a metric size. Still takes 3 bundles to make a square.

I was always told "sinkers" were the same size nail, but coated with some kind of material that made them drive easier. I've got some, kind of a greenish stuff on them.

(quoted from post at 14:19:47 02/08/13) Where does the term, "SINKER" come from..what
does it mean?

Click to expand...

I'm guessing it's because they are designed to countersink as they are driven. The heads are shaped differently than a common nail. The nails pictured in the chart a few posts back are commons. The head of a sinker is tapered.