Reading an old trade journal and found a surprising number about framing nails

I was going through some old Fine Homebuilding issues at the library and saw a stat from 1998. It said the average house back then used about 8,000 framing nails. I checked a current article, and for a similar size house today, it's closer to 12,000. That's a 50% jump. I guess it's because of more complex designs and stricter codes needing more connections. Makes you think about how much material we go through now. What's the biggest change in material use you've seen on your jobs?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan_craig2mo ago

Wild. Wonder how much of that is just nails getting shorter and thinner now. More nails doesn't always mean stronger, just more work.

lucas_mitchell142mo ago

Totally see what you mean. I bought some cheap nails last month that bent like paper clips. Had to use three times as many just to hold a basic shelf up. Felt like I was building a toothpick fort instead of doing real work. Makes you wonder if they're just making them weaker on purpose so we buy more boxes.

the_susan2mo ago

Yeah, the "toothpick fort" comment is spot on. I swear some of the nails I've seen lately feel like they're made out of recycled soda cans. You end up using a handful where one good one should do, and the whole box is gone before you know it. It's like they're counting on us wasting half of them just to get the job done right.