Tips for Working with Concrete in the Cold

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Oct 22, 2022 7:30:00 AM

Not all contractors work in a climate where it’s warm enough all year round to pour concrete without special considerations. There are myths that say you shouldn’t work with concrete in the cold—but the truth is, you can still get the job done. You’ll just need to take some extra measures to make sure the concrete doesn’t end up brittle or cracked.

We’ll show you a few tips to work with concrete in cold weather, and we’ll also show you one of our favorite tools for concrete and masonry work, which is the ET&F® (a BECK member) Aerico® 90 tool and fastener system.


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Topics: fasteners, pneumatic tools, collated fasteners, fastening system, cold weather, pins, concrete, masonry, pneumatic system




What’s the Difference Between Underlayment and Subfloors?

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Oct 15, 2022 7:30:00 AM

This is a question that sometimes results in a little confusion. Is there a difference between underlayments and subfloors? Yes—there is. Do you always need to use both? Often—but sometimes, you can get away with just the subfloor. But there’s more to it than that. Below, we’ll dive into the types of flooring available, which underlayments to use with them, and more. We’ll also talk about the SCRAIL® SUBLOC® PRO System, which is ideal for installing subfloors.


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Topics: Subloc Pro, Construction Fasteners, Scrail Fasteners, floors, subfloors, fasteners, coil nailer, wood, scrail




Home Addition Considerations

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Oct 1, 2022 8:30:00 AM

For many homeowners that need extra space—a spare bedroom, a bigger kitchen, a sunroom, or a larger living space—home additions are worth considering. In some cases, it’s certainly easier than purchasing or building a new home, when you consider the time and money involved. And now that housing prices are on the rise, this is doubly true. Rather than paying a premium for a larger home, many homeowners will be looking to add on to existing homes.

As a contractor, you’ll probably start seeing more and more of these requests from clients. It’s important to be prepared, have an efficient process in place and take time to consider what tools and fasteners you will need for that particular job. For example, for your framing and general construction needs, SCRAIL® fasteners are by far the best choice. They fire quickly and easily just like nails, plus you can adjust them and remove them as you would with screws, making It the most efficient fastener for any project! To help you prepare for home addition work, we’ve explored several factors you’ll want to consider before you begin.


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Topics: Scrail Fasteners, fasteners, Tools, scrail, framing, home addition, construction




Tips to Improve Efficiency on Framing Jobs

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Sep 24, 2022 8:30:00 AM

Framing is a large and regular part of any builder’s daily work. And that means that ways to make this job more efficient are always welcome since efficiency can save time, materials, and potential headaches or framing failures down the road—all of which can prove costly for your business.

So, what are some helpful tips to make framing more efficient? The right tools are a good start, for one thing. We suggest the FASCO® (a BECK member) F70G Joist Hanger Nailer, which is a powerful tool that lets you drive fasteners when you’re hanging joists or other heavy-duty types of framing. Aside from that, there are a few other things you can do to make framing more efficient.


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Topics: Construction Fasteners, Nailers, building, fasteners, framing, joist hanger nailer




How Roofers Can Keep Up During the Busy Summer Season

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Aug 6, 2022 7:00:00 AM

In most areas, summer is the busy season for roofing. That’s when the weather is right to get the job done—even if it means you’ll be taking various measures to keep workers safe in the heat.

As summer ramps up, it can be easy to get behind. Fortunately, there are ways to keep up when summer is at its busiest. The SCRAIL® ROOFLOC®system is one of them. It’s a fastener system designed to fire nail screws in sheet metal roofs and facades, which can make the job go much faster. But we’ll discuss that more below, along with some other tips to help you keep up.


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Topics: fasteners, RoofLoc® SCRAIL®, RoofLoc®, Roofs, FasCoat, scrail, sheet metal, fasteners and the sun, roofing system




Build With Fasteners That Can Stand Up to the Sun

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Jul 30, 2022 8:00:00 AM

You might not think too much about how temperature can affect the materials and tools on a construction site, but it certainly does—and in all kinds of ways. Virtually every building material has thermal properties of one kind or another than can create subtle (or not so subtle) problems when they manifest during sizzling summer weather under the sun.


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Topics: Construction Fasteners, fasteners, FasCoat, fastening system, corrosion protection, fasteners and the sun, coated fasteners, treated metals, treated alloy




What to Consider When Building a Garage

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on May 14, 2022 8:15:00 AM

A garage isn't a part of the house where people always live, but it absolutely needs to be built with the same standards of care as the rest of a home. A poorly built garage can be a source of utility leaks, heating or cooling problems and an entry point for pests of all kinds. You definitely don't want these complications!

Instead, the garage you build should be sound enough so that it could even serve as an extra living space if needed. This is very doable with the right combination of sound construction techniques, tested materials and long-lasting accessories like BECK's SCRAIL® ROOFLOC® System. Let's cover some key tips now.


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Topics: building, fasteners, RoofLoc® SCRAIL®, RoofLoc®, scrail, outdoor construction, collated fasteners, garage, sheet metal




Spring Fence Maintenance

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Apr 30, 2022 8:30:00 AM

Spring season often means the perfect time for outdoor construction. Factors like mild temperatures, modest rainfall (depending on where you live) and increasing daylight hours are ideal. Combine these with a long stretch of time before the next winter's harsh weather, and it's easy to see why spring is ideal for any outdoor construction.

 This applies notably to fence maintenance. This can usually be done with little more than some easy to acquire knowhow, elbow grease and collated fasteners such as those offered by BECK's Fence Stapling System technology. Here are a few key things you need to know about handling this DIY job professionally.


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Topics: Fence, Fence Staples, fasteners, Tools, Fence Stapler, outdoor construction, collated fasteners, gas fence stapler, fence maintenance




Wood vs. Engineered Lumber: Which is Best for Your Build?

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Mar 5, 2022 8:30:00 AM

Historically, builders relied on solid wood for most of their builds. With advancements in technology, however, engineered lumber became a popular material for a lot of different applications—and over the past couple of decades especially, even more advancements have made it so that there is a plethora of engineered products for just about every application you can think of.

So that brings up the question: Which is best for your build? We’ll examine the answers, plus you’ll get to learn about BECK’s Jumbo SCRAIL® Fastener System, which offers extra-large fasteners designed for heavy-duty applications, including large scale engineered lumber projects.


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Topics: Nailers, fasteners, engineered lumber, wood, jumbo scrail, scrail




Steel Frame Building In The Winter

Posted by Brett McCutcheon on Dec 18, 2021 8:30:00 AM

The deep chill of winter can grind many outdoor projects to a frozen halt, and construction is no exception. However, it doesn't have to be this way. Prefab and mid-sized steel frame structure assembly is one superb solution to deep cold. Especially if you have the right tools for this type of job, the entire project can progress safely and exceptionally fast. BECK's ET&F® brand of cold-resistant tools and fastening equipment for steel building assembly, are designed to deliver both speed and strength. They can be applied to steel frame construction work, in innovative ways that allow rapid-fire fastening without having to waste time on pre-drilled holes, or difficult screwing techniques. Here are a few other reasons why steel assembly works so well in winter.


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Topics: Steel Studs, building, fasteners, pneumatic tools, ET&F, steel framing





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SCRAIL®, Fast like a Nail, Strong like a Screw, are incredibly versatile collated fasteners that can be driven with a pneumatic nailer at a rate twice as fast as collated screws and eight times faster than bulk screws. You can rely upon SCRAIL® fasteners to hold strong, without callbacks to fix a squeak or a nail pop.

Give SCRAIL® a try, and enjoy 10% off your first order.

  • Use SCRAIL® almost anywhere ordinary screws are used
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  • Easily adjusted, quickly removed
  • Dramatically increased holding power vs. nails
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