The Thrill Of The Nail Gun, And Other Scary Things

Trim And I

I learned to use my Brad nailer.

It's kind of thrilling.

There's a lot to it though - not really the pulling of the trigger but setting it up with the air compressor. I had no idea all that went into maintaining an air compressor and making sure you don't blow it up!

So I got all worked up to put some trim up in my powder room. But because it's me, I was so focused on the use of the gun and setting everything up that I didn't check the nail length verses the door jam where I was hanging the trim. I assumed wrongly that J had purchased nails for the gun that were perfect for the project at hand - the reason for the nail gun purchase. They were too long. Discovered by my friend Lisa when she stopped by for a visit this week. She went to close the pocket door in the bathroom and the nails slowed and scraped the door. Terrific .

The next day, I went to Ace (I'm almost famous there for all my projects and mishaps), bought a small pry bar and smaller nails - after I learned I needed to say they are for a gun. I didn't know there were Brad nails that didn't go in a Brad nail gun. The clerk kept showing me regular nails and kept saying, no Brad nails. Now I know.

A few days later I found a few minutes, pried off the trim using the pry bar and a paint scraper. I didn't break any of the trim! I pulled out what nails I could and then used my Dremel tool to cut off the rest. I put the shorter nails into the gun and reinstalled the trim. Then I repainted the door. 
So I'm back to square one in the powder room - kind of. I mean part of the trim is up at least - woo hoo.

After I had the two side pieces up that J stained and cut originally, I realized the top piece hadn't been cut. There are two more full pieces of stained but uncut trim and one not stained. My next gig will be to learn to cut the trim and learn to stain so I can finish the project - putting trim on the outside of the door too.