Page 142 - The City and Guilds Textbook: Plumbing Book 1 for the Level 3 Apprenticeship (9189), Level 2 Technical Certificate (8202) and Level 2 Diploma (6035)

The City & Guilds Textbook: Plumbing Book 1

Fixings can be classified into four distinct types:

1 nails – for both masonry and timber
2 screws
3 heavy-duty fixings
4 plasterboard and lightweight fixings.

Nails
There are many different types of nails that are used for a variety of
jobs. It is not important that we know every type of nail but it would be
beneficial for us to become familiar with some types, such as floor brads
and oval nails.

Nails are usually described by their head shape and their dimensions in mm, e.g.
150 × 4 is 150 mm long and 4 mm in diameter. Some of the different nail types
you may use from time to time include:

p Figure 2.50 Masonry nail ● Masonry nails: used for making fixings to masonry. Normally made of
hardened zinc.
● Copper nails: used by plumbers to fix sheet lead. They are made of copper
to prevent corrosion between the lead and the nail and, because they do not
rust, they have a long life.
p Figure 2.51 Copper nail
● Floor brads: used to fasten floorboards. Generally, these are 50 mm long.
● Galvanised clout nails: used for fixing slates and roof tiles.
● Round bright wire nails: used generally for rough joinery work where
strength is more important than appearance.
p Figure 2.52 Round bright wire ● Oval bright wire nails: suitable for joinery work where appearance is
nail important. The head is lost when driven into the timber.

Screws
There are many types of screws available for different applications:

p Figure 2.53 Oval bright wire ● brass wood screws
nail ● turn-threaded wood screws
● steel countersunk screws
● chipboard screws
● mirror screws
● self-tapping screws.

Screws can be made from steel, stainless steel and brass, and come with
a range of screw head types (see the section on screwdrivers on page 77).
They can be coated with corrosion protection such as bright zinc and black
japanned coatings. Screws are specified by their length in mm or inches, and
gauge. The most common lengths used in plumbing range from 15 mm for
fixing copper saddle clips to skirting boards, to 50 mm × 10 mm for fixing
radiator brackets.

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