Building a deck and would rather nail then screw it together. Renting a nailer is $40-$50 a day, might need for 3-4 days.

Buy a good ome for $250+ at Lowes/Home Depot or buy one from HarborFreight for under $100?

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=93910

I really prefer my porter caple to really any framing gun that I have used, you could always sell it on e-bay when you are done. But personally I have not hand driven anything larger than a picture hanger for about 10 years. With the right nailer the job goes so much better.

Depends on how long you plan on keeping your deck/ living in that house. If you really want it to last a long time (if you are using pressure treated) you must use hot dipped galvanized nails. They can only be applied with a hammer and a lot of elbow grease. They are not available for nail guns, simply because they are individually dipped. Anything else will rust to dust in no time at all.

I'm not familiar with Harbor Freight products. I don't know if that would be a reliable nailer.

If you do decide to go out and buy your own nailer, you will want one where you can control the depth.

On decks, most of the frame is done with nails. The decking surface however, is better with screws. Are you also doing the decking surface with nails? If you do decide on that HF nailer and are nailing the deck boards, that nailer won't be good because it has no depth adjustment.

If you are going with a composite decking surface, you can also use deck clips. There are no surface nail or screw lines showing with clips, other than your first board. (Clips aren't good for wood deck surfaces)

If you feel you may have other projects coming down the road, it may be worthwhile buying your own nailer. Maybe with your own nailer, you will create more projects.

Do you have a decent compressor that can power a framing nailer?

You can get hot dipped galvanized framing nails for nail guns.

If it's in the budget, stainless steel nails are better.

But, you're right. All exterior nails must be dipped galvanized or stainless steel.

Madman is right, consider screwing the top surface. I build a 350 sq ft deck 2 years ago, this year I had a couple of boards that were damaged it made it so easy just to apply a screwgun and replace them.

Go with the screws.... your boards won't pop up later. Sure it's a bit more work, but definately worth it.
Oh, and I know two people with the HF nailers who say they work fine.

Yeah, screws would be better but dayum, thats a lot of screwin'!

Wish they had screw guns like they have nailers.

Yeah, it's more work, but if you don't do it, you will have more work for yourself down the road in the form of repairs. Especially if you go with a wood deck surface.

You never mentioned.... What are you using for the deck surface?

THEY DO!!!!

Meet me in Nashville on Friday, and I'll let you borrow mine. It's battery rechargeable. I have a bucket of screws you can HAVE, too... I bought mine when I was doing a lot of exterior siding. I used cement fiber board, and wanted to screw it on instead of nailing. Screws are 2" long, if I remember correctly.

Find the nail gun that you want. Then two words. Pawn Shop. In fact I recommend buying all of your tools at pawn shops. You'd be amazed at how many contractors turn into meth heads and sell all their shit for their next fix.

Axle

LOL our problem is meth heads stealing contractors stuff and selling it at the pawn shops.

Thanks for the offer but 5 hours of driving isnt worth it.

Wood.
I was going to use rink shank nails which would keep the wood in place much like a screw. I could still use the nailer on all the cross members though. Still save a lot of effort.

Need to find one of those screw sleeves for a drill. That should help.

I'll check that out.
I've always sold stuff there, never bought.

I suppose it could go either way. I bought a Milwakee 18V Trim saw/drill/sawzall combo with charger and battery for only $175 at a pawn shop recently. A little worn but still works just fine for me. I also found a Husqvarna 455 rancher chainsaw, brand new never even had gas or oil in it. Picked that one up for only $250.

Axle