Building a soffett?

Question

When building a wood soffett in the basement to hide pipes, etc.. if I use 2 X 2's, what is the best way to attach the 2 X 2 's together? Screws or Nails? And then what do I use to attach to the wood joists? Screws or nails? And what type and size. Thanks

Answer 1

Soffits are the perforated sheeting that conceals the truss ends on the outside of your house. What you're building is a bulkhead.

Screws work best because they will not "pop" when the wood dries out, and will keep your lumber joints tight. Depending on where you live, your lumber (factory kiln dried to 17-19% moisture by volume) could dry out as much as another 10% - that's a lot of shrinkage, and screws help ensure that lumber stays where you've put it. As it dries out, lumber will actually slide along a nail, leaving the nail protruding.

Answer 2

2x2s will be somewhat prone to splitting if you use larger nails, but can still be recommended as they are the easiest and cheapest. Try an 8 or 10 penny nail (don't even think of a 16 penny, you'll end up ruining half your wood), but using a heavy side cutters cut the tip of the nails so they are less sharp. This is to make the nail less likely to split the wood. A blunt nail will break the wood fibers, while a sharp one will split them. This is especially important when usin them near the end of the stud.

Screws actuallly increase your chance of splitting the wood if you don't predrill a hole (which can be a hassle).

Answer 3

Personally I would use metal studs, but that is your choice.
However, if you could I would make all my soffit pieces at once. just figure out how big they need to be, make the pieces into a u shape then attach one soffit u at one end and another at the other end then string a line across and place the rest of them to the string lin so that there is no measuring and no mistakes.

P.S. I would pre-drill all the screw holes so that the wood doesn't split


Good Luck
Moskie 257

Answer 4

your walls are probably built with nails. so nails will work fine. i'd say use the standard 16 penny. if you are not good with a hammer you can use screws too, just more expensive and you 'll need a drill