how do i get rid of nail pops (nails protruding) on my walls?

Question

I'm getting ready more walls in side my house, in certain areas i am seeing what looks to be nail heads below the old paint about ready to poke through the walls. My house was built in the 80's so i think back then builders used nails instead of screws.Anyway some are quite noticable and others are slightly noticable,i would at least like to get rid of ones that show too much.

Answer 1

When you hammer the nail head in, hit it enough to drive it a bit deeper, to "dimple" it. Sand the nail top and a 1 inch circle. Spackle with Dap pre-mixed filler. Let dry. sand with fine paper. You may want to use Kilz to seal the new spackle, then paint it the same color as the wall.

Even if you saved your wall paint, there is a good chance the paint on the wall will be lighter. Paint a piece of paper as your own paint chip. Let it dry. Check it against the wall color. You can mix a bit of white paint to match the shade. Do that in very small batches.

Answer 2

All of your answers have some good and not so true statements. Kilz will make the paint that you apply on top of it shine. Bad plan. Just an ordianary drywall primer would suffice. Wood does shrink as your home dries, this is true but nail pops are also the result of the the board not being sucked up tight against the framing at installation an often a bad nailing pattern or too few nails. Otherwords- pops are avoidable. sink the nails with a hammer, preferably a drywall hammer (it is shaped like a sphere). Set the nail till it is fairly solid when hit. Mud it over with drywall mud (not spackel- too hard to sand) using a 4-6 " drywall knife. May take 2-3 coats depending upon how deep you have to set the nails. Sand the spots and apply the drywall primer to spots. Your ready to paint.
Additionally , if they are screws they will not hammer easily as was mentioned, you will have to dig out the philips head and turn the screw with a screwdriver. As well, if the drywall board is not sucked up to the studs it is likely that in doing these repairs , the nail pops will appear again. It would be indicated if that were the case to nail off the board using pressure on it to press it to the framing but this would be a much larger project at that point.
Good Luck.

Answer 3

"Nail Pops" as they are referred to happen when drywall is nailed on. That's one reason that screws are used now a days. There is movement in that wall that is causing them. Chances are if you nail them back in they will come back if the movement isn't stopped. Movement can come from climate change. But it can also come from the wall being on the sun side of the house or there is a door on that wall that gets slammed often. So my advice is to use a nail punch to reset the nails. Then get some 1 1/4" drywall screws and put them in the middle of each nail pop. Tighten them just until they are slightly below the surface. If you drive them to deep you go past the paper face of the drywall and you loose the holding power. Then patch the holes an paint. Don't use a light weight patch or the repairs will be more visible.

Answer 4

if they are screws, you won't be able to hammer them in easy. and as far as rob123's answer goes, nail pops happen because the wood shrinks after it is up in your house, sheltered from the weather it drys and shrinks. and screws can pop, too, it happened to me in my house. they are cutting and selling wood so fast and the home improvement stores don't always keep it out of the weather so it is wet when you buy it. also, someone else suggested kilz primer on the repairs, it will give your paint job a sheen where you patched the walls, you're better off spot painting the repair and then painting the walls the next day. kilz is a shellac and it is shiny when only painted once. i know about wall shrinkage because i see it often in new construction and remodels, when siding unhooks between the floors from it. the siding company's even make special repair clips to fix it, instead of taking down the whole wall of siding to fix it. now, to fix the pops, set the nails with a punch, then you just have to spackle a little hole. if they turn out to be screws, just push a phillips head bit into the center of the pop and turn until it is tight, then fill with spackle. no sense making a 1" dent in your walls, unless the compound is breaking out of the nail covering, but then you would already have a 1" hole in the wall. well, hope this helps, good luck.

Answer 5

They still use nails, all you need to do is pound them back in, if you have textured walls you may need to get some texture spray to cover it, if they are smooth walls use spackle to cover them after you reset them. Don't leave the head exposed or it may rust making your newly finished wall look bad.

Answer 6

Are they showing on the walls inside your home?If they are,you could probably cut it off and mud it,sand it a few times apiece and use the same paint ........Or if you're talking of removing the nails and replacing them with screws on the outside of your home,you may have to ask a professional at Home Depot or something.

Answer 7

the most convinient way is to use sealer to cover up the thing. there are varies range of sealer avaiable in the market.