How to Nail a Sole Plate to a Concrete Floor

You'll need a powder-actuated nail gun when Installing a sole plate to a concrete floor. These nail guns use blank gunpowder caps to shoot nails, also known as drive pins, through the sole plate and directly into the concrete floor. There are a number of powder-actuated nail guns available, depending on your needs. A less expensive version is a single-fire gun that you must reload each time. The more expensive powder-actuated guns include trigger-fired with auto-reload models.

Tape measure
Marker
Chalk box
Sole plate
Powder-actuated nail gun
Firing cartridges
Drive pins
Mallet (Optional)
Safety glasses
Earplugs

Instructions

- 1
  Snap an outline on the concrete floor to indicate where you will nail the sole plate with the powder-actuated nail gun. Lay the sole plate inside the layout line.
- 2
  Place a powder cartridge into the nail gun's firing chamber. Place a drive pin headfirst into the barrel of the nail gun.
- 3
  Grasp the handle of the powder-actuated nail gun and center the barrel tip 3 inches in from the butt end of the sole plate. Grasp the handle and hold the powder-actuated gun at a 90-degree angle from the sole plate so that the drive pin fires straight down into the sole plate and concrete floor.
- 4
  Fire the nail gun, either by pulling the firing trigger or hitting the firing pin located at the top with a mallet. Pick the nail gun up to inspect the drive pin. Hit the drive pin's head with a hammer, if it's not fully impaled into the sole plate and concrete, until it is flush with the surface of the sole plate.
- 5
  Move down the sole plate about 1 foot and repeat the nailing process. Stagger the drive pin location by moving it from one side of the sole plate to the opposite side each time to provide a secure hold without splitting the wood material.

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