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5 Reasons to Find the Best Brad Nails for Your Home Improvement Projects

If you are new to the world to home improvement but trying to get your foot in the door maybe you have made a few recent trips to your local home improvement store. Visiting the paint aisle is overwhelming enough. As soon as you turn the corner to the aisle containing nails, screws, washers, and other hardware you might be tempted to walk out the door.

The number of choices in terms of nails alone is overwhelming, but we’re here to help. Choosing between round wire, masonry, finish, turbo zip, and brad nails is challenging. When in doubt, the brad nail is always a great option. Here are 5 reasons to use the best brad nails lining home improvement shelves for your next home improvement project.

Brad nails can be used for a variety of projects

Brad nails and nailers are typically used to attaching lightweight trim to a surface. They are perfect for projects that require fine detail but can be used by homeowners and handymen (and women) at any experience level. Brad nails are thinner than the average nail and have essentially no head at the top. Brads are used most often to attach small, delicate pieces of trim and crown molding.

They don’t require the use of putty

Since there is almost no head (just a very small one) at the top of the nail you won’t need to spend much time on using wood filler to cover the nail hole. In some cases you won’t have to fill the hole at all depending on the materials you are using. This is the main perk of using brad nails for trim attaching with lightweight materials.

It won’t split wood like a finish nailer

Some homeowners are unsure of whether to use a brad nailer or finish nailer for their project. The main thing to remember is that brad nails are better for lightweight materials and finish nails are for something more sturdy. If you use a finish nailer on a project that should have used a brad nail gun you are likely to experience wood splitting.

With brad nails it is extremely unlikely to split the wood no matter how powerful your nail gun is. However, every type of wood has different splitting properties so you should read up on the material and tool recommendations before you begin.

There are a few brad nail sizes and strengths to choose from

The most common brad nail type is the 18-gauge nails that come in lengths up to 2 inches. These sizes typically range from ?” to 2” so you have plenty of options in nail length.

There are extremely budget friendly

Once you look at the pricetag of a container of brad nails you’ll understand why they are so popular among budget weary homeowners. Brads are some of the most cost friendly nails on the market, costing as little as $13 for a box of 5,000 nails. This box should last you for years; you never have to worry about nail costs setting you back financially.

How to make healthy living an ingrained habit

Most of us realize we could be living healthier lives, but we struggle with implementing the behaviours that would make such a change possible. While it isn’t super easy to do, following a plan others have set out makes the process easier versus trying to figure stuff out on your own.

In this post, we have put together a road map we hope will get you on the path to a healthier you. Check it out below…

1) Put together a smart eating plan

It’s said that hot bods are made in the kitchen – we agree with this assessment, as it is far easier to adjust the amount of calories we intake than to ramp up physical activity. This isn’t to say that working out isn’t important (it is), but the first step towards health for most people is to start by shedding the excess pounds they are carrying.

By figuring out your daily energy expenditure, and ramping down the amount of food you eat so you are in a caloric deficit, you will lose weight over time. Of course, it is important to ensure you are getting enough vital nutrients and to eat vegetables like spinach to keep hunger pangs in check, but if you are eating less calories than your body needs to maintain itself, your metabolic system will begin to draw on your fat stores.

Finally, to ensure long-term compliance to a healthy eating regime, have one cheat day per week where you are permitted to eat any food you desire, so long as you don’t eat more than 1000 calories over maintenance. Exceed that and you’ll set yourself back on your weight loss goals and you’ll feel like crap the next day – so don’t do it.    

2) Participate in a sport/physical activity you enjoy

While a smart eating plan will help you shed considerable amounts of weight, physical activity has benefits of its own as well. It increases your daily energy expenditure, improves your cardiovascular health, and helps to strengthen bones and muscles.

Unfortunately, many feel they are limited to running or going to the gym, even if these activities bore or intimidate them.  Do look into the endless fitness apps to help you on your way. Fortunately, the ways one can break a sweat are virtually limitless – from swimming to playing tennis, we’re confident there is something out there that is both physically engaging and interesting to you personally.

By taking it up, the motivation to keep going will keep you from breaking the habit, making it easy to tone your body and keep your metabolism in tip-top shape.   

3) Find ways to get your steps in

Even if you are too busy to engage in sports or other physically active pursuits on some days, you can still find ways to up your activity level in the run of your daily routine. 

Bike to work instead of driving, at least during the summer. Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. Park at the back of the lot at the grocery store instead of hunting for a spot near the doors. 

All these acts increase energy use over the path of least resistance, making it easier to stay in an energy deficit or maintain your current body weight.

5 Great Health and Fitness Apps

Photo credit –  Unsplash

Need to improve the state of your health? As with most sectors of life, apps have been created to help optimize your standing. In this post, we’ll run down five apps that will improve all facets of your well-being.

1) MyFitnessPal

Know you need to lose weight, but don’t know where to start? Downloading MyFitnessPal is a good place to start, as this app allows you to keep track of a metric important to those seeking to shed weight: calories.

While many apps work well for approximating the caloric content of whole foods like grain, meats, fruit, and vegetables, they often fall short when it comes to evaluating the plethora of processed food brands out there, as well as different cuts of meat or types of bread.

Thanks to this app’s gigantic database, it has very few gaps when it comes to foods commonly found on store shelves across the country. As a result, you’ll be able to keep track of your nutrients, helping you to remain in an energy deficit if you are losing weight, or in a reasonable surplus if you are bulking.

2) Couch to 5K

The other part of losing weight is to boost your daily energy expenditure. Heading out your door for a morning jog is an easy and inexpensive way of accomplishing this goal, but without a plan, you might never make it off the couch.

This is where Couch to 5K comes in – it provides a user-friendly interface which encourages people to get off their duff and onto the sidewalk. It not only gives you a framework to which you can refer (warm up – run – cool down), it provides virtual encouragement via four different ‘trainers’.

Together with statistics which grants ongoing quantitative feedback, you’ll have all the motivation you need to eventually get yourself into good-enough shape to run a 5K race.  

3) Strava

Consider yourself a seasoned runner? Strava provides the tools you’ll need to take your game to the next level. A statistician’s dream come true, Strava tracks a whole host of metrics, from distance travelled to average speed.

This will allow you to keep track of your progress as time goes by, giving you the data you need to seek improvements that may give you the competitive edge you’ll need at an upcoming race. 

4) Sleep Cycle

Tired of not getting the sleep you need and deserve? There’s an app for that too, it seems. Sleep Cycle tracks the quality and duration of your beauty rest, noting the noises you make during the night. 

When it senses you are in a light sleep phase close to your chosen awakening time, it will nudge you out of it, as those roused from this state are far more refreshed than those forced out of a deeper sleep cycle.   

5) Calm

Has the hectic pace of your life begun to catch up with you? Help quiet your mind by downloading Calm on your phone. This handy program guides you through meditations and breathing exercises as it plays soothing music, putting your mind at ease as you wind down towards a peaceful sleep.