Fasteners & Adhesives

Jordan Smith is the CEO and Founder of Smith House Company, a design+build firm  based in Austin, Texas. He learned to build and weld while working on the farm with his grandad, and after earning a degree in Welding and Materials Engineering, he spent the next 10 years working in the heavy construction building everything from robots to ships to offshore oil rigs before transitioning to residential construction. After spending a couple of years working with industry leading builders in Austin, Jordan and his wife Veronica struck out on their own to form Smith House Co.

Learn about the effectiveness, strength, and durability of commonly used fasteners and adhesives.

Lesson 1: Introduction to Fasteners and Adhesives – One of the most primary functions of building is making materials stick together—and stay that way. In this course you’ll learn all about mechanical binding (nails, screws, and anchors) and chemical binding (adhesives) so you can build better structures that last longer.

Lesson 2: Nails – Builders have used nails for more than 5,000 years. However, this most basic type of fastener comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, some best suited for structural frames and others used in finish carpentry work. Learn to use the right nail for the job.

Lesson 3: Screws, Bolts, and Anchors – Threaded screws and bolts have more holding power than nails: their threads split in between wood fibers to grip the material more tightly. Jordan explains how they work.

Lesson 4: Drywall Anchors, Concrete Fasteners, and More – From hanging mirrors on drywall to fastening wooden sills to concrete, there’s a perfect fastener for nearly every situation. Learn which fasteners to use, when.

Lesson 5: Glue and Construction Adhesives – Learn about the wide range of adhesives that power modern construction projects and the properties that describe the binding process: cohesion and adhesion. Just don’t glue your fingertips together!

Lesson 6: Epoxy – Epoxy adhesives can be used with a wide range of materials (wood, metal, plastic, masonry, and more) and in almost any situation where you need to stick two materials together (binding subfloors, gluing a detail to a larger structure, or reinforcing a fastener.)

Lesson 7: Tape – Did you know that the windows of many skyscrapers are held to the building using double-sided tape? Learn about the incredible utility of different types of tape in construction.

Lesson 8: Adhesives Test: Lifting a Car – In this bonus lesson, Jordan uses a telehandler to lift an old Buick off the ground with nothing but construction adhesive to hold it in the air. Will it hold?