Building a wall with steel studs is surprisingly easy. In fact, if your upcoming remodeling project requires building a new, non-load-bearing wall, consider building that wall fully or partly with steel — especially if you don’t own a nail gun. Steel studs are easily cut with a tin snips and assembled with a screw gun or reversible drill — little noise, little mess, and no rattling plaster off the walls with your hammering.

Remodeling with wood studs, as you may know, is extremely difficult without a nail gun. Hammering nails is normally impossible for at least a few if not most of the angles required — and securing wood studs in place with screws is no easy option either. If you do own a nail gun, the most compelling reason to use steel is that steel is always straight, never twisted or warped. If you don’t own one, the most compelling reason to use steel is that you won’t have to buy one.

Steel and wood studs are comparable in price. For the average remodeling project the price difference between using steel and wood won’t amount to much. However, something to consider is whether or not you will have to hang heavy objects from the wall. Screws don’t have the holding power in steel that they do in wood, so if you plan to hang something heavy from the wall, like kitchen cabinets, wood makes a better choice than steel.

However, even if steel studs are impractical because you’ll be hanging something heavy like cabinets from the wall, you can still combine wood studs with steel track — eliminating the need for a nail gun and the search for a straight wood top and bottom plate.

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Skill Level One hammer: Novice Five hammers: Experienced

Steel studs can be cut to length with a pair of tin snips. With your free hand squeeze the stud together, rolling it out of the way of the tin snips as you cut through the stud.		The top plate and bottom plate (called track in steel framing) are fastened into place first and the studs placed inside the track later. The screws for steel framing are self-tapping and most easily fastened in place with a higher-speed drywall-type screw gun. However, a standard cordless drill (pictured) also works well.
Once the top track is in place, locate the bottom track with a plumb bob or with a level (as shown). The bottom track can be placed first if easier.		Steel Studs are fastened inside the track with special self-tapping screws (generally referred to as sharpies). A vise-grips or small clamp can be used to hold the stud to the track for easier fastening of the screws. However, as you can see in the picture, a clamp is not absolutely necessary. Fasten screws to the top and bottom on both sides of each stud (four screws per stud).
Framing doorway openings with steel requires a little extra track. The track is prepared for use as a “header” as shown here.		Next the header is fastened in place as shown.
If you’ll be hanging a lot of pictures on the wall and not willing to use self-tapping screws, or your just not ready to give up on wood. Wood studs can be combined with metal track — no nail gun needed.