Andy Hall wrote in message . ..
I have oak boards approx. 150mm wide, 22mm thick and secret nailed.
They have two grooves approx. 6mm sq. machined on the underside, said
to reduce/prevent cupping, and they have - the floors have remained
stable. There is a tiny amount of seasonal movement across the
widths of some boards - maybe a mm or so. They were laid in the
summer and on some, what is normally a 0-1mm gap opens to 1-2mm in the
winter as the boards shrink slightly. I'm not sure that I would have
face nailed them for fear of splitting as you say.

Remember that with most types of oak that you are going to get grain
imperfections and live knots, which is part of the appeal anyway.
If you are looking for "perfection", oak is not a material to use.

For nails, you might try Architectural Ironmongery
http://www.arciron.com/
in Ross on Wye. They have rose head cut nails.

One thing to bear in mind is that you may get a certain amount of
black staining around the nails. This is caused by the tannin in the
oak, plus moisture reacting with the iron.

I wonder whether another option for you might be to lay some 18mm ply
and then float the floor with an underlay on that? It may be worth
researching.






.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Thanks for your comments Andy. I did a bit of experimenting last
night, I tried plugging screw holes and, as I feared, that just looks
like I'm trying to hide something (which I guess I am) but failing. So
I'm going to go with traditional face nailing the boards, I'm
definitely not looking for perfection (reclaimed boards were my first
choice but they're like hens teeth, but more expensive) and this will
be more in keeping with the rest of the house (beams, exposed original
wooden floors, wonky walls - although that's more my plastering). I
found http://www.oldhousestore.co.uk last night, they produce a wide
range of traditional nails and I've already placed my order :-) Now
all I have to do is cancel my hire of a porta-nailer for the weekend.

On another note Andy, I'd read a few of your previous posts regarding
finishing your oak floor, I'm still in two minds over ours. I'd love
the oiled/waxed finish but I'm a little scared of the up-keep (we have
a two year old and a dog). Any comments on how its holding up and how
much re-work it has required?

Thanks again,
David.