ississauga wrote:

I have started installing 3/4" hardwood for my customers on a daily
basis.

Since the first and last boards cannot be stapled with the big angular
machines like the Bostitch MIIIFS how do you do this? Manuals I read
say nail to the face of the hardwood strip and countersinking the
nails/screws. While I saw a seasoned installer affix 18 gauge brad
nails because I guess that is much faster. Are there better methods
and what are they?

If there is going to be a baseboard and shoe installed, which would
cover 1" to 1-1/2" of the flooring up to the wall, face nail the first
and last board within that allowance, so that the baseboard and shoe
will hide the face nail heads. Don't forget to leave the flooring
recommended expansion gap at the wall.


One method I tried is to put brad nails to the tongue. But when I try
to put 18 ga brads to the tongue the brads only go in properly half
the time, rest of the brads don't go in all the way.

Another question is, what tool to use to cut off the 3/4" vertical gap
at the bottom of door trim so the hardwood strip can squeeze in under
the trim?

They make a special saw to cut off the bottom of trim. The blade lays
flat on the floor material and the handle is doglegged so that your hand
is off the material. Just lay a scrap piece of the floor material up to
the trim so that you get the proper height of the cut, and saw off the
trim flush with the floor piece.
__________
|_handle__|
\_________________ blade flat on floor material piece.

Pick one up at HD, Lowes, or a hardware store. They're fairly cheap. I
forget what it cost for mine.