What are the pros and cons of each? We will be using pneumatic
equpment. Which make/model of nailer/stapler do you recommend?

I am working with an experienced hardwood floor layer and will be
working on many new and old homes, he has only worked with a pneumatic
stapler.

Though timber floors are not my Forte in life, I thought you should not
nail timber flooring down ?

Am I wrong ?

On 13 Sep 2004 01:38:19 -0700, (ississauga)
wrote:

What are the pros and cons of each? We will be using pneumatic
equpment. Which make/model of nailer/stapler do you recommend?

The hot ones in my area are Porta-Nails and Bostich. I've seen guys
using staples or flooring nails. This is for hardwood strip flooring,
other types of floors require different methods.

Barry

ississauga wrote:
What are the pros and cons of each?

I can only tell you that nails - serrated cleats, actually - hold extremely
well...almost impossible to get out.

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"ississauga" wrote in message
om...
What are the pros and cons of each? We will be using pneumatic
equpment. Which make/model of nailer/stapler do you recommend?

I am working with an experienced hardwood floor layer and will be
working on many new and old homes, he has only worked with a pneumatic
stapler.

My experience with the Bostich staples is that they hold well. The wire is
fairly fine (16 ga?) allowing for extra fasteners to assist pulling in
bowed pieces without splitting the tongue off. FWIW, I used a deadblow
mallet with it.

The whole point of a floating floor is to allow for expansion and
contraction of the timber. timber floors will expand / contract about 2mm
per metre, ( in UK weather, may be more in more variable climes ) so with a
modest room of say 4m length of board an 8mm expansion is to be accomodated.
This can not be done by nailing the boards down and will result in the
boards lifting / twisting.

The creaking noise normally stops after a while, once the floor is " bedded
in"

David Hicks wrote:

The whole point of a floating floor is to allow for expansion and
contraction of the timber. timber floors will expand / contract about 2mm
per metre, ( in UK weather, may be more in more variable climes ) so with a
modest room of say 4m length of board an 8mm expansion is to be accomodated.
This can not be done by nailing the boards down and will result in the
boards lifting / twisting.

The creaking noise normally stops after a while, once the floor is " bedded
in"

It depends a lot on how closely the climate is controlled in the house, too..
But normal T&G wood flooring is nailed. The boards are put down with
just enough space between them to allow for seasonal expansion. I suspect
that the point of the "start like a floating floor" suggestion is that it gives
the wood (which probably was milled, partially kiln-dried, stored outside,
and then shipped) a chance to get to something near its expeted moisture-content

in place, so the it wont shrink after being nailed down and leave 1/8" cracks
between every board. Personally, I'd be a little hesitant to drive flooring
nails over a subfloor heating system, anyway.

I stapled my flooring down as tight as I could get it in June and July
in Atlanta. KD select oak. The floor is fairly gap free 6 years later
but gaps have opened up. RH on the cheap thermometer is about 50% now
and it dips a bit lower in the winter. Conditioned air all the time.
Only about 2 months a year that either the heat or air is not running.

default wrote:



David Hicks wrote:

The whole point of a floating floor is to allow for expansion and
contraction of the timber. timber floors will expand / contract about 2mm
per metre, ( in UK weather, may be more in more variable climes ) so with a
modest room of say 4m length of board an 8mm expansion is to be accomodated.
This can not be done by nailing the boards down and will result in the
boards lifting / twisting.

The creaking noise normally stops after a while, once the floor is " bedded
in"

It depends a lot on how closely the climate is controlled in the house, too..
But normal T&G wood flooring is nailed. The boards are put down with
just enough space between them to allow for seasonal expansion. I suspect
that the point of the "start like a floating floor" suggestion is that it gives
the wood (which probably was milled, partially kiln-dried, stored outside,
and then shipped) a chance to get to something near its expeted moisture-content

in place, so the it wont shrink after being nailed down and leave 1/8" cracks
between every board. Personally, I'd be a little hesitant to drive flooring
nails over a subfloor heating system, anyway.

Lots of good advice from this supplierl....

http://www.broadleaftimber.com/

See "Technical Information" - "Floors" then links on the left.

Specifically on fixing....

http://www.broadleaftimber.com/floor...icalinfo4.html

and

http://www.broadleaftimber.com/floor...icalinfo5.html

with UF heating

http://www.broadleaftimber.com/floor...icalinfo6.html

well the 15 gauge staples 2 inch seem to be the supreme fastner
my angle is the weight of 7700 staples is greater than 7700 power cleats by
1/3 so more weight more fastner more holding power
ken moersch http://allhardwoodfloor.com ( Ltd.)

There was a study done several years ago on the holding power between
cleats(powernail type) and staples (commonly used by the Bostich
pneumatic). I refer to those nailers because they are the dominant names in
the trade. The Canadian nailer escapes my memory right now but also uses
the cleats.
Anyway, this study, paid for by one of the manufacturers, showed that
staples hold better initially, but the GOOD cleats hold stronger longer,
especially after repeated moisture cycles.

The staples holding power is derived from glue and the slight cross angle
of the two staple legs. Once the wood expands/contracts a few times, the
glue loses bond, giving the cleated l-nail the edge.

There are some cheap cleats out there, imports with little actual cleat.
Pay the money and buy the quality ones. I prefer Powernal cleats over the
Canadian company.

That said, I have used staples over the years and those floors are still
there. I did however take the opportunity to change my Bostich pneumatic to
a cleat head, courtesy of that Canadian company(my apologies) who sold the
conversion for $80. I happen to prefer the ease of use of the cleats, and
the luxury of air, but did not like the clumkyness of the canadian
companies nailer. I tried the new-at-that-time pneumatic Powernailer, and
it was $600 worth of scrap metal(imo).

Truth be told, stay in shape and the old manual powernailer is just as
effective. I will never sell mine.



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