i want to install 3/4 solid hardwood floor. the subfloor is 3/4" OSB
with a pretty thick layer of leveling cement over it... it is 1/2 inch
thick in some places. My neighbor said that when he tried to install
hardwood in his condo (right next to mine so it is the same
construction), the nails could not penetrate the leveling compound.. he
said the nails bent and curled away from the floor instead of
penetrating it.
Perhaps a more robust nail (high carbon steel) would allow me to
penetrate the leveling compound and get into the OSB? thanks for any
help - mark

"Mark" wrote in message
ups.com...

i want to install 3/4 solid hardwood floor. the subfloor is 3/4" OSB
with a pretty thick layer of leveling cement over it... it is 1/2 inch
thick in some places. My neighbor said that when he tried to install
hardwood in his condo (right next to mine so it is the same
construction), the nails could not penetrate the leveling compound.. he
said the nails bent and curled away from the floor instead of penetrating
it.

Your neighbour is not a suitable source of advice
if he does not know that levelling cement is a
undesirable surface on which to lay hardwood flooring.
(It may be unavoidable for you -- hard luck -- but you
should not expect standard techniques to work on a
non-standard base.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

Don Phillipson wrote:
"Mark" wrote in message
ups.com...

i want to install 3/4 solid hardwood floor. the subfloor is 3/4" OSB
with a pretty thick layer of leveling cement over it... it is 1/2 inch
thick in some places. My neighbor said that when he tried to install
hardwood in his condo (right next to mine so it is the same
construction), the nails could not penetrate the leveling compound.. he
said the nails bent and curled away from the floor instead of penetrating
it.

Your neighbour is not a suitable source of advice
if he does not know that levelling cement is a
undesirable surface on which to lay hardwood flooring.
(It may be unavoidable for you -- hard luck -- but you
should not expect standard techniques to work on a
non-standard base.)

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)



thank you. he ended up screwing plywood to the subfloor and then the
hardwood over the plywood. do you think that is the best way to go?