I need to put down a wooden floor over construction grade OSB. I have
read that the nails will not hold over time (unlike plywood) resulting
in a squeaky floor. Someone said you can use nails from a gun that have
a barbed effect on them which will hold. Can anyone confirm/deny this ?
(OSB is 18mm, boards are 20mm with joists 600mm apart)

macson wrote:
I need to put down a wooden floor over construction grade OSB. I have
read that the nails will not hold over time (unlike plywood) resulting
in a squeaky floor. Someone said you can use nails from a gun that have
a barbed effect on them which will hold.

I doubt it. You're not going to get a decent fixing if you're
only going 3/4" into board anyway.

Chris Bacon wrote:
macson wrote:
I need to put down a wooden floor over construction grade OSB. I have
read that the nails will not hold over time (unlike plywood) resulting
in a squeaky floor. Someone said you can use nails from a gun that have
a barbed effect on them which will hold.

I doubt it. You're not going to get a decent fixing if you're
only going 3/4" into board anyway.

Longer nails into the joists?

MBQ

On 2 Feb 2006 05:01:43 -0800
"macson" wrote:

I need to put down a wooden floor over construction grade OSB. I have
read that the nails will not hold over time (unlike plywood) resulting
in a squeaky floor. Someone said you can use nails from a gun that
have a barbed effect on them which will hold. Can anyone confirm/deny
this ? (OSB is 18mm, boards are 20mm with joists 600mm apart)


A TV program that I saw recently (Canadian, admittedly) suggested that
the subfloor should be 1 1/2 inches thick to nail too, and the subfloor
should be screwed to the joist, not nailed. 18mm is just under 3/4
inch, so it seems a bit thin to me. Mind you, I am only reporting on a
TV show (Holmes on Homes) and not from experience.

It seems to me that if the joists are of adequate size, then a barbed
nail driven into the joist through the OSB should hold. The problem is
that, as a weak floor flexes, ordinary nails will tend to 'walk out' -
so the issue is the solidity of the joist/OSB combo, and the kind of
traffic it will bear.

R.