I'm in need of advice. I'm just about ready to lay a solid oak T&G
floor in our lounge, the boards are 200mm wide (and 20mm deep) and
I've read that face nailing is recommended for boards this wide and
I'm not too sure how this would look.

I have various options, visible nail heads, filled nail heads or
plugged nail heads. I think the latter two would ultimately be
noticable and my eye would be drawn to any inperfections whenever I
looked, so I'm leaning towards visible nails. This would be in keeping
with the rest of the house, the original exposed pine boards in other
rooms obviously has them. But I've never seen an example of a new T&G
oak floor with visible nail heads. Can anyone help me here, has anyone
done this, do you have pictures? And secondly, if I'm to do this,
which nails? I don't fancy modern floor nails, does anyone know of
somewhere that makes reproduction old nails?

If I face nail these boards am I not increasing the chances of them
splitting as I'll be fixing them in multiple places across their width
unlike secret nailing? Is there a way to try to prevent this?

Finally, has anyone laid boards this wide and not face nailed them?
What was the result, was there any cupping? For reference, my floor is
a suspended floor over a ventilated void. The joists are insulated,
then 18mm ply, then building paper then the boards themselves.

Thanks for any help you can give,
David.

On 27 Jul 2004 00:19:39 -0700, (David Ware) wrote:

I'm in need of advice. I'm just about ready to lay a solid oak T&G
floor in our lounge, the boards are 200mm wide (and 20mm deep) and
I've read that face nailing is recommended for boards this wide and
I'm not too sure how this would look.

I have various options, visible nail heads, filled nail heads or
plugged nail heads. I think the latter two would ultimately be
noticable and my eye would be drawn to any inperfections whenever I
looked, so I'm leaning towards visible nails. This would be in keeping
with the rest of the house, the original exposed pine boards in other
rooms obviously has them. But I've never seen an example of a new T&G
oak floor with visible nail heads. Can anyone help me here, has anyone
done this, do you have pictures? And secondly, if I'm to do this,
which nails? I don't fancy modern floor nails, does anyone know of
somewhere that makes reproduction old nails?

If I face nail these boards am I not increasing the chances of them
splitting as I'll be fixing them in multiple places across their width
unlike secret nailing? Is there a way to try to prevent this?

Finally, has anyone laid boards this wide and not face nailed them?
What was the result, was there any cupping? For reference, my floor is
a suspended floor over a ventilated void. The joists are insulated,
then 18mm ply, then building paper then the boards themselves.

Thanks for any help you can give,
David.

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

David Ware wrote:
I'm in need of advice. I'm just about ready to lay a solid oak T&G
floor in our lounge, the boards are 200mm wide (and 20mm deep) and
I've read that face nailing is recommended for boards this wide and
I'm not too sure how this would look.
snip
Thanks for any help you can give,

I have not done this, but I have a screwfix catalog, so I am qualified
to give DIY advice

I wonder about screwing to the joists 1*1 battens, one on each side.
Predrill holes in these to give 4 or so per board.
Using right-angle driver, and square drive/torx screws, screw in floorboards
from the underside.

(Personally, I'd use my laptop+webcam+light to give nice view of working
area, though it could be done the other way)

The purist will probably insist on using nice brass straight screws, and
lining up all the slots

However, I don't see anything that fundamentally wouldn't work.
And it'd be easy to get up if needed. (as long as you knew that this was
done).

I suppose the same technique could be used by predrilling holes at 45 degrees
from the top of the joists, and going in at an angle, with the aid of a
burly helper standing on the top.

(ensure correct length of screw selected, or burly helper may be visiting A+E)

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.

On 28 Jul 2004 01:02:36 -0700, (David Ware) wrote:

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.

Hi,

You might want square nails (cut clasp?), as these punch through the
wood instead of splitting it apart. Another alternative is to rout a
groove in the edges of the boards, and use a strip of plywood in the
groove, or rout them into T&G, to allow them to be secret nailed,

Also find out about the difference between quarter sawn and flat sawn
boards, and which way they will cup. It would be better to use quarter
sawn boards over pipes and next to radiators.

If the boards are acclimatised in lowest humidity the room will see
(20%?) they won't leave gaps in the winter. A dehumififier and heat
should be able to help achieve this.

Trawl Google and seek out the opinions of some experts (I'm not one
BTW...)

cheers,
Pete

David Ware wrote:
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.


Good decision. I secret nailed 8" oak boards with three grooves on the
underside and a few have cupped. The finish look was too clean for an
old house so I ended up adding some surface nails as well

I used http://www.bonakemi.com/productspecs/traffic.html for the finish.
It a two part waterborne polyurethane which dries to touch dry in a
few hours but take a week or so to harden fully.

I went for the matt finish and IMO it looks really good. It's also
waterproof and very hard wearing

The only downside is that it costs £100 for 5ltrs. Coverage varies but
the second coats goes much further than the first

On 28 Jul 2004 01:02:36 -0700, (David Ware) wrote:


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?

We have four people and two cats.

This is probably not as onerous as a dog and a two year old, but it
depends on which room I suppose. We have wooden floors in our lounge
and dining room, and in general people don't wear outside shoes into
them. If you are talking about a room opening directly from outside
and the dog comes in with muddy feet, then you would need to take that
into account.

There are a few scenarios that have happened to us.

- Putting a hot drink (adult hot) down directly on the floor and
spilling some. You can wipe up easily, but there may be a slight
lightening from the water mark. This can easily be corrected with
a localised run with some oil - the marks vanish and no sign.

- Spilling some red wine. Wiped up within a minute or so, much like
you would if it were a carpet. Same as above.

- Dropped and trod on a black permanent marker. This was the worst
because the solvent did lead to a small amount of staining which would
not just wipe off. The solution was to lightly sand the area -
could be by hand but I have a small sander that does it easily.
About a minute's work and stain gone. Then I just wiped oil over
the area, left 10 minutes and wiped again. No sign.

Contrast these of what would happen with varnish. You might have
less tendency to marks, but when it does need attention ( consider
scratches from dog claws) then you will have to sand and re-do the
lot. There is no patching.

Your scenario might be a bit more onerous than ours but general
maintenance is mainly vacuum cleaning.

How about getting a few pieces of material, put them together, treat
and simulate the effects of child and dog plus cleaning.






Thanks again,
David.

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

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.


I recently found an old book in a secondhand bookshop on how to finish
various different types of wood. I'm also about to fit a new oak floor
and the book recommended the application of 2 coats of clear french polish
followed by a coat of a good quality floor wax. I guess the french polish
will act as a sealer and the wax will give a nice soft sheen to the finish.

Mat.
--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Iron and oak don't mix.

Oak is about the worst but a lot of timbers will react badly with iron.

You might find stainless steel screws that work but if you want to take
the boards up undamaged one day, the tried and tested method is brass
screws.

You can use filler with them but pellets are used for a reason. If you
are going to be fussy and want them well hid, use off cuts from the
piece you are laying to make the plugs out of. It is worth the extra for
the effect. Try to choose matching grain and try to put them in to suit.

Alternatively, use a contrasting timber for the pellets and stain them
to draw attention to them.

The floor will only look new until it isn't.


--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

David Ware wrote:

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?

Danish oil is very tough - used it on oak work surface in kitchen. Use
three coats.


Thanks again,
David.

nemofish wrote:


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.



I recently found an old book in a secondhand bookshop on how to finish
various different types of wood. I'm also about to fit a new oak floor
and the book recommended the application of 2 coats of clear french
polish followed by a coat of a good quality floor wax. I guess the
french polish will act as a sealer and the wax will give a nice soft
sheen to the finish.


I wouldn't use french polish. Not a patch on modern stuff.

Mat.

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 22:01:29 +0100, The Natural Philosopher
wrote:



Danish oil is very tough - used it on oak work surface in kitchen. Use
three coats.


It is - I use it sometimes as a woodworking finish. However, it can
scratch and I am not sure that you could just refinish a small area.
Might be possible


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Nick Brooks wrote in message ...

Good decision. I secret nailed 8" oak boards with three grooves on the
underside and a few have cupped. The finish look was too clean for an
old house so I ended up adding some surface nails as well

I used http://www.bonakemi.com/productspecs/traffic.html for the finish.
It a two part waterborne polyurethane which dries to touch dry in a
few hours but take a week or so to harden fully.

I went for the matt finish and IMO it looks really good. It's also
waterproof and very hard wearing

The only downside is that it costs £100 for 5ltrs. Coverage varies but
the second coats goes much further than the first

Excellent, that's what I need reasurance :-) I'll look into the finish too.
Thanks,
David.

"Michael Mcneil" wrote in message news:a74b635bb9d6e45a07cc4a0d66382214.45219@mygat e.mailgate.org...
Iron and oak don't mix.

Oak is about the worst but a lot of timbers will react badly with iron.

You might find stainless steel screws that work but if you want to take
the boards up undamaged one day, the tried and tested method is brass
screws.

You can use filler with them but pellets are used for a reason. If you
are going to be fussy and want them well hid, use off cuts from the
piece you are laying to make the plugs out of. It is worth the extra for
the effect. Try to choose matching grain and try to put them in to suit.

Alternatively, use a contrasting timber for the pellets and stain them
to draw attention to them.

The floor will only look new until it isn't.

Thanks for the warning, I'm aware of the reaction between iron and oak
but as I'm not looking for a pristine new look to the floor and
considering its setting I'm willing to take the consequences and go
with nails. I'll probably fix a couple of boards (minus their tongues)
down with screws, plug them and mock up the nails.

I've experimented with plugging the timber with a plug from the same
stock but I can still see the join (even after finishing it with
various finishes) and I think that would bug me every time I enter the
room. Using contrasting plugs is a nice idea but not for me, in a
modern setting I think it would work well though.

Thanks for the suggestions,
David.

I recently found an old book in a secondhand bookshop on how to finish
various different types of wood. I'm also about to fit a new oak floor
and the book recommended the application of 2 coats of clear french
polish followed by a coat of a good quality floor wax. I guess the
french polish will act as a sealer and the wax will give a nice soft
sheen to the finish.


I wouldn't use french polish. Not a patch on modern stuff.

Mat.


That's interesting. What is the modern equivalent? Shellac?


--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

nemofish wrote:
Someone else wrote:
Somebody else wrote:
I recently found an old book in a secondhand bookshop on how
to finish various different types of wood. I'm also about to
fit a new oak floor and the book recommended the application
of 2 coats of clear french polish followed by a coat of a
good quality floor wax. I guess the french polish will act
as a sealer and the wax will give a nice soft sheen to the
finish.

I wouldn't use french polish. Not a patch on modern stuff.

Hm. Old, mellowed floors are desirable, though, aren't they?
I wonder whether newer treatments will mellow so successfully.


That's interesting. What is the modern equivalent? Shellac?

Shellac, french polish, knotting are all roughly equivalent.


J.B.

nemofish wrote:




I recently found an old book in a secondhand bookshop on how to
finish various different types of wood. I'm also about to fit a new
oak floor and the book recommended the application of 2 coats of
clear french polish followed by a coat of a good quality floor wax.
I guess the french polish will act as a sealer and the wax will give
a nice soft sheen to the finish.


I wouldn't use french polish. Not a patch on modern stuff.

Mat.



That's interesting. What is the modern equivalent? Shellac?


french polish IS shellac.

Mosdern thimngs are acrylics and epoxies and much more.

We fitted an oak floor this winter, and I have to admit I was absolutely
sh*tting myself at the resposibilty of nailing all this lovely wood down
onto the concrete..

Doubly scary was that we're running underfloor heating pipes underneath
thoughout the flat. We had a few professionals round to get quotes, and each
had completely different advice about the best method for fixing it down:
"face nailing is your only option, mate, you'll never keep it lashed down
otherwise". "i'd use these concealed nails into the tongue, i've done it
loads of times", "tougue and groove - i've never seen that before" etc.

I did a lot of canvassing, and I finally came to twig that this really isn't
an exact science. If you want a perfectly flat uniform floor, you'd be
better off going to homebase for some nice mock-pine laminate tiles. The
wood will grow and shrink with the seasons as humidity in the air changes
(wet = big wood, dry = small wood, so unintuitively, hot=shrink). If you
look at in detail, you'll find that each plank is a slightly different width
anyway, and two butted up against each other in a run are bound to leave a
slight crack next to the marginally slimmer one. If it really cups, or even
cracks, I think you'd have to be unlucky. Our floor is heated twice a day by
the UFH and there isn't a crack in it. Some of the wider boards have
cupped up a bit, but I actually find I really like that - it gives the floor
a bit
of character without looking at all scruffy.

We had a mixture of 5,6 and 7(=roughly 18cm) inch planks, all with two
'tension grooves' cut into the bottom. They were kilmed before shipping, but
when we got them we left them (on advice) in the flat for two weeks to
acclimatise before nailing them down. After much fretting, I opted for
hidden diagonal nails wacked in with a diagonal nailer and mallet, although
some runs you have to face-nail anyway (esp. at the edges). Where we had
to use face-nails, I opted for square nails (don't know the proper slang
name,
sorry) which I think look pretty traditional with a rectangular head,
especially
when countersunk.

There were some pictures on our blog
http://www.mwynne.plus.com/blogs/housemove/ though I can't see them on there
now - if I get time I'll post some more up there.

This seems to be a pretty good guide:
http://www.nofma.org/installation2.htm

Aaaanyway. The main point I wanted to make is - don't worry! Whatever
technique you use, the wood will look so good you won't notice the nails -
you'll be too busy admiring the wood itself!! Good luck!

Matt


"David Ware" wrote in message
om...
I'm in need of advice. I'm just about ready to lay a solid oak T&G
floor in our lounge, the boards are 200mm wide (and 20mm deep) and
I've read that face nailing is recommended for boards this wide and
I'm not too sure how this would look.

I have various options, visible nail heads, filled nail heads or
plugged nail heads. I think the latter two would ultimately be
noticable and my eye would be drawn to any inperfections whenever I
looked, so I'm leaning towards visible nails. This would be in keeping
with the rest of the house, the original exposed pine boards in other
rooms obviously has them. But I've never seen an example of a new T&G
oak floor with visible nail heads. Can anyone help me here, has anyone
done this, do you have pictures? And secondly, if I'm to do this,
which nails? I don't fancy modern floor nails, does anyone know of
somewhere that makes reproduction old nails?

If I face nail these boards am I not increasing the chances of them
splitting as I'll be fixing them in multiple places across their width
unlike secret nailing? Is there a way to try to prevent this?

Finally, has anyone laid boards this wide and not face nailed them?
What was the result, was there any cupping? For reference, my floor is
a suspended floor over a ventilated void. The joists are insulated,
then 18mm ply, then building paper then the boards themselves.

Thanks for any help you can give,
David.