This is my shed, a smart, habitable shed but still a shed. Having
secured my 2x1 battens to the concrete floor I am going to lay
sw/whitewood unfinished ex 6x1 t&g boards to make a permanent floor. I
don't want to screw the boards down, too ugly and too much work to plug
screw holes so it will be nails, and I am wondering:

Non secret nailing, ovals? in pairs?
Secret nails in the tongue? in the groove?
Pre- drilled? Secret screwing even?
Hire a floor nailing device?
Air gun nailing?

I have a compressor and a nail gun but the nails it uses seem spindly
for this kind of work. Now I think about it I am wondering if a drill
bit with a countersink and Number 6 screws angled through the tongue
might just make a really good and easy job of it. But I have been wrong
before.

Tim W

On 13/07/2020 11:48, TimW wrote:
This is my shed, a smart, habitable shed but still a shed. Having
secured my 2x1 battens to the concrete floor I am going to lay
sw/whitewood unfinished ex 6x1 t&g boards to make a permanent floor. I
don't want to screw the boards down, too ugly and too much work to plug
screw holes so it will be nails, and I am wondering:

Non secret nailing, ovals? in pairs?
Secret nails in the tongue? in the groove?
Pre- drilled? Secret screwing even?
Hire a floor nailing device?
Air gun nailing?

I have a compressor and a nail gun but the nails it uses seem spindly
for this kind of work. Now I think about it I am wondering if a drill
bit with a countersink and Number 6 screws angled through the tongue
might just make a really good and easy job of it. But I have been wrong
before.

Tim W

I just used spax 45 mm screws diagonally through the tongue
of my Wickes 'solid hardwood' flooring, but I predrilled every
hole with one of those devices that drills and countersinks at
the same time to avoid splitting the tongue.

TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than softwood

On Monday, 13 July 2020 11:48:07 UTC+1, TimW wrote:

This is my shed, a smart, habitable shed but still a shed. Having
secured my 2x1 battens to the concrete floor I am going to lay
sw/whitewood unfinished ex 6x1 t&g boards to make a permanent floor. I
don't want to screw the boards down, too ugly and too much work to plug
screw holes so it will be nails, and I am wondering:

Non secret nailing, ovals? in pairs?
Secret nails in the tongue?

any of those work. no need for pairs. You're only stopping it moving horizontally, the nails take no weight, and they're already constrained by their neighbours.

in the groove?

likely to cause a fit problem

Pre- drilled? Secret screwing even?
Hire a floor nailing device?
Air gun nailing?

I have a compressor and a nail gun but the nails it uses seem spindly
for this kind of work. Now I think about it I am wondering if a drill
bit with a countersink and Number 6 screws angled through the tongue
might just make a really good and easy job of it. But I have been wrong
before.

Tim W

If you want, but I get the impression you're overthinking it. I wouldn't contemplate hiring.


NT

On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to save
splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 13/07/2020 18:25, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than
softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to save
splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


I started using those but managed to snap a couple so I reverted
to conventional spax wood screws, predrilled and countersunk.

The tongue-tite screws are very slender so if a lot of expansion
and contraction is likely over the course of a year, or many,
will they fail ?.

On 13/07/2020 18:35, Andrew wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:25, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than
softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to save
splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


I started using those but managed to snap a couple so I reverted
to conventional spax wood screws, predrilled and countersunk.

The tongue-tite screws are very slender so if a lot of expansion
and contraction is likely over the course of a year, or many,
will they fail ?.


I didn't know 'flooring screws' existed, so thanks, yes have used these.
Working well on the whole. A couple of splits on where screwing near the
board ends.

TW

On 14/07/2020 21:43, TimW wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:35, Andrew wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:25, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than
softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to
save splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per
board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


I started using those but managed to snap a couple so I reverted
to conventional spax wood screws, predrilled and countersunk.

The tongue-tite screws are very slender so if a lot of expansion
and contraction is likely over the course of a year, or many,
will they fail ?.


I didn't know 'flooring screws' existed, so thanks, yes have used these.
Working well on the whole. A couple of splits on where screwing near the
board ends.

TW

They are just countersunk screws made by Spax for any job.
Box says 3.5 * 50 Barcode number 4 003530 006760, but having a normal
countersunk head, you need to predrill and countersink the hole. Takes
more time but DIY time is free !

https://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/spax-...-1081020350503

On 15/07/2020 15:01, Andrew wrote:
On 14/07/2020 21:43, TimW wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:35, Andrew wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:25, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than
softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to
save splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per
board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


I started using those but managed to snap a couple so I reverted
to conventional spax wood screws, predrilled and countersunk.

The tongue-tite screws are very slender so if a lot of expansion
and contraction is likely over the course of a year, or many,
will they fail ?.


I didn't know 'flooring screws' existed, so thanks, yes have used
these. Working well on the whole. A couple of splits on where screwing
near the board ends.

TW

They are just countersunk screws made by Spax for any job.
Box says 3.5 * 50Â* Barcode number 4 003530 006760, but having a normal
countersunk head, you need to predrill and countersink the hole. Takes
more time but DIY time is free !

https://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/spax-...-1081020350503


For your 1 inch battens, Wickes do 40mm ones for half the price

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Spax-PZ-Cou...of-50/p/140831

In article , Andrew
wrote:
On 14/07/2020 21:43, TimW wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:35, Andrew wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:25, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than
softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to
save splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per
board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


I started using those but managed to snap a couple so I reverted to
conventional spax wood screws, predrilled and countersunk.

The tongue-tite screws are very slender so if a lot of expansion and
contraction is likely over the course of a year, or many, will they
fail ?.


I didn't know 'flooring screws' existed, so thanks, yes have used
these. Working well on the whole. A couple of splits on where screwing
near the board ends.

TW

They are just countersunk screws made by Spax for any job. Box says 3.5 *
50 Barcode number 4 003530 006760, but having a normal countersunk head,
you need to predrill and countersink the hole. Takes more time but DIY
time is free !

If you have a second drill to hold the countersink bit, you save a lot of
time. DIY time on one job takes time off some other project.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On 15/07/2020 16:18, charles wrote:
In article , Andrew
wrote:
On 14/07/2020 21:43, TimW wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:35, Andrew wrote:
On 13/07/2020 18:25, John Rumm wrote:
On 13/07/2020 12:05, Andy Burns wrote:
TimW wrote:

Secret screwing even?

tongue-tite or lost-tite screws, I used them into oak rather than
softwood

Yup, that's what I used on engineered ok boards. I pre-drilled to
save splitting any. Quite quick since you don't need that many per
board.



http://www.tite-fix.co.uk/products/tongue-tite/


I started using those but managed to snap a couple so I reverted to
conventional spax wood screws, predrilled and countersunk.

The tongue-tite screws are very slender so if a lot of expansion and
contraction is likely over the course of a year, or many, will they
fail ?.


I didn't know 'flooring screws' existed, so thanks, yes have used
these. Working well on the whole. A couple of splits on where screwing
near the board ends.

TW

They are just countersunk screws made by Spax for any job. Box says 3.5 *
50 Barcode number 4 003530 006760, but having a normal countersunk head,
you need to predrill and countersink the hole. Takes more time but DIY
time is free !

If you have a second drill to hold the countersink bit, you save a lot of
time. DIY time on one job takes time off some other project.


I have a selection of drill bits that have a counsink collar
that clamps onto a special flat section of the bit. Drill and
countersink in one go.