Replies

1. 
   JLMCDANIEL | Dec 31, 2007 05:42am | #1

   Use nails if your subfloor is plywood, use staples if your subfloor is OSB.

   Jack

2. 
   PADDYDAHAT | Dec 31, 2007 07:29am | #2

   W, I recently put down 600 sq.ft. of 2 1/4" oak floor over a 3/4 t&g ply sub floor with an old time flooring guy and his son in law helper with a bostich stapler. Those staples were a bummer to pullout when the helper did two not snuged up boards and thank god they were shorts. With the staples you have two legs driven  deep and only a very low profile head that even on a soft hit does not jam up the t&g of the oak. All the best, Paddy

   Btw, almost more important, be sure that the sub floor is dead nut$ tight to the joists with screws. I bought a Quick drive ( your basic 3' extended screw gun) as I had a sub floor that sounded like the string section of the philharmonic tuning up when you walked across it  because it was not glued only nailed with 8d every 12" or so?? I snapped a chalk line on each joist and drove a screw every 6", then a 15 pound tar paper and the oak floor feels like it was down on a flat concrete slab. pfh

3. 
   Woodman41 | Dec 31, 2007 09:39am | #3

   I'm not a floor guy but I have done my share of them, including my own house with 3/4" red oak over plywood subfloor. I've always used a Bostich pneumatic floor nailer, with either T or L nails. I've also used their stapler for bamboo flooring over OSB.

   I prefer the nails (cleats) over staples, and the Bostitch is tough to beat.

1. 
   waljay | Dec 31, 2007 05:00pm | #4

   Thank you for your response.  I had wanted to ask about the "L" cleats because I've not seen that term.  Your answere cleared that up.  I'm looking seriously at the Bostitch MIIIFN but it's pricey.  I've never based a tool selection on price but can this stapler be used on other wood projects like stud installation or quick furniture assembly like we see Norm Abrams do on his show?  I have my entire house to rework and it sure would be nice to be able to "multi-task" with this unit between floor projects.  Thanks again for your response, Woodman41

1. 
   Woodman41 | Dec 31, 2007 07:12pm | #5

   re pricey, yeah! And it's good for one task and one task only. If I did floors for a living, of course I'd go out and invest in one. I am fortunate to have a really good tool rental shop in my area so whenever I've done floors I just go an rent one for about$35 a day. It's a good forcing function as well. Installing floors is back breaking work, literally, with all the bending up-and-down. Knowing the clock is ticking is a good incentive to just get the job done!Happy New Year.

4. 
   frenchy | Jan 01, 2008 02:48am | #6

   waljay,

     That's the boring way!  <big Grin>  I screw my hardwood floors down using countersunk plugs.   Only about 30 times,  well maybe 50 times more time consuming.. actaully it's probably closer to 100 times more time consuming.

     But that will be fast compared to when  I do my living room floor..  That I expect will take me about 500 times longer.. maybe a thousand times..  I'll line up the boards and then remover them one at a time.. I'll drill oversized holes in the subfloor and then go down into the basement and run screws up from the bottom..

     My subfloor is 2 inches thick tamarack.   The finish floor will be real close to an inch thick and the boards will be up to 22 inches wide.  Burled oak that's right solid one inch thick burled white oak 22 inches wide 10 feet long. 

        They will be edged by brass strips and then have Bloodwood parameter  followed by another brass strip.

      This will form a 20 foot x 10 foot picture frame, surrounded with hard all white flawless maple.  up to 14 inches wide 20 feet long. 

     I need those screws to come up from the bottom in order to accomidate wood movement as it dries and swells..  

    Anyway to answer your question the majority of flooring nailers I see in use are Bostich..