Nailing floorboards

[george [dicegeorge]]

Today I bought some cut floor brad nails.
The second one split a floorboard.
The tips are blunt.
So should I drill pilot holes in the floorboards?
Is a heavy hammer or a light one best?
Any other tips please?

[george]

[geraldthehamster]

On Mar 21, 6:23 pm, "george [dicegeorge]" <dicegeo...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

I've done this extensively in my house. Brads are blunt, because
theoretically they drive through the wood, whereas a sharp point would
split it. However they are still liable to split the board close to
the end, or close to the edge, or on softer boards. I've certainly
drilled pilot holes and it does work. If you have to go really close
to the end of a board, for example if you've cut one to get under the
floor, consider drilling and screwing instead at that point. Otherwise
just drive in smartly wiv a nammer (I'm sorry I don't know the weight
of mine, but it's heavyish), and try to avoid making half moon
indentations in the boards. Set the head of the nail parallel to the
length of the board, and strike with the boards running away from you,
and you're less likely to glance off and bend the brad. If you're
laying new boards, make sure you acclimatise them in the house for at
least a couple of weeks, and cramp them up tightly when you lay them,
to allow for drying out and shrinkage. Um, can't think of anything
else.

Cheers
Richard

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <jkd6bi$g6d$1...@news.enta.net>,

I screw floorboards, and I do drill a countersunk pilot hole,
but you shouldn't do that for nails.

Easy to pull up again if necessary, no squeeking nails, etc.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

[Roger Mills]

Over half a century ago, I was taught in Woodwork at school to blunt the
end of a sharp nail to stop it splitting the wood!
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

[Newshound]

On 21/03/2012 18:45, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
> In article<jkd6bi$g6d$1...@news.enta.net>,
> "george [dicegeorge]"<diceg...@hotmail.com> writes:
>> Today I bought some cut floor brad nails.
>> The second one split a floorboard.
>> The tips are blunt.
>> So should I drill pilot holes in the floorboards?
>> Is a heavy hammer or a light one best?
>> Any other tips please?
>
> I screw floorboards, and I do drill a countersunk pilot hole,
> but you shouldn't do that for nails.
>
> Easy to pull up again if necessary, no squeeking nails, etc.
>

Me too. So easy with cordless screwdrivers, and those reversible
drill/driver bits, and not much slower. I think nailing requires
considerably more skill.

[Andrew Gabriel]

In article <9sum8b...@mid.individual.net>,

Roger Mills <watt....@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Over half a century ago, I was taught in Woodwork at school to blunt the
> end of a sharp nail to stop it splitting the wood!

and don't tell me - you're still trying to hammer that nail in ;-)

[Ian Jackson]

In message <9sum8b...@mid.individual.net>, Roger Mills
<watt....@gmail.com> writes

>On 21/03/2012 18:23, george [dicegeorge] wrote:
>> Today I bought some cut floor brad nails.
>> The second one split a floorboard.
>> The tips are blunt.
>> So should I drill pilot holes in the floorboards?
>> Is a heavy hammer or a light one best?
>> Any other tips please?
>>
>> [george]
>
>Over half a century ago, I was taught in Woodwork at school to blunt
>the end of a sharp nail to stop it splitting the wood!

If there's a ceiling beneath - SCREW - or you risk bringing down bits of
the ceiling (especially bits where it is nailed up into the
floorboards).
--
Ian

[Cash]

Personally George, unless you want them as some sort of finish on the floor,
throw the floor brads away and use either oval headed nails [1] (punched in)
or countersunk screws (both of suitable length [twice the thickness of the
board minimum).

As for the hammer, my preference for such jobs is a 20oz Estwing claw hammer
[2] (nylon not leather handle).

If you must use the floor brads, always drive them in with the grain (and
punch home) and keep them as far as possible in from the edge or ends of the
boards - about 25mm (1") - and the best of luck, when I was doing for a
living, I hated using the things.

As for pilot holes, not really necessary (unless you have to nail very
close to the edge [and then only through the board]) as the brad are
deliberately designed for this work and being blunt, they have *less*
tendency to split the boards (but splitting can and will happen at some time
no matter how careful you are).

[1] Or you can use (round head) ring-shank nails - but be aware that
these look ugly and can be b*****ds to get out if you want to take a
floorboard back up.

[2] Mine is about 35 years old (lost my first one to light fingers) and
the balance on the thing is bloody amazing - and it can be comfortably used
all day on flooring etc with minimum effort.


Cash

[Tim Watts]

The OP would do well to look at the ScrewTite make (not ScrewTite model
specifically - but they are doing some new types specifically for flooring -
self drilling, reverse thread section to pull boards down).

I agree with Newshound - whizzing a modern self-cutting screw in with a
power driver is faster and less violent than nailing - with the possible
exception of cladding a shed in which case a nailgun is the ultimate in
speed.
--
Tim Watts

[GMM]

On Mar 21, 6:45 pm, and...@cucumber.demon.co.uk (Andrew Gabriel)
wrote:
> In article <jkd6bi$g6...@news.enta.net>,

>         "george [dicegeorge]" <dicegeo...@hotmail.com> writes:
>
> > Today I bought some cut floor brad nails.
> > The second one split a floorboard.
> > The tips are blunt.
> > So should I drill pilot holes in the floorboards?
> > Is a heavy hammer or a light one best?
> > Any other tips please?
>
> I screw floorboards, and I do drill a countersunk pilot hole,
> but you shouldn't do that for nails.
>
> Easy to pull up again if necessary, no squeeking nails, etc.
>
> --
> Andrew Gabriel
> [email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

I'd second that - it's so much easier if a board has to come up again,
or to tighten down should one be loose. I don't seem to need a pilot
hole these days though - maybe my floorboards are just very soft.....

[harry]

> I've done this extensively in my house. Brads are blunt, because
> theoretically they drive through the wood, whereas a sharp point would
> split it. However they are still liable to split the board close to
> the end, or close to the edge, or on softer boards. I've certainly
> drilled pilot holes and it does work. If you have to go really close
> to the end of a board, for example if you've cut one to get under the
> floor, consider drilling and screwing instead at that point. Otherwise
> just drive in smartly wiv a nammer (I'm sorry I don't know the weight
> of mine, but it's heavyish), and try to avoid making half moon
> indentations in the boards. Set the head of the nail parallel to the
> length of the board, and strike with the boards running away from you,
> and you're less likely to glance off and bend the brad. If you're
> laying new boards, make sure you acclimatise them in the house for at
> least a couple of weeks, and cramp them up tightly when you lay them,
> to allow for drying out and shrinkage. Um, can't think of anything
> else.
>
> Cheers
> Richard

If you get a hammer dint in the timber, wetting it often gets rid of
it.

[RobertL]

What I did:

I nailed most of the boards using flooring brads (but had removable screwed boards every 6th board for access). I allowed the boards to acclimatise for several weeks first to avoid shrinkage. I laid them and squeezed up using floorboard clamps. Drilled pilot holes through the board and a little into the joist, hammered the brads using many light taps with a light hammer (then the brads don't bend), finished off with centrepunch so brad is 5mm below surface ready for sanding the boards afterwards.


Robert

[John Rumm]

Or for more serious dents, damp tea towel and a hot iron. Forces the
water into the compressed wood fibres better than just water on its own.


--
Cheers,

John.

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

In article <13269518.6442.1332414337957.JavaMail.geo-discussion-forums@vbux23>,

RobertL <rober...@yahoo.com> writes:
> What I did:
> I nailed most of the boards using flooring brads (but had removable screwed boards every 6th board for access). I allowed the boards to acclimatise for several weeks first to avoid shrinkage. I laid them and squeezed up using floorboard clamps. Drilled pilot holes through the board and a little into the joist, hammered the brads using many light taps with a light hammer (then the brads don't bend), finished off with centrepunch so brad is 5mm below surface ready for sanding the boards afterwards.
>

I had to replace a chunk of living room floor when I bought a 1909 place.
The floorboards throughout are planks, not T&G. They all have 1-2mm gaps
between them, due to shrinkage after fitting I presume.

I bought a load of planks, stood them in the room for weeks (actually
much longer than I originally intended), before finally fixing them
down. The floors had all been completely silent to walk on, but these
new boards creeked. I worked out they were creeking because the edges
rubbed as you stepped on one. I put a fine blade in the circular saw,
and ran it down the joins to recreate the gaps that all the original
boards have, and it's been silent ever since.

For the next load, I laid them without time to completely dry. So they
have formed 1-2mm gaps, like all the rest of the house, and those boards
are silent too.

I could have used T&G, but I stuck with what the house already had,
and I've had the boards up and down many times since, (phones, rewire,
Cat5 cabled, install CH, alarm, home automation, ...) the tounges
would have just been a pain.

(The house does have an original internal wall in T&G, but those planks
are over an inch thick, and do have the stair stringer fixed to them.)

[george [dicegeorge]]

You're right,
Spax floorbaord screws and a mains powered impact screwdriver
is easier and faster and less damaging to downstairs.
thanks for all the ideas and advice.
[george]