So I rented a Bostitch MIII floor nailer from Home Depot. It was awesome, worked great.

I face-nailed my very first starter row, and then used the nailer across the whole floor. I'm now on the opposite side of the rooms with 4 rows+ to go. Not enough room to fit the nailer, swing the hammer, etc.

My bamboo is 3.75" wide, and I have about 16" remaining.

I want to avoid face-nailing more than I have to. Drilling manually and running nails might work for a row or so, but there's still space issues. I'm going into existing hardwood, and the wood is, ahem, very hard. Pre-drilling through the floor certainly helps, but after row 1 or so, I wont have enough room to swing the hammer once again.

My father has suggested using a right-angle drill to pre-drill and screw in small diameter finish screws through the tongue. He says I may have to notch out the bottom of the groove depending on how well (angle/depth) I drive the screws.

My other problem is that the remaining space after laying 4 boards is between 6/16 and 11/16 not including the expansion gap space. I could potentially RIP a bunch of boards, leaving the groove intact, but I don't like the idea. Since the last board isn't installed, I could potentially cut the tongue off the last board to "round it up" to about an inch.

How do I solve these issues?

Help!@#

Keith

A trim nailer works well until it no longer gets the angle needed to blind nail.

Thanks for the reply.

I guess that would probably only get me, what, maybe another two rows?

I do need to re-attach quarter-round, and a trim nailer would probably work there too --- even if different nails would be called for. What size nails should I be using for the floor, and for the quarter-round?

What about my last row dilemma? Any quick fix there?

Thanks.

Keith

Rip some boards leaving the groove. Very narrow boards can be glued to the tongue of the next to last board with yellow wood glue. Use shims to keep it tight until it sets up. It's not going anywhere, the base shoe will hold it down.