Hello...
I was just wondering if anyone here has any suggestions on installing 3/4 in solid Mercier Tigerwood. I've been installing floors for 11 years so I've got the basics down. My problem is this....

The wood is splitting along the grain with every fastener. We tried 2 1/2 in L power cleats, 2 in. L power cleats, 2 in. long and 1 1/2 in. long staples both with a 1/2 in. crown. All with the same results. Severe splitting along the tongue and occasionally through the top of the boards.

We lowered the pressure on the compressor to the point where it wouldn't set the fasteners but the problem remains.

Any solutions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Hi Jimmy,

Wow,,,,,,,, Questions:
1. How does the nailer "fit" onto the edge of the board and onto the top of the tongue? Is everything snug?
2. What is the width of the board?
3. What is the current Wood Moisture Content?
4. What is the Manufactured width supposed to be?

I am not experienced at this issue, but the one time I did find it, the wood was found to be OVER-dried... about 10% to 15% of the floor did the exact same thing you described.
The wood flooring was sent to a University for testing. Sent them an entire box and that is what they came up with. That was a few years back.....
Maybe Floorguy or Gary has some experience with this problem.

I think it is time to back off that job??

Wow.... Quick reply. Thanks!!!!

To answer your questions...



1. Yes. Both types of guns we were using had the correct "Shoe" and were shooting right where they should, "Snugly". No slop at all.

2.It's 3 1/4 inch wide material

3. Not sure what the moisture content is just yet. We didn't have the meter with us on site. I know... Rookie mistake.

4.It is supposed to be a 3 1/4 in. wide board. We only noticed very minor variations in width in the few boxes that we dealt with.

We did back off the job. We couldn't contact Mercier directly, it's a Holiday there and their offices were closed. The Mercier Sale Rep for our region said, "No problem!!! Go for it!" We're still more than a bit skeptical however. How can you "Go for it!" when 80% of the fasteners split the tongue almost clean off the board??? Not Good!!!

Over-Dried material is something another one of our local installers mentioned as well. We'll definitely bring that up when we are able to contact Mercier tomorrow. Thank you so much for the quick reply. Any more ideas are welcome. I'll let you know how we make out.

BTW........

What moisture content (of the hardwood) would you consider to be over-dry. I would just like another opinion on which to base my decisions. Thanks again.....

First off, what is the humidity inside your house right now, with the HVAC system running(as it should be) to pull excessive humidity from the area, if you live in a humid area? and the swamp cooler running if you live in an arid climate.

Some hard exotics, don't like pneumatics. It is too hard and brittle. Drill & hand nail.

I won't be sure of the humidity or moisture numbers until tomorrow morning. We didn't have the meters with us today. Like I said... Rookie move.

The job site is in central PA, this time of year the humidity is definitely there. We made sure the HVAC was running since last Thursday (New construction) and the wood has been acclimating since Friday.

Drill & hand nail is an option of course. Just not my favorite. 900 sf of hand nailing....... My hand is going numb just thinking about it

We have been assured by "The Powers That Be" that this product should be able to be installed with air guns. If, in the end, that isn't the case, then we'll go old school and swing the hammers. We would however like to exhaust every other option before we go that route.

Thank you so much for the reply......................

What I ended up doing with solid Tigerwood is using strips of tape on the footplate to slightly change the angle of my Bostitch 2" stapler. It takes some playing around with but start at the front and add 1 strip at a time... if that don't alleviate the problem, pull it off and play with the rear.

It's pretty hard to figure out because you still have to play around with the air pressure as you are doing this. I think you'll finally hit on it.

Stay a good 2" off the ends. Chuck always recommended drizzling some 3in1 oil on the fastener tips, I have not tried that.

Thanks for those tips. We'll try adjusting the angle of the gun today. I'm headding out to the job right now so I'll let you know how we made out later tonight.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

Well.... We got to install some floor today. All the moisture & humidity numbers were OK, so we decided to try and adjust the guns to shoot at different places and different angles.

We found that if we shimmed the guns up enough to shoot about one thickness of a staple higher than recommended, it helped to cut down on the tongues splitting completely off the board. It did help but it was not a miracle cure. The splitting was still there. Just not quite as bad.

Everyone we spoke with, from our local sales rep on up, told us we were OK and we were even given a promise (supposedly in writing) that we would not be responsible if the product failed. I'll believe that one when I see it.

Adjusting the guns did help quite a bit. As far as I was concerned the splitting of the material still seemed excessive, but I kinda got out voted & away we went. I guess we'll just have to wait & see what happens.

On a lighter note.... What a beautiful floor!!! It's the first time I've gotten to install Mercier's Tiger wood. If it wasn't such a PITA to work with, I'd think about using it in my own home.

Anyway...... Thanks to all of you for your help. Have a great Day!!!