Hello;

I am new to the board and posting for your help from a novice. I did lay an unfinished floor with air stapler before (Bostich) but am now laying about 800 sf of pre-finished Bruce with my new Harbour Freight floor stapler. I hope it works ok-Chinese cheapie. Do I need a "nailer shoe" I see advertised to prevent scratches or will I need masking tape, etc? Also, I did not use spacers last time but do I need to allow some spaces every 10 rows or so with washers and if so what do I use?

Thanks for any help.

Unless your floor will exceed 40+ feet in width (not length), spacers are not required for a nailed down strip floor. You can probably get by masking the existing shoe on your nailer.

Thanks for your help. The span is a little over 30 feet but I live in deep South where humidity can get high. Does this make a difference?

It can. I suggest you varify the flooring's moisture content with a moisture meter before installing it. Test the subfloor and the flooring and it should be within 2 % for plank and 4% for strip. Maintain "normal" interior temperature and humidity. That will reduce expansion and contraction. Exterior temps and humidity are not very relevant. Your flooring is INSIDE your house. You may need a de-humidifier IF your AC is unable to keep the humidity levels down to normal. Does this make any sense to you?

Thanks for your help; A few more questions for you about felt. As I live in the South should I go with 15 lb or 30 lb felt and does it matter which way I run felt-parallel to joists ? Should I overlap or butt the edges? Do I install flet with stapler? This is prefinished 3/4 hardwood...I wanted to tear up carpet a little at the time as this will be ongoing project instead of felting whole room at same time as I have lots of small kids all over the place...

Thanks again for all of your help.