how do you nail the last couple rows when neither the floor stapler or the 15g finish nailer will fit at the proper angle? hand nail? i even tried to see if my smaller 18 brad nailer would fit and it doesnt. i really only wanted to face nail the last rows whic will be hidden by the molding. thanks (2 1/4" strips)

just face nail about a 1/4" from the toung side about 6" apart. most likly its going to be the last 2 rows to face nail. hope that works for you.

Jeff

The primatech 240 or 250 nailer will get to about 6 inches from finishing wall. In your case, this would mean hand nailing or using a brad gun for the last 3 boards, max.
Third board from the wall could be nailed through the tongue, last two will be surface nailed, and filled.

When working with prefinished, you don't get the ability to fill and sand and finish over the holes left. Top nailing in prefinished is very undesirable.

What I do, is to cut a slit in the felt paper, every 4-6" down the row. I use PL Premium Urethane, in a caulking tube, and place a thick bead, across the slit cut out. Place the boards, and then your last row next to the wall, is pried so the glued rows are tight, and a nail shot every 6" along the wall where the trim molding will cover it.

don't know if you guy's use them on your side of the pond but here in uk i use tounge tite screws for the first and last rows either in the tounge or the face and simply wax over and then use the power nailer:

What the manurfacture's say:
The only screw for laying tongue and grooved flooring.
With the Tri-Lock TS threadform the screw will drive straight through the boards and into the substrate without pre-drilling--even hardwoods. Quick and easy to install and remove with the benefit of a secure fix (no more squeaks), ends the need for glues and nails which may work loose.

Wouldn't driving a screw like that cause kiln dried hardwood to split, if one did not pre-drill?

nine time out of ten with these things no,

as long as your not too close to the edge the head of the screw on these things are the same size of the shank which is was does most of the spliting no problems with 15mm and 18mm flooring .......

there great for those long corridor jobs you know the ones about 4' wide x 15' long by the time you have the first three rows glued in you secret nail one row then your back on the glue and you can only use a 6" of your dpm paper
in this case i use these for the full job fire them into the tounge just like the powernailer and where the nailer won't reach ie. second to last board you only need too face fix your first and last row and i can use all of my dpm paper. i love them but don't try it with an ordinary screw because like you say it'll split the board

That's cool but I have never seen an installer here do it that way. Here in the states, it's pneumatic finish nailers. Place first row against the wall, face-nail the backside (groove side) and blind nail the tongue. Do that on the next row or two till the pneumatic stapler can be used. Then on the last rows, blind nail again with the finish nailer. When blind nailing is no longer possible, on site finished floors, we face nail the last few rows. With factory prefinished, gluing is preferable with an occasional brad here and there to hold tight till the adhesive dries. The only time I have used screws is for subfloors and framing. I have used what we call "trim head screws" to install stair treads. They worked well. I guess they're similar to what you're using except these have a square drive instead of hex or torx.

whe hey it looks like us brits are ahead of you guy's...........now theres a first in the flooring game lol

The problem with screws is, they hold too well to allow any expansion. It would be like making that last board a stationary wall. All well and good as long as the MC stays the same.

Then we are talking prefinished and the blemish that is left from the fastener, much more so from the head of that trim screw(that we have had here for ages)

I guess thats why the ones i posted about have an unthreaded bit at the top of the shank then....