I will be installing rift and quartered red oak in my new home and need to decide between 3" and 4" widths. I like the look of the 4" floors and they are the same price per square foot as the 3". Can they be installed the same way or does the 4" require face nailing?

I spoke to the wood floor manufacturer, and he tells me that it is not necessary to face-nail 4" tongue and groove flooring - that it can be installed in a similar manner to strip flooring. He went into details on his kiln-drying process and how it left the wood with less residual stress than a typical vacuum bake.

I need to figure out if I'm getting the straight story on installation. As a DIY'er, I'm not keen on face-nailing and plugging 1600 square feet of hardwood. I recall reading (in a NOFMA article perhaps?) that anything 4" and wider should be face-nailed.

I'm in upstate NY, and we have hot and humid summers and terribly dry winters - a sizable humidity swing.

Comments would be appreciated.

Thanks!!

4" x 3/4" T&G flooring can be successfully installed by blind nailing only. There is no need to face-nail (except where going up to verticle obstructions, like a wall). No need to screw or plug or glue. About you relative humidity. We seem to be saying this quite a bit. The weather outside your house is irrelevant. The wood floor is inside your house. If you allow the interior temperature and humidity to go above or below the "normal living conditions", then you can expect shrinkage and minor peaking along the seams of the floors from gaining and losing moisture. You may need to add a humidifier during the heating months and run you AC a lot in the summer to control temperature and humidity. Fortunately, wood floors are comfortable with the same conditions people are. 65 to 75 degrees F. and 45 to 50% humidity. This is ideal. Minor, temporary changes and peaks will not matter. It's long term changes that effect the flooring's dimensions.