Here is my floor plan sorta to scale just over 1000 sq ft:


Prefinished 5/8" teak 3-1/4" on 1978 23/32" T&G plywood using cleats (not sure which size though, suggestions?)

Thinking about running S to N which is perpendicular to joists and starting in the SE corner.

Hallway between stairs and bath is 3-1/2 ft. Basement entrance and bath entrance are offset (not like the picture). Can I run parallel to the joist here? Basement is exposed so I can reinforce if needed. Have a heating vent hole that could actually be supported more.

Where to do the dreaded spline reversal? Thinking that should be done in the SW room soon as the planks pass the stairs heading to the floor (S of the door). This would be a double spline reversal i think.

Open for any suggestion?

thanks

Typically, one runs the flooring starting from left to right in a nail down floor. So, if starting on the south wall (rear) of the house, then you'd be at the west corner, not east. You could start there and work your way across the house, checking for straightness as you go. Or start in the middle of the job. Either way but you need to continue to check to make sure you remain straight and parallel to the walls. 1&3/4" length on those cleats. 1&1/2" would work too. Why change direction at the stairwell?

Switching directions with a spline isn't much different than a regular install through the tongue - just glue it and hold it in the proper orientation with a scrap groove piece while you nail it down, then it proceeds just like the other side.

The thing I like about starting in the middle of the room is that you can guarantee at least the middle of the room is perfectly straight.

If you start along a wall, it's hard (for me at least) to get it nailed in firm and straight. Then when you start to walk away from the wall with each row, you start to see the effect of that first row being off, then you have to make up for it in the field.

If you start in the middle of the room, you can line it up with a long straight edge and screw down your backer boards to give you something to nail against. Then you can use the big nailer (which also doesn't fit against the wall) and the boards fit nice and straight. After you've gone 3 or more rows you can pull out the backer boards and start off in the opposite direction, still nice and straight.

BTW - get the pre-finished foot kit for your flooring gun if possible... I learned the hard way why they offer such a thing...

W is the front of the house, E is back. From a logistics stand point SE (fireplace) is the best place, NE is the kitchen and I need to remove cabinets to the install the floor. The cabinets are IKEA that expose the floor.

SE middle would work for me, never though about since I was try to delay the spline to later (not on my first row), but in reality when I do the spline it will be the halfway mark.
Thought I had to starting in the SE corner. When I got the last room (SW), the spline would be facing W, and the remaining E part of the SW room would have require a spline. reverse Actually I still think it needs to reverse there. What am I missing?

If I start in middle of SE, how far from the inner wall does one place the backer board? This will be a later summer early fall install in Chicago which is oddly cold now (AC has not been on for a while). Drywall is under cut a 1/2 inch.

Depending on the installation season doe one change the expansion gap size? My concern is in the winter there would be shrinkage and the trim (no qtr round) would cease to cover the gap.

Beside the 1/2 inch, is more of a gap needed?


Thought I have purchase the 2in1 HF nailer a few year back for the project, however it looks I purchased the stapler only version (93197). Are there 5/8 kits for this knock off stapler(M111FS?) or do I just build up the 3/4 plate? Looks like the 93197 is no longer made as well

References to stapler from 2006 when I started to think about this project:
http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/php ... php?p=9718
http://www.hardwoodflooringtalk.com/php ... php?t=3026
I think there was a staple vs cleat war going on, so I bought the stapler.

A tip for those searching this forum, google advanced does a better site search than the forum search:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q ... as_qdr=all

The whole "expansion gap" at the perimeter is based on poor assumptions and misconceptions. It has been thoroughly discussed by many of us pros here. Without going it great detail, that 1/2" is fine. The only time expansion gaps are critical are with floating floors.

Yeah, I guess I missed the N, E, W, S thing. Yeah, then you could start in the SE corner. It's not a problem starting near a wall. That is how it is normally done. And that IS an exterior wall, which should be truer than interior walls can be, since it follows the foundation. So, for 3.25" teak, measure out 4" from the wall on each end. Snap a good chalk line. Now place each board with the tongue right to the chalk line. This will give you a 1/2" gap behind the first coarse. With your finish nailer, face nail the back side of each board at every joist and in between, about 3/8 in from the grooved edge. Then go back and toe nail those planks into the tongue every 8". When that's done, you're ready for the next course. Tap it into place GENTLY and only use LONG, STRAIGHT boards for these first few rows. Toe nail with the finish nailer until you can use the flooring nailer. This method should maintain nice straight rows. You need to check as you work across that you're not going crooked. But if you nail well, watch out for mis-milled planks and keep it tight, it should stay straight. You'll need to reverse direction in the room left of the stairwell but all the rest shouldn't need it. Just keep snapping control lines and referring to those.

I started with the plain MIIIFS but was occasionally leaving little up-dimples in the top/edge of the board where the sides of the stapler hit the board. I bought this kit
( http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0246842295 ) which gives a nice flat plastic foot that spreads the force out more along the unseen edge. It comes with some aluminum shim plates that you can use to set the stapler so it shoots the nail right in the crease where the tongue starts. It was well worth it! I also started in the closet so at least SOME of my "learning mistakes" wouldn't be out in the open.

BTW - for those places where you have to face nail through the top of the board (e.g., 2", 6d bright finish nail), Minwax sells a wax finish stain pencil that you can smush into the dimple left after you set the head. Especially if you place it in a knot or other feature in the wood, you can't even see the nail hole.

The $48 with shipping is a great price for that kit, I see it listed in the $90 most places.

I found another custom universal kit this on the forum as as well: http://nailershoe.com/

I think the size adjuster is just a well designed best fit angle. I sent an email to ask about it and have received no reply as of yet.

There as is an ebay listing of this item as well: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0255016651

Cost is $64 or $59 with shipping depending on the venue. Both the site and ebay have a video of it in action, looks impress to a newbie like me.

If you watch the video, is how big is this kit compared to the Bostitch kit? Does it seem easier to use than Bostitch as well?

It looks about the same size - it looked HUGE to me when it came in the mail, bigger than I expected. The Bostitch one has rollers for sliding it along but I don't know that I could recommend one over the other.

Another mistake I learned from was that every little piece of dirt or metal shaving from the nail gun does a fantastic job of scratching the finish on the wood if it gets under the foot. The plastic foot can trap these little hard bits and as you slide it across the floor... your brand-new floor... you guessed it. Nice big scratches, that you don't notice for a foot or two. As a result I learned to I vacuum up after laying every few rows, keep the nailer well oiled, and am fanatical about wiping off the face of the foot that contacts the floor. Probably the experts have a better way of keeping from scratching the floor as you lay it.

My initial impression of the nail shoe was it was huge as well. Thus the size question.

I think you can tape the plastic to minimize the potential scratching and embedding of debris.

Decision time, plates and a roller or magic angle...

Also need to get a finish nailer, thinking a refurbished Bostitch N62FNK for $105 to $110 with shipping over a noname $75 nailer.

Then find flush mount vents and thresholds and then I am busy for a while.



Thanks again for both of your help.

Just picked up a Bostitch N62FNK and have nail size question.

5/8" into 23/32 plywood

A) 1 1/2"
B) 2"
C) 2" into studs 1 1/2" everywhere else

Using 1 3/4" Staples

I vote 1½"

I went with the nailer shoe vs the foot kit mainly for price. I would have had to buy the foot-kit and 5/8 shim from two separate dealers.

So far I have laid about 6 boxes of plank with it. So far no problems with staple placement, all have been perfect.

Only issue I had was with one board in which the nailer must have kicked up chipped the board. The staple was in the right place. Did not catch the issue until the next butting board and had to rip up 3 boards.

I blame my kick up experience on newbie user error so far.

The nailer shoe is harder plastic and hollow for the most part on the underside, so there is less area for dirt to get embedded into. Have not seen any nailer shoe stratches so far.