Greetings,

Thanks for all the information on this site. With your help I have completed a successful (so far) glue down installation on concrete of engineered hardwood floor. My question is for our upstairs.

I have 1/2" thick Mullican "Ridgecrest" engineered 3" wide flooring to install over plywood. The manufacturer calls for a "15-18 gauge, 1 1/2", 3/16" crown staple." I have contacted Bostitch and Porta-Nailer and they do not make anything that will shoot that specification of staple.

I was wondering if using a manual Powernailer 250 with a 20 gauge, 1 1/2" E-cleat would make sense to y'all? Is there some other nailer/stapler you would use to install this?

Thanks in advance for your advice and recommendations.

I have used my Senco with 1" staples on that exact same floor, with excellent results.

HighPro 4090-AS, will shoot a 18gauge 1½" staple.

As Austin suggests, Bostitch isnt the only game in town when it comes to staples, and staplers.
However, the "E-cleat" from powernail should also do the job, although these are 20 gauge so you may want to confirm with the flooring manufacturer.
Primatech makes a Q-550 nailer that uses an 18 gauge cleat, and this is what our company uses for flooring such as you describe. We have had no problem with it except on one 3/8th "exotic" wood engineered that of necessity had to be laid towards the windows and was showing dimpling wherever the fastener was inserted. Our solution for this one was to use the glue-down method of install, but Im sure there were fasteners out there that would have sufficed.

I own this nailer, model 200, and have used it on my floors. IMO, it is not a good machine and here's why. EVERY floor I have installed has had some snap crackle and pop using this nailer. This machine is EXPENSIVE, heavy and slow. It requires one to hit the head of the machine with a mallet, instead of pulling a trigger. The cleats do not hold that well and are hard to find. No one wants to stock them. I do like that it has various boot attachments and shims to accommodate pretty much any type of engineered floor. I have laid 5/16" engineered, 5/16" solid, 3/8" engineered, 7/16" engineered and 1/2" engineered and 1/2" bamboo; all with this nailer. On one floor, a Kahrs 1/2", which recommended this nailer, I used it for a section until I ran out of those E-cleats. I noticed Kahrs also recommended my Bostitch M111 FS with the 1/2" adapter shoe and 1&1/2" staples. The Bostitch M111 FS did a WAY better job securing the floor down without any dimples or bumps in the face. Not one squeak. The area done with the model 200 and E-cleats? Snap, Crackle and Pop! Get a Senco or Spot Nails stapler if you do a lot of stapled down thinner engineered. I understand both of those are excellent guns.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I think I will do well with the Highpro AS-4090. They shoot the staples the manufacturer recommends and I already have a compressor, so looks like I should get to it. Thanks again and great site.

Last question, I am doing a hallway that has 4 bedrooms off of it, 2 on each side with the wood running in all areas. Do y'all think a diagonal installation would look good and be unique, or would it look strange with the flooring not running the length of the hallway? Floor joist support a traditional along the length of the hallway look, but the wife and I maybe wanted something the neighbors would say "Why didn't we do that."

It is a very subjective opinion. I am a traditionalist. I am of the opinion that plank floors should run the length of the rooms whenever possible. Doing it this way gives the impression of how wood floors were laid centuries ago when they were wide pine planks doweled and nailed directly to the floor supports/joists. If you are using a narrower strip floor or an exotic species, I think those can be run on a diagonal with better visual success. Again, this is all very subjective and personal. One thing you can do is loose lay some wood to get an idea how it will look. BTW, I have run floors on a diagonal before, so I do know the difference in appearance.

I find it odd that Bostitch's old 20 guage floor runner can handle a 1/2 inch plank but the sx150 18 guage supposedly cannot even though its a heavier guage and takes up to 1 1/2 in staples. Like whats the big diff, 1/16 of an inch is that big a deal? I bet I can make it work and would be a far better fastner than any 1 inch fastener.

Actually, Gary, I think that tool choice can be subjective as well as direction of flooring install. We have I think, 8 model #200, and three of the manuals, #250 and use them on a regular basis for various installs. They dont seem to cause us that crackling noise you refer to.
Most of my guys do prefer the Q550 from Primatech though.

As far as the poster's question of direction to install, I personally am not a fan of diagonal unless there are other angled architectural features to compliment this look. Bay windows, angled walls, etc. seem to help the appearance of a diagonal flooring install. Admittedly, this is as you suggest, very subjective and if the poster wishes to install on a diagonal, I think it is his design choice.

Was installing a ½" Mullican engineered. Didn't have much faith in my Senco 1" staples, so I brought out the big gun. Was working well and finished the landing/hall and a bedroom that afternoon. The next morning I come up the stairs and as my eye level is level with the flooring, I see the pimples!!!!!! Spent a couple of hours with a scrap piece of wood, and my small sledge hammer!!! Worked and I get the pimples down.. Whew!

Breakout the Senco, as it says it will do 5/16 - 1/2 I adjusted the foot and tested a piece of flooring. To my surprise, the 1" staples held well, really well. I kicked and beat on the board and it did not come loose. Went to pry it up with my framing hammer and the staples stayed in the subfloor. It busted the tongue right where each staple was. Pulled one out with pliers, and it was not easy. I couldn't pull straight out to get it out. I had to roll the pliers to get a fulcrum action, to remove the staple from the plywood.

Finished the job, now 2 years ago, and no calls for a squeaky or loose floor.

I hear you Dennis. That model 200 has given me grief, due to the snap, crackle and pop. I don't know what to do about it. It's odd that when I've used it for a solid 5/16", it worked better. I think the head design of the E-cleats does not grip the flooring tongue as well as staples or a larger cleat head. If you look closely at it, it does have quite a small head. Almost to a point where there is no "L" really. Being that engineereds core woods are often soft wood, I think the cleat just doesn't grab that well. The need to hit it with a mallet is a blessing and curse. A blessing in that it knocks it up tight and down to the subfloor well, plus you have a soft headed mallet in your hands to "persuade" a difficult board. The curse is that it can be slower than using a trigger activated stapler, it is easy to accidently fire through the face ( because the lip over is small ), cleats are harder to find, it's expensive compared to staplers, and the handle is so short that one must scoot along on their knees swinging the mallet. Overall, I find the 200 to be awkward and cumbersome, with mediocre fastening ability.

True! I think a T head finish nail would be just as good.