I have two question prior to a new install and figured Id put them on a new post.

#1)I know that you cannot get any longer than 2 inch nails for a pneumatic nailer or stapler. I was just wondering if the manual nailers make a 3 inch nail. Someone else mentioned a 3 inch nail in a previous post but I have never heard of such a thing. What about hand nailing a floor with regular 3 inch cut nails without using a nailing machine at all? Is this possible?


#2) Repeatedly on this site people are recommending using roofing felt on top of the subfloor. I have one major concern about this based on my experience as a builder. Roofing felt is a tar based product. My experience with roofing felt against raw wood is that the tar bleeds into the wood. I have torn off non backprimed cedar siding that was installed over roofing felt and the tar from the felt has bled into the wood. Isnt this a concern that the tar can bleed through to the finish. Scott

Never seen felt's tar migrate to the surface of floring under normal conditions. what's the deal with three inch nails? two inch is plenty, hell I even know of many floors put down with a 13/4" nails. if you have a 3/4 floor with a 3/4' subfloor a 2" staple will go all the way through and then some.

I have 5/8" particleboard over the 3/4" subfloor. I will remove the particleboard as suggested by Gary but it was just a thought that if I could hand nail with a 3inch nail I would be able to reach through the particle board and hit the 3/4" plywood. The particleboard is very securely nailed and goes under all the baseboard and will be very hard to remove. It was just a thought. I realize taking up the particleboard is the only way to do it.
scott









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