I told my builder to "glue and screw" the subfloor panels. But, when I came to the site, all I found were nails. Tomorrow I have a "come to jesus" meeting with the builder, and I'm wondering whether it will do any good now to add screws.

A few details: The joists are Weyerhaeuser TJI. It has rained for days and the top ply'd nailing strip is soaked. The subfloor panels are 1-1/8" Weyerhaeuser Edge Gold. They used TiteBond ProVantage Subfloor Glue and either smooth or ring-shank nails (I don't know yet).

My understanding is this ... Especially with wet joists, the best approach is to: put glue on the joists, place the panel, stand above each fastener, and drive the screw.

As I understand the science, within a short time, the glue hardens and the configuration is set in stone. Unless the panel was pressed AND remained tight against the joist, adding screws at this point wouldn't pull the panel any tighter against the joist.

I've also read opinions that one of the causes of squeaks is the smooth shank of nails (versus the threaded shanks of screws).

So ... am I "hosed" because these guys nailed the subfloor, or could adding screws after-the-fact prevent future squeaks?

Thanks for your advice!

-- Paul

That would certainly help if some screws were to release down the road.

Thanks Stephen.

I inspected the results and had the builder describe exactly how he went about installing.

His explanation was that he had a window of sunny weather Saturday morning and he made a "game time decision" that it would better to move quickly to glue and nail the panels under relatively dry conditions and then screw them after he got the panels down and fastened. (I think the unspoken part was that he hadn't come to the site with the right screws and screw gun -- otherwise, screwing would have taken only slightly longer for this size floor.)

He appeared to follow best practices: applied proper glue; laid no more than 3 panels; stood over each point as he fully nailed the panels with ring shank nails. (Fortunately, he didn't just tack down the panels with a few nails.)

Where I could see the panel edges they appeared tight against the joist (not floating on glue).

It was pretty dry from Saturday until Tuesday, when they screwed the panels down.

I made sure he now understands that "game time" decisions to vary from instructions aren't to be made unless he can't reach me and delay would be critical.

-- Paul

Every delay is critical when you re trying to earn a living on a fixed cost bid.

That may be true, but this isn't a fixed-cost contract.

BTW, for the second floor deck, I was present and respectfully reviewed the steps I wanted the guys to follow. They screwed down each panel as it was glued and laid. From underneath, it looked perfectly tight against the joists.

What surprised me was how fast the "screw gun" made the job. Once I saw this, I realized how ridiculous it was to use a nail gun to "save time" putting down about 50 sheets. My guess is that the total time saved (if any) would be less than an hour!

-- Paul