Stapling hardwood flooring

John Dow

Former Member (at his request)
Messages
535
I'm thinking of buying a stapler for installing unfinished hardwood flooring. Anyone used a conventional one for this or is the "special" one for flooring a must? Narrow crown? Medium?

Thanks,
John
 
You'll have better luck with a regular hardwood flooring, stapler, nailer.
They drive the joints together as you staple, nail.

They also make air assist flooring nailers.
I've used one. Lots nicer than the manual drive.
 
I can't discuss the virtues of staples (two legs) vs. cleats (one leg but a "head" like a staple, but I sing the praises of an air assist flooring gun. You can kick and tap but the boards will never be as even as when you hit the mallet on a flooring nailer, that tightens the board then at the right instant drives the fastener.
 
Thanks for the info guys, I think I'll find a place to rent the special tool and then maybe buy a narrow crown for general use. I'm not sure I want to be the guy who owns one of those flooring nailers locally :D
 
John,

A word of warning, renting an "air-assisted" flooring nailer may be a problem. It's impossible here in SE Michigan any more. Seems too many DIY'ers who know everything figured if 80 PSI is good for a nail gun, 120PSI is even better. As a result, the rental guys were rebuilding the air nailers so often, the profits were getting eaten up.

This has resulted in a pretty good cottage industry for used air nailers. I got mine on eBay and still have it because I have more flooring in my future. But, once I get over that hurdle, I intend to sell mine to the next guy who needs to do what you are about to do.

Of course, if you can find someone in your area that still rents these things, go for it. Just make sure the seals are good and don't over-drive the thing or you will be left high and dry in the middle of the job at the worst possible moment. :eek:
 
I'll echo the thumbs up for the Bostitch MIII-FS (stapler). :thumb: The MIII-FN is the nailer. I prefer staples, as all the research I did said they hold way better than nails in a composite(OSB, Advantech, etc.) subfloor. If you have a real wood subfloor, you might want the nailer, but otherwise...staples would be my choice.

I'll also echo what Chip says about rental places not having them. Here in Southern Georgia, all I could find for rent was 'off-brand' nailers...no Bostitch, and no staplers.

If you can find the Bostich stapler for rent locally, got for it. If not...or if you have a non-trivial amount of flooring to install...(more than a weekend's worth), you'd be better served to find one used on e-bay. Or, buy one new and sell it on ebay or craigslist when you're done. They seem to retain their value as long as you don't abuse it.

Good luck...
- Marty -
 
I second the buy and resell option.

Here in central Texas, I could only rent the flooring nailers without air assist, and for a big price. I bought a new nailer, used it over a few weeks (I'm not as young and strong as Marty, so it took longer:D ), then put it on Craigs list for a price based on what I paid, less the cost of a weekend rental. It sold so quickly that I probably could have gotten more for it. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the additional info, that's probably what I'll have to do. The HF throw away was tempting briefly, but I think its better in the long run to buy something re-sellable.

John
 
JOhn,

Based on my recent problems I had trying to install some prefinished hard wood flooring I can offer the following:

Make sure that the wood you purchase is not an exotic hardwood. Some of those can be so hard that they become brittle and split when subjected to anything other than a pre-drilled nail.

The pneumatic flooring nailer that I own is made by Porta Nail. I called them to ask for some advice and was told that the stapler can actually be more likely to cause tongue fracturing than a cleat-type nail due to the design and thickness of the staple vs. the nail.

If you are always going to use domestic hardwoods, either should suit you just fine. I will say that the nail that mine uses is serrated and 'T' shaped.They should hold better than a staple. On the other had the nails are somewhat expensive.

Check some of the manufacturers websites and don't hesitate to take a look at some of the customer reviews on Amazon.com. I have found them to be fairly decent sources of information for items like this.

By the way, when I called Porta Nail, they registered my nailer for warranty and sent me some updated/upgraded parts and the latest version of the owners manual. In general, they were exceptional to deal with.

Good luck with your decision and with your flooring installation.

Greg
 
Hey Greg, thanks for the input. Is your nailer the convertable one with the flooring shoe? Thats the only porta-nailer I'm familiar with. Given the dry climate out here, I'm really starting to like the idea of the mallet actuated style for getting it as tight as possible.

We're going with plain old red or white oak unfinished flooring, so splitting shouldn't be too bad if I keep the pressure low. Much as I like some of the other materials, I've lived in several houses with old oak flooring, so it kinda looks right to me, its pretty tough, and price can't be beat.

I was glad to see LL took good care of you too. Always a pleasant surprise to find that kind of service in a discount vendor.

John
 
John,

Yes the model I have has the face nailing shoe attachment included. I haven't used it yet but it looks as if it will work well. The shoes are swapped out by removing four allen head cap screws I believe - should be simple.

I tried the nailer out on a single piece of Brazilian cherry and was very pleased with how easily it seemed to work other than the fact the tongue split off. I realize it is not a Bostich brand but it came well recommended by some people whose opinions I value and seems to be very well made and designed.

Regarding the LL issue. I really was at my wits end with the Brazilian cherry. I was convinced I had made a huge mistake that was going to cost me many,many hours and a couple of thousand dollars later still wouldn't be right. I cannot adequately tell how relieved I was with their offer.

BTW, I did find out that they also sell unfinished 3/4" thick strip flooring.They had a maple sample in the Cincinnati store that looked very nice and tight. Seemed to be well machined and only $1.99/ s. ft. I might have to consider that in the future for another project.

Good luck with your floor. There are a lot of old oak floors in my part of Ohio. They are timeless.

Greg
 
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Further refining the on-line browsing, I kind of like the look of the Porta-nailer manual floor nailer. It looks like a Bostitch, but the piston thing ratchets so you don't need to set it all in one blow. Some of the amazon reviewers say they actually like this one better than an pneumatic style, as they can get the flooring really tight with two or three blows (meaning that the multiple blow design helps do that). Plywood subfloors, so I'm not hooked on staples over cleats anyhow.
 
...Some of the amazon reviewers say they actually like this one better than an pneumatic style, as they can get the flooring really tight with two or three blows (meaning that the multiple blow design helps do that). ...

I have only used the pneumatic style, but I decided to go for it with the logic that if the nail weren't into the subfloor, the first hit was wasted energy for the alignment, and if the nail was started in the subfloor, additional hits weren't going to get alignment any tighter.

I was able to get some pretty warped boards into alignment with the pneumatic nailer. If it was relatively straight, a medium stroke was fine, but the bad boys got the heavy mallet hit, and every board was tight with a single stroke.

I also would not have liked to make 3 times as many hits with that heavy mallet. But then, I am getting older....:(
 
I have to agree with Charlie regarding the manual vs. pneumatic.

After a few hour so bending over and sliding around the floor my body doesn't need the additional misery of swinging a heavy mallet thousands of times.

I have found that I can get along fine if I simply clamp or wedge a not-quite-straight board into place before nailing. This made it real easy to decide to go with a pnuematic model for me.

There is a video on Bob Vila's website of some young guys installing some Bellawood flooring that convinced me that I didn't want any part of a manual nailer. I definitely do not want to work that hard but my 17 & 19 year old sons might not think it to be difficult at all!

Greg
 
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