Battens on Concrete, which Nail Gun (?)

[Adrian Rees MW1LCR]

Hi I need to lay Battens on a Concrete floor, prior to laying a wooden floor.

As I have 70 odd Square metres of Floor space to cover, I don't fancy the idea of drilling, plugging and screwing the battens down to the concrete.

So I though I would use a nail gun...if possible ? (ie, no hole drilling , plugging or screwing)

What I want to do is nail the battens to the concrete, say every 18 inches. The battens will be 2x2 rough sawn pine.

Has anyone done this ? What nail gun did you use ? Was it worth doing ? Did you hire the nail gun ?

Thanks

Adrian

[Staffbull]

I'h have thought nails would work loose, could be wrong though :-). Couldnt you increase the centres considerably and use a solvent based glue for the rest of the span?

[Phil L]

Drill & screw, every 3ft is ample.[1] Nails won't go into concrete if it is completely cured (a few years old).

[1] You are only providing a 'packer' really, so that the boards aren't directly on the concrete, they won't go anywhere even if you only fix them every four foot - they can't go side to side because of downwards pressure (and the 3ft fixings) and also they will be 'braced' by the floorboards.

[deano]

That sort of nail gun requires a fire-arms licence IINM! I'm not joking either!

As mentioned, drill and plug or use Gripfill or even better, Chem-fix to glue the blighters down.

HTH deano.

[Staffbull]

I've seen one of those guns fixing wood to steel gurders, I can see why you'd need the licence, sounded like a twelve guage !!!

[stevelup]

I used to use a Hilti gas driven system:-

incredible - saved us hours and hours of work installing bits and pieces onto the concrete ceilings of nightclubs. You needed to wear ear defenders but the thing was capable of banging 10mm threaded studs directly into concrete:-

uses strips of what can only be described as bullets (complete with explosive charges) to do its duty:-

[stevelup]

Oops. Those URL's were a bit long...

[Nick H]

You can hire a gun that will fire haredened masonry nails into th concrete, Hilti make one I think, but it is a pretty scary beast an you wont like using it very much. You also need to get the right siz nails and washers for the job. Firing the nails in can be a little bi daunting as hitting a stone in the concrete can throw the nail off lin a bit. Talk to the hire shop guys, they'll give you the heads up on i all

-- Nick H

[dom]

Expensive to buy (reasonable hire) and seems to fire too short a nail to go straight through from the top of your batten:

of these is probably more what you're looking for.

tiny bit of experience (i.e. asking to have a go, from a lot of years ago) is that they will have not the slightest difficulty in penetrating concrete (or fixing to steel beams as I've seen them used). They make quite a bang, but other than that are safe in normal sensible usage. The nails I used had washered heads to prevent excessive penetration - but it might be possible in some circumstances for the nail to become a danger by passing straight through the target material.

As far as I'm aware, there is no licensing or control system relating to the sale/hire/usage of cartridge tools.

Adrian Rees MW1LCR wrote:

[manatbandq]

Think of the miles of gripper rod nailed to concrete floors.

MBQ

[manatbandq]

In addition to the other answers that contradict you, consider the miles of gripper rod nailed to concrete floors. Holds my carpets down quite well.

MBQ

[TheScullster]

"Adrian Rees wrote

Watch out for buried pipes etc!!!!!!!!!!

[Huge]

Having watched someone on a building site fix flooring to a steel I-beam with a Hilti gun, I'm happy to suspect that there is nothing that one of those things will not fire a nail into.

[Staffbull]

Last carpet we had fitted the guy used gripfill on the grips as well, thats why i suggested it :-)

[Phil L]

Yes, I agree, I've used them myself and affixed 3X2's to a steel girder, but

1) they split the wood to pieces, 2X2's would disintegrate. and 2) they don't all go in the same depth, often half of the nail is left sticking out, meaning it needs clenching over, causing even more damage to the battens

[Phil L]

The nails in this case are about 3/4 of an inch and a quarter stays above concrete....carpet grippers! - lol.

[Stephen Dawson]

Beg to differ, you do not need a firearms licence. On a site you need to be certified as competent to use. The manufacturer normally trains and issues to certificates.

Regards

Steve

[manatbandq]

So we agree then, nails *will* go into the concrete.

If 1/2" inch is long enough to hold against the sideways pull of a carpet then it will be enought to hold battens in place to take the force from above. He can always use adhesive as well if he's unsure.

MBQ