Floorboards - nail or screw?

Is there any reason why my old floorboards are nailed, other than that it's quicker?

As I will want to take my floorboards up in a year or so I think I should screw the ones I'm repairing and replacing, but what kind of screw?

As I plan on pulling them up again in a year maybe a shorter narrower screw so next year's can be secure?

There are hundreds of different screws on offer...

thanks

[g]
Reply to
George (dicegeorge)
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Historically boards were nailed with flooring brads through the tongues( or was it the grooves) to hide the nails .

Just use ones long enough to go far enough in to the joist to secure the boards and countersink the hole . I'd have though 8 or 10 size would do .

Reply to
NOSPAMnet

George,

11/2" or 2" number 8 or 10 countersunk - you can either use the old steel slot-head screw or the new-fangled phillips or pozi-drive twin-threads (my preference even though I'm an 'old timer').

Remember though, no matter how you fix the damn things down, you'll *ALWAYS* get a board that will squeak or groan after you've done the damn job. :-)

Tanner-'op

Reply to
Tanner-'op

If it is an old house, screws were expensive when it was built. Nails are also less obvious if the boards aren't covered.

I use 2" 10. Get a combination bit which drills pilot, clearance and countersink all in one go.

If you drill the correct holes the same size screw will be fine for several removals and replacements.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

That's pretty recent history - historically there were no tongues and grooves and floor boards were nailed with 'cut nails' - a method that persisted from (at least) Roman times to late Edwardian times. Cut nails are still available - their wedge shape makes a good fixing.

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Andrew,

That's what "flooring brads" are - cut nails by another name!

Tanner-'op

Reply to
Tanner-'op

Snipped,

The idea of a flooring brad is to nail down through the face of the floorboard - if you try using these through the tongues, you won't have a tongue to fix the next board to.

If you are 'secret' nailing floor boards, you generally bang an oval or lost head nail 'on the skew' through the side of the board above the root of the tongue and then belt them below the surface using a nail punch (and hammer).

And long. laborious and f****ng arm aching job when using the method to fix T,G and Veed boards to ceilings.

Tanner-'op

Reply to
Tanner-'op

If you put a cut nail (by any name) through the tongue or groove of any normal thickness floor board all you'd do is split it. They are normally put about an inch in from the edge of 6 x1 or 5 x 3/4 plain boards in my experiance, and tongue and groove boards are fixed using oval or round 'lost head' nails.. concealed nailing through the grooves uses a thin nail (relative to cut nails)

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

Or use Turbogolds & a drill driver, no pilot, self countersinking.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

I recently lifted the T+G boards in my Victorian flat and it was clear this was the first time they had been lifted .They were secret nailed using long cut brads through the tongues but the nails went in at such an angle that they came out under the main part of the board so avoiding splitting the tongue . Obviously you would never put the nail clean through the tongue as firstly you would split the tongue but it would not secure the board to the joists .

Reply to
NOSPAMnet

See my other reply to Tanner-op

Reply to
NOSPAMnet

Now that is unusual - and interesting.

I have spent all my working life on building maintenance (retired from it now) and never came across cut nails used as secret nailing in floorboards (lots of other things mind) - what were the thickness of the things?

Tanner-'op

Reply to
Tanner-'op

method to fix

nailed

Are you sure those boards were original. I've owned quite a few Victorian properties and never come across T&G floorboards.

AWEM

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

If you use a C2 or similar machine to drive the screws in without pre drilling then you will never lift the boards without splitting and damaging. So as suggested use a combination bit and pre drill so then can come out later. On the subject of cut nails and T and G, I have lifted boards in well over 1000 properties - mainly in London - and have come across cut nails in oldT and T about 3 or 4 times. they were normal cut nails - maybe a tad thinner but not significantly but did get put thru the board thickness not the tongue. Who knows they may even have been predrilled but I doubt it. It was normally only on high class houses. Most were ex 6" by 1" pine with nails directly thru about 3/4 " from the edge Chris

Reply to
mail

Not so good if you want to lift them again.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Cut nails tend to split the sort of crap we get these days instead of wood. They were fine on the pine the Victorians got - when it was new. But in centrally heated houses even that will often split with cut nails.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

? They come out fine IME?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Is there anyone in the world who prefers slotted screws?

If our boards aren't squeaking at the top of the stairs I know that the kid is in bed, we aren't being burgled and the dog isn't sneaking downstairs for a shit. Every home should have 'em.

Reply to
R D S

Yes - they come out fine, it's when you drive them in again. Unless the first driving was a bit on the underdone side, the second tends to go in too far, and to rip up any thread it cut the first time. Most especially bad when you do that repeatedly.

However, they are so wonderfully easy to use in so many ways, I *do* use them quite a bit. If it is something I expect to have to undo/redo, I will probably use a more conventional screw. If it comes back to bite me (i.e. was unexpected), I might replace the turbogold by a similar, maybe slightly larger, conventional screw.

Reply to
Rod

Funnily enough, I do for many jobs where pozi drive et all would really look out of place.

Reply to
Tanner-'op

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