Bathroom floor prep - For vinyl flooring.

hardboard. If you want perfection use levelling compound on top

Thin ply or possibly hardboard... Personally I would screw it down since there is less chance of a screw working lose and the head becoming visible through the flooring.

Plywood used here and it was stapled down. 20 + years ago so probably a better staple gun than my Screwfix cheapy:-)

Otherwise annular shank nails can do the trick.

Chris

Except when someone wants to lift those floorboards at some point in the future. Which they won't be able to do without either knocking lumps out of the floorboards or possibly having to use a core drill to cut around every nailhead.

Have you never wondered why all flooring cleats, both traditional and those used in nailers, are all tapered ? And usually flat with t heads so they can be aligned with the edge of the board ?

But at least you didn't suggest cluing so that's something I suppose.

michael adams

...

or gluing for that matter

You are aware of course that we are talking about an additional layer fixed to the top of the floorboards, and not describing fixing of the boards themselves? Removing a single board in such circumstances is going to be a major PITA anyway.

Hardly as big a PITA as it would be if it was nailed down with with annular shanked nails. In fact using screws makes that job considerably easier than it would be had any type of nail been used. Regardlessof any danger of them working loose or not.

michael adams

...

If it's rigid vinyl any fixing needs to be flush, even a 1mm step edge causes premature failure. Soft vinyl isn't so worried.

NT

Whatever you use to fix it down, make sure they are no longer than the thickness of the floor (childhood memories of my Dad and an emergency plumber).

David