Floorboard screws

Mar 14, 2011 14 Replies

How best to screw down old floorboards ? Spax Flooring Screw ? file:///home/george/diy-ub/Spax-Flooring-Screw-Zinc-Yellow-Passivated-4-5-X-60mm-Pack-of-300.html.mht



They have a smooth bit of shaft so the floorbaord will be pulled down tight, but the bit of thread at the top seems to me to spoil this effect: either the thread there will grip and hold the board up, or it will tear the wood, pulling the board down. So why have a bit of thread at the top? [g]


file:///home/george/diy-ub/Spax-Flooring-Screw-Zinc-Yellow-Passivated-4-5-X-60mm-Pack-of-300.html.mht

Please give a proper link. How are we supposed to access a file on

*your* hard disk?!

I''ve not used them yet but I have bought some in readiness for a small job and the answer on the Axminster site was "Upper thread locks the top board securely (No more squeaks)".

file:///home/george/diy-ub/Spax-Flooring-Screw-Zinc-Yellow-Passivated-4-5-X-60mm-Pack-of-300.html.mht

ooops...

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-5-X=AD-60mm-Pack-of-300.html.mht

dodgy security settings?

Owain

the board is not fully tightened to the joist already then the final tightening action of pulling the board down will cause the top thread to strip out of the board so the benefit of that part is lost.

In a similar spot, I'd use these:

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noticed however that yours are marginally cheaper per screw so hey, go for it.

Btw, for more manageable screwfix links, it's ok to strip the part after the part code, it's redundant.

It really jumps out at you, doesn't it?

Self tightening (in the northern hemisphere) ;-)

Here's a pic of the non self tightening version:

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file:///home/george/diy-ub/Spax-Flooring-Screw-Zinc-Yellow-Passivated-4-5-X-

I guess they accidentally reversed the image.

Still havent seen a convincing reason for the short thread at the top of

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oh why? [g]

For my education, what please was unconvincing about the explanation from the Axminster site that I posted please? (That was ""Upper thread locks the top board securely (No more squeaks)"

screw head, but still allows them to be tightened down onto the joist.

Probably to stop the board sliding up and down on the shank of the screw and squeaking.

Can anyone remember who it was who made frame-fixing screws that had ribs under the head which bit into to the wood so you could screw them in and out? They were great - you could screw the frame to the brickwork, then jack it in and out until all was plumb and square - then foam it to lock it.

Did our back door like that and wish I could find them again.

Might have been Fischer - but I can't seem to find them again.

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me what pitch is.

But Spax Flooring Screws threads top and bottom look the same pitch at in the picture at:

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again maybe how it works is that the lower thread drills through the floorboards into the joist and when the smooth middle bit is in the floorboard it pulls the board down with friction on the (not totally) smooth centre of the screw.

Then, when the top bit of thread gets into the floorboard that fixes the floorboard into the position it is so it doesnt ever move again due to changing humidity etc.

Its unlikely that the top bit of the thread on the screw will start exactly where the new groove starts in the floorboard, so it will carve a slightly larger groove, which may help if the boards expand due to humidity changing.

Or something like that.

I'll order a box tonight!

[g]

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