I'm replacing floorboards having rewired underneath - nail or screw ? what are the pluses and minuses of each?
Plan to paint it, so would that make the screws unscrewable?
PZ2 or another kind of head?
advice and experiences please
George
I would strongly suggest making the screws so they *are* unscrewable, and not gluing the boards to the rafters. If you remove some of the screws, you can paint that area and then replace them and repeat the process on other areas.
Nails are for lazy people who like tradition.
Screws all the way for floorboards (the 2-shank decking ones are probably perfect).
Unless you like squeaky floorboards.
You may be as suprised as I was to find that screwfix sell specific floorboard screws. They don't need pre drilling, don't force the board off the joist (but tighten it down) and have tiny self countersinking heads. - Marvelous!
TW
Do all wood screws not behave in that way with soft woods?
The main thing is that you want to be able to lift the boards (either long narrow ones or large rectangles of MDF) in case you need access underneath.
We had a vile smell of rotting meat upstairs and narrowed it down to somewhere in the loft. I searched in between the boxes and cases on the floorboards, and shone a torch into the eaves. Nothing. So I shone the torch up the gap between the boards and the rafters - luckily the boards finished away from the eaves. And there was a dead rat up one of them.
So I cleared everything off the MDF boards above the rat and unscrewed all the relevant screws, The boards didn't budge *at all* - not even allowing for the fact that they *might* have been tongue-and-grooved together. I think the idiots who laid that floor in the loft had glued the boards to the rafters, and just used the screws for extra belt-and-braces - or for decoration!
Luckily I was able to lie on a board with a margarine container gaffer-taped to a garden cane, and hook the corpse closer to the unboarded part, and then pull it out with my hand inside a bag - not nice, but I wrapped it up quickly in several bags which I sealed before putting the package in the bin.
But if the rat had died further under, or between a couple of the cross-beams at right angles to the rafters, we'd have been utterly stuffed. I'm sure the smell would have got worse before it got better. At least I could see where it was and could see when my "hook" device was in the right position.
So I'd say that you should always plan for lifting the boards, even if they are normally firmly screwed down to stop them creaking when someone walks over them when they are in the loft.
Or just fill the heads with something like Blu Tack before painting.
is it old inch and eighth T&G flooring?
If you cut any of the floorboards (even in the centre of a joist) make sure there is a substantial extra noggin spanning the join. I would use screws
Sound like regular decking screws ...
Nails: quick, easy, superquick supereasy with a nailgun. But creaking can occur & occasionally lifting. Screws: no creaks, but slower & large heads.
Paint doesn't prevent unscrewing.
NT
In the good ol' days they would use cut nails that had a substantial taper and with a fairly large head - something a nail gun doesn't fire!
And the board would often split when lifting them years on. And the nail shear off when attempting to remove it.
Screws are the way. Use a second drill to make a pilot hole and a power screwdriver. If you want to be able to remove them at a later date. Not something that bothers the average tradesman.
Yes, it seems to me that drilling a pilot hole in the floorboard means normal screws will pull the board down without the hassle and expense of the fancy double threaded floorboard screws
(they are not tongue and grooved)
George
The nails holding the floorboards down here (1890's cottage) are the 'bright cut' type?
Luckily, Dad had a proper slide-hammer nail extractor tool (that I wouldn't have know existed if he hadn't had one) and that got most of them out without too much hassle. All removed now replaced with screws.
Cheers, T i m
They do quite a bit of damage to the board, though.
The larger head hopefully covering up the damage. ;-)
Re-boarding our kitchen floor and will be using screws, screw-tite 2s. They may be double the price of ordinary but worth it for the time saving of not having to drill pilot holes. Currently the boards are nailed down with 2 1/4? lost head nails which are a sod to jemmy out often wrecking the T&G. Had these nails in a previous property which had chipboard floors simply used a parallel punch to knock them them into the joist the boards lifted easily without damage. Doing the same in softwood the heads move about producing large holes or splits.
Richard
They do ... to the top, dents either side of the nail head etc, but that's it, no splitting of the boards when forcing them up from the side with a bolster etc.
It does, mostly but even if it doesn't, I cant see an issue or think of a better solution that didn't cause any worse damage?
Cheers, T i m
Screwfix have 3 different kinds of screwhead Wirox PZ2 TX T-star
Which will be easiest to remove if it gets coated with paint and shoe grunge?
Not really. These are made for self drilling with a different pitch of thread at the top of the screw, so as they are tightened the board is brought down onto the joist. And heads so small they won't break the tongue off a t and g board if you are doing it that way, and so small they look like nail holes if you are coming through from the top.
Good stuff!
TW
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