I need to put down a wooden floor over construction grade OSB. I have read that the nails will not hold over time (unlike plywood) resulting in a squeaky floor. Someone said you can use nails from a gun that have a barbed effect on them which will hold. Can anyone confirm/deny this ? (OSB is 18mm, boards are 20mm with joists 600mm apart)
Nail Gun on Construction Grade OSB?
Feb 02, 2006
3 Replies
I doubt it. You're not going to get a decent fixing if you're only going 3/4" into board anyway.
Longer nails into the joists?
MBQ
A TV program that I saw recently (Canadian, admittedly) suggested that the subfloor should be 1 1/2 inches thick to nail too, and the subfloor should be screwed to the joist, not nailed. 18mm is just under 3/4 inch, so it seems a bit thin to me. Mind you, I am only reporting on a TV show (Holmes on Homes) and not from experience.
It seems to me that if the joists are of adequate size, then a barbed nail driven into the joist through the OSB should hold. The problem is that, as a weak floor flexes, ordinary nails will tend to 'walk out' - so the issue is the solidity of the joist/OSB combo, and the kind of traffic it will bear.
R.
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