This is a follow-up to my question on Bowrenches.
Many thanks, if anyone has this information.
Cheers Richard
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I've just weighed some for you.
100 2" brads = 400 grammes approx (actual weight 405 grammes).If this is the same floor that you've been working on recently you're going to need about 600 / 700 brads - 2.4 / 2.8 kg. That's a lot of heavy nailing so it would be worth checking on the condition of the ceiling below.
I think that 2" should be OK for 18mm - that's the kind of length I saw when I replaced our floors from original.
Cic.
Just go to your local hardware store and buy them in the quantity U need FFS !
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A p.s to my earlier reply. I don't think these (flooring brads) are the kind of brads that go into nail guns. As far as I know brads for nail guns are usually quite small - more like panel pins. Check it out with your supplier before you buy.
Cic.
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Thanks for that, and for the calculation. In reply to your PS. I'm not using a nail gun, but an 'ammer. I'm hopeful about the ceiling but will suck it and see - although this is the first floor of a dormer bungalow, the first floor resembles a loft conversion in that the ceiling is attached to 4x2 ceiling joists, but the floor is going on
7x2 that were inserted between them (but not attached to them) when rooms were created up there.Cheers Richard
Richard
2" brads will be fine. Remember to put them in about 3/4' in from each side on, say, a 6" board ie with a decent amount of edge distance but "close" to the edge. They can sometimes twist and so be careful to hold the brad straight as you hammer it in. Check you are not in a knot and if you are either pre-drill it (if you want the placing right) to 5/8th the shanks long width or better still two holes close to one another 9/10th the short width at the point of rest of the brad or move the location inwards if there are no pipes under. Nail them till they are just flush with the top so you do not leave any "half crowns" in the floorboards (indentations of the 'ammer 'ead) and then punch them all in with a nail punch about 2 mm. That way you will have 16mm of timber held and 32 holding in the joist which is exactly the right ratio for nailing down. consider the merits of sound deadening quilt (SDQ) laid between joist and boards if there is a ceiling below Use decent floorboard cramps or if you do not have any use folding sliding wedges. I strongly recommend leaving the boards for 6 weeks in the warm conditions it will be to equilibrate and shrink if they are new. Chris
All well and good on pine, but these boards are pitch pine. IME you would have trouble sinking the heads of flooring brads in such a dense material. Lost head nails might be easier
I used 63mm and 7/8" pine boards (reclaimed). it went fine although I did drill small pilot holes to avoid splitting the boards.
I bought the brads here
Robert
Thanks.
Richard
It's an interesting point. I'll have to experiment, I think.
Cheers Richard
Thanks for your detailed reply :-) Do you think drilling pilot holes increases the risk of splitting the timber? The idea, I thought, was for the brad to punch its way through, rather than act as a wedge, which is why the ends are blunt (and why one sometimes blunts a nail when splitting is likely in other timber).
I was planning on leaving the boards up there for 3 weeks, in the hope of moving into the bedroom by Xmas. Possibly that's not long enough.
Cheers Richard
You could move in without finally fixing the boards. I'd leave that till the Spring after a winter of central heating
I was considering that - possibly a few screws in every fourth board.
Cheers Richard
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