Re: Tools 4 Hardwood Floor Install

Here's a couple sites that might help you:

I've laid about 1500 SF of T&G I cut myself and had milled. Did it all with the manpowered nailer. It's kinda fun when you get the swing down and get a good drive . Some of my wood is so hard I had to finish some nails with a nailset and hammer.

With prefinished, getting the substrate flat is all the more important. I knocked down some swelled seams in my OSB with a drum sander. I used tarpaper instead of plastic, but either is OK, as far as I know.

You can rent all the tools. There's no use for them except for floors and they are hard to sell. I gave $50 for my nailer because there was no market for it.

Wilson

Look for the book and companion video from Taunton Press on Hardwood flooring too.

M Hamlin

Looking to get some new tools out of the deal? ;-) Lets see:

1. Pneumatic floor nailer
2. Sliding compound miter saw (a chop saw would work, but what the heck)
3. Table saw to rip to width when less than a full board width is needed
4. Finish nailer for face nailing the edges
5. Undercut jamb saw to trim the door jambs.
6. Knee pads

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA

always stay between 1/4 - 1/2 in.away from all walls due to expansion.unless you use brazilian cherry or mesquite flooring. they have the least expansion rate.you can use 30lb. roofing paper or

Smip and 100 sq ft of

Snip

Why not get some kind of cultured stone? It looks pretty close (almost exactly) like the real thing, and it's all the same thickness, all the edges are sqare and plumb, and it's waaay more expensive. Wait, that's not an argument *for* cultured stone...

We also need some more details. Interior or exterior? What kind of substrate (concrete, dirt, gravel, wood)? High traffic? Is furnitre going on it?

Good luck.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm all over it."

-Brian Hall

Phil Crow

Hi All

Why am I doing it? Wife of mine is letting me get more tools with out arching her eye brows.

Where is the slate going? 78 sq ft of it are in a inside entry way and the remainer is in a unheated outer covered doorway with a large outer door that they rarely close. No furniture on the slate but it is high traffic. There community salts road and sidewalk heavily so lots gets tracked in. I was thinking that I would have to seal really well.

Any one out there have a air compressor that they really love? Of for that matter really hate?

cultured stone is frequently softer than real stone.

Cultured stone, unless *well* sealed, is gonna succumb to salt sooner or later. The binder in cultured stone is portland cement, which is broken down by salt. Natural stone holds up better.

My suggestion is for what's called "cut blue stone" or some such. Also, get a variety of shapes, rather than 'all the same size' because they rarely are and when you try to line them up, well, they don't and the grout lines look crummy. If you're more adventurous (or have tighter purse strings) you can get irregular shapes, but IMO, the look of cut stone is worth the extra $$$.

Good luck, Master Chef. Let us know how it comes out, and post pictures!

-Phil Crow

Interesting. One of the features common to brick buildings in Russia are annual rings produced by salted winter mortar (brick shortages) and dark summer mortar.

Of course, back in the full employment days they didn't care. Work redone was work, too.

#2 & #3: wet saw. rent one for a day to do all your cuts, or you can buy a cheap one at the borg for about 2 days rental.

regards, charlie cave creek, az