Can You Install Hardwood Flooring With A Finish Nailer

It is designed for trim work and to shoot a near headless nail that does not mar the surface look of the wood.

Can you install hardwood flooring with a finish nailer. The wrong nails can ruin a hardwood floor by causing splitting as they are driven in to the wood. That said it is much better to use a manual or pneumatic hardwood nailer they are easier to use faster does a better job and made for the specific application. But when working with hardwood there is a unique and important consideration. A 15 gauge may initially appear to have the advantage in that a sturdier nail should logically afford a stronger fastener.

Some will just face nail and. After that continue with the flooring nailer until you re too close to the far wall and then switch back to the finish nailer through the tongues. For the last 3 or 4 rows where the finish nailer won t fit you can drill through the tongues and hand nail. To use this nailer position the nail shoe on the wood tongue at.

Some will add glue to these last rows in addition to nails. Can i use my bostitch finish nailer. For correct use make sure the tool s nail shoe is well positioned on the tongue angled at about 15 degrees inward and downward as if moving to the plank. Nails designed for a hardwood floor usually have a thinner diameter than standard nails to help.

A finish nail gun designed for trim work shoots a near headless nail that does not mar the surface look of the wood which makes a finish nailer effective for installing hardwood floors as well. If you re handy with a finish nail gun you can use it to install a hardwood floor. Start by snapping a line down the center of the room then measure from that line to the wall on the side you want to start. So if you handy with a finish nailer then you can use it for the installation of hardwood floor.

While you can use a finish nailer i would do anything to avoid using it. Flooring nailers are pneumatic or manual and they make installing a hardwood floor much lighter work than it once was. I have a small 32 sq. A 16 gauge finish nailer is more than adequate to hold down 5 16 inch hardwood which is the usual thickness of retrofit panels.

In that limited space swinging a mallet and maneuvering an air flooring hammer seems like it might be a chore without smudging and banging up the walls. The critical step in installing the hardwood floor is the first row.