What Gauge Cleat For 3 4 Hardwood Floor

Diy enthusiasts want to know which choice is best in the cleats vs staples argument.

What gauge cleat for 3 4 hardwood floor.

A 18 g finish nailer with at least 1 1 2 nails 3 finish nails 3 8 drill with 1 8 bit a nail set and construction adhesive. The two gauges of nails typically used for hardwood floors are 16 and 18 gauge. Pros and cons of using cleats for hardwood floor installation. Certain cleat nailer models are specifically designed for use with thin engineered hardwood flooring like the primatech q 550 18 gauge cleat nailer which can be used to install 3 8 to 3 4 tongue and groove flooring.

You need this as well as the hardwood stapler and l cleats. Shf15 senco manual hardwood flooring cleat nailer use 1 1 2 long cleat nails when installing thinner 1 2 thick wood flooring. Once you are about 4 rows from a wall you cannot use the big nailer anymore because you can t swing the hammer to actuate the air nailer. Staple which had lost up to 60 of it s holding power on lesser density subfloors.

Hardwood flooring installers have used cleats for generations nailing 3 4 solid hardwood planks to a wooden subfloor with 2 nails formed with an l shaped head. Due to well defined barbs powercleats have the best holding power in the industry. Jam or tenon saw. With staples you get what you pay for.

After conditioning flooring 3 1 4 hard maple in cycling chambers from 80 rh to 20 during mutiple weeks and using same subfloor materials the 16 and 18 ga. Use 1 3 4 long cleat nails when installing 3 4 solid wood flooring when 3 4 thick plywood is applied directly over a concrete slab so the cleat nail does not go through the 3 4 thick plywood hitting the concrete. The higher the gauge number the thinner the nail. The 16 gauge 1 3 4 in.

But to cleat nails designed specifically for use on hardwood. Hardwood floor nailer specific to wood type manual or pneumatic. Nail showed very little lost and outperformed the 15 5 ga.