I have to put down a few hundred feet of unfinished.1″x!0″ yellow pine flooring in a log cabin I moved for some folks.Im trying to find out whether it should be face nailed besides traditional nailing with my Portanailer on the tounge.They want it to look rustic/old so we would use cut nails on the face if we had to.Any nailing schedule suggestions?Thanks.
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I would definitely face nail it, although screwed and plugged is a nice alternative. If your joists ( or adequate subfloor) allows, I like using 2 fasteners about 1-1/2 --2" from edges of each board on 32" centers. The next floor course is same pattern but offset 16". Keeps the floor from being too cluttered with fasteners.
Instead of cut nails, use 8d ring shank with the heads tarnished. These you can even shoot from a nail gun with a flush nailing attachment. Wire nails started becoming available in the mid 1800s, so a common nail would most likely be appropriate.
Tremont Nail Company makes a perfect nail for this application, black iron head, looks like an old horseshoe nail. Did a floor with recycled heart pine and it looked incredible.
Bill
Or glue it down
But to nail it, I would pre-drill for each nail and make the hole slightly oversized. That will help minimize splitting and checking. Be sure it is acclimatized first
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