I’m up in MI preparing to install some 5″ pre-finished Brazilian Walnut/IPE that i purchased from LL. They assure me that as long as I’ve acclimated properly (5 weeks now)and the home has humidity control, which it does, that standard nail down installation using a power nailer over felt should yield great results.
Unfortunately my wife recently asked a flooring salesman (while shopping for tile) about this and he insisted to her that glue down was the only way to install this product properly.
Now I’m second guessing. Any feedback is welcome before I go down the wrong path.
Replies
nail down is superior to glue down.. wood expands and shrinks as humidity changes that movement is accomidated by nailing and not accomidated at all by glue..
You can get away with glue down on pergo and other nonsolid wood.
Thanks Frenchy, that makes me feel a little more confident.I'm also considering pre-drilling and using trim screws maybe every other floor joist to help the nails. Would this be overkill or pose any other potential problems?
yeh it's overkill. (although I screwed down my flooring, however it's wide plank (up to 14 inches wide) black walnut which cannot be edge nailed down.
What I did was bore a large hole in the face of the plank set in screws and then make plugs from the cut offs and glue the plugs in the holes.. with careful plug selection and grain alignment the plugs all but disappeared.. You can see pictures of my floor at 86666.13
Well,
Now that you have advice from Lumber Liquidators, a tile guy, and an equipment salesman, what more could you want?
sorry - you came to the right place and will get plenty more good advice. LL is not known for good service, but in this case, he told you right, except that I still don't know what kind of wood this is, walnut - or ipe`
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Sorry to create any confusion. It is my understanding that Ipe and Brazilian Walnut are the same species with Brazilian Walnut being a marketing name?
I have always nailed Ipe with standard nailers with great success. You will have a beautiful and hard floor.
Kimball
Market name for Ipe` is Ironwoods.I suspect that since this is interior, you might be getting Bwalnut
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I think Ipe is a market name that includes a number of tropical hardwoods of similar structure. Brazilian walnut is another name it trades as. Be careful when you lay out your floor. I did one that had huge variations(I believe that one was from LL) There were a few pieces almost white and a few almost black. The homeowner had a fit and we ended up pulling about a dozen boards. In general it is a very hard and beautiful wood that makes a nice floor. The dust will burn your eyes a little when sanding, wear a mask. Good luck and send pictures.
Kimball
Lumber sales people will sometimes suggest glue down for woods that are prone to splitting by the uninitiated. (I've been told this before about bamboo for example)
They don't want you griping at them if you don't know what you are doing and split a bunch.
You shouldn't have any problems just nailing.
"Market name for Ipe` is Ironwoods."Ironwoods is the trade name used by one importer. And I don't know that is used on interior flooring. Only see it used on decking, but who knows.But exotic lumber often had a number of different names and from one supplier to another the names don't always match the species.But LL is noted for being even more "creative" with names that they use..
William the Geezer, the sequel to Billy the Kid - Shoe
creative yeah! That is why I brought the issue up. The other I know.I was considering Merrantii as a substitute fro Ipe` once. Talked to a wood scientist and he told me that there are probably well over 300 varieties of the wood that is known here as merrantii. Some would be a passable substitute and wear well, but others would rot fairly quickly, but that many importers do no differentiate very much.Same deal with "mahogany" and all its substitutions, varieties, and false mahoganies.
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"Now that you have advice from Lumber Liquidators, a tile guy, and an equipment salesman, what more could you want?"
After sniffing contact cement all day (2-1/2 gallons worth) I needed that laugh.
"Now that you have advice from Lumber Liquidators, a tile guy, and an equipment salesman, what more could you want
And if I answered it would have included a framer!
If it's a 3/4" thick solid wood flooring, then nail it down. No glue.
If it's a thinner engineered (ply structure) flooring then gluing could be an option. The only adhesive to use would be Bostik's Best.
"Pao Lope" is another name for ipe, it's what one of the lumberyards around here calls ipe. I think it's a trademarked name for a certain distributor/exporter/importer.
With LL, watch out for excessive shorts and excessive color variation.
As Always I appreciate the good feedback from this forum.I'll try to get some pictures posted of the whole project which is at 18mo's now and still going.
Isn't if funny how wives seen to think total strangers always know more then their husbands. Vince Carbone
Riverside Builders
Franklin,NY
Yeah - tell her a story one lousey time and she demotes you forever
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All I want to know is how to pronounce IPE ?
It is pronounced E'pay.Woody
Around here it rhymes with eBay. Unless you pronounce eBay "eye pay". Or "eye pie".Unless you say Pao Lope. Or Ironwood.
Pow-low pay is what I make after what the I-Pay will cost.
Edited 1/30/2009 6:26 pm ET by jayzog
Like hip ay only leave the H sound off the front end.
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More names here.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ip%C3%A9Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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