Should shoe moulding be nailed to the floor? If hand nailing, use 4d’s? Thanks.
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Hoov,
If you nail it to the floor and the floor moves, the shoe moves. Nailed to the base and the floor moves, the shoe stays fitted to the base it was fitted to.
I'd hate to hand nail shoe, but 4's are ok, 3's will work.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Does the type of floor matter? This is 2 3/8" pine, maybe 50 years old.
No, it doesn't matter. The flooring is held back about 1/2" from the walls to allow for seasonal expansion and contraction. If you nail to the floor, gaps will appear between the shoe and the wall.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
On the other hand, if you nail shoe to the baseboard and it shrinks, might you get gap between the shoe and the floor?By the way, would love to get a nailer, but just doing a few rooms after floors are refinished.
I don't know, maybe a pine floor would shrink up a bit more than some. Depending on your location the floor could be swelling up if you've had the hot humid weather of NW Oh. In the winter, it'll move back. There are times when you have little choice and then you just throw caution to the wind and fasten to the floor. I've had situations where the shoe just barely covers the gap at the bottom of the base. I'd either scab nailers/backers under that base or pop some nails into the floor. Field decision.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Edited 6/30/2005 10:05 pm ET by calvin
This is the perfect opportunity for you to buy an 18 ga brad nailer, and use 1" brads to hold the shoe.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
iling shoe over a saltillo tile floor. Nothing is level. the B/bd sits on the high points, w/ up to 1/2" gap under. I used 2" air-nailed brads into the sole plate (they often missed the b/bd anyway). Sincew it was 1/4 round there really was no chance I'd hit the b/bd...cove might have been different.
cheers
***I'm a contractor - but I'm trying to go straight!***
Why wasn't the base scribed to the floor? Even a quick rough scribe would at most leave 1/8" gaps. If I walked away from base with 1/2" gaps I'd be handed a newspaper classifieds to look for a new job.
I asked the customer which would be her choice - scribe or shoe. She chose the latter. Sure, the gaps are still there, in some places more than 1/8" (it is saltillo after all, and the tilesetter chose the flatter ones - which were less than 20% of the tiles - for the centre of the room) but scribing would, I feel, accentuate them. In fact I know...I did a testpiece for her. Scribing looked like h*ll, and the 1/4 round draws the eye and creates shadows. She was very happy with it all - and the only paper I got had my name and some figures on it!
cheers
***I'm a contractor - but I'm trying to go straight!***
Edited 7/1/2005 10:05 pm ET by piko
Toenail with 6d finish nails into the subfloor.This eliminates gaps from either the flooring or base shrinking. This is standard practice whether hand nailing or pneumatic.
mike