Tongue and Groove Nailing/Finishing
I’m about to install my tongue and groove, about 2 miles of it! 1×8. Might not end up installing the whole 2 miles (6800 sq ft.).
Question 1. Can I spray on, then brush over, the polyurethane finish? Can I use one of those pumped agricultural sprayer then brush over? Water based poly. Plan to coat the back, flip ’em over, then coat the front. Maybe twice.
Question 2. What do I nail these to the walls/ceilings with? Do I use finish nails? Brads? Need to buy a nailer for this…what to get. I want to nail through the tongues so hide the nails…no face nailing.
The house is coming along…ever so slowly. Big rush is on to have thanksgiving dinner in the new place! We shall see. Everyone happy with microwaved hungary man dinners?? Me neither. ALthough my running joke is that I WILL eat turkey dinner in the new house…maybe a hungary man for breakfast…then I’ll head to Mom’s with the family. LOL
Thanks all!
Replies
The sprayer sounds like a good option with a brush finish. Pine or cedar? Rough or smooth side out if it is cedar?
How you gonna dry them?
Heard a good suggestion from a friend that you cut them to 2,4,6,8,etc. foot lengths then bevel the butted edges on the finished side. Stagger the joints. The joints look less like an eyesore and more like a planned event.
As for nailing (I haven't ordered yet my 2800 sq ft.) I plan on the 16 ga air nailer. I used it on the filler board on paired Oak collar ties and found the nailholes barely perceptable. And that was on a planed face of Oak! 2" nails hold tough.
I'm interested in hearing from the experienced guys. I'm just guestimating.
The garden sprayer will be fast but may waste a lot of material. You'd probably need to get about four pieces spread out on the horses to do all at one time. Then once it's sprayed you'll have to brush like a wildman to get it all smooth before it kicks or the brush will leave drag marks to ruin the look.
I'd vote for a roller to put it on and the brush to make it look good, one stick at a time. I did mine with water based and about a thousand feet of basement space to stack the drying pieces around, doing close to twenty five hundred square feet of v-groove. By the time I finished one coat on all of it, the first was dry and it was time for the next coat to start happening. Actually, it was time to take a break and eat.
With 6800ft you could do a coat a day and use stickers. Maybe put final coat on after it's in place so you can sand out or buff down any flaws first.
Finish nails in tongues. 8d galv
Or 15Ga from gun
Is any of it structural, ie, contributing as diagonal bracing, shear wall or whatever or is it all ceilings?
Excellence is its own reward!
"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius
If you have to brush it out after you spray it (2 operations), why not try a wool or synthetic pad (1 operation) instead ? My old trim partner and I did many miles of it that way.
You don't mention if you're nailing it over bare framing or drywall. If you're going over framing, I'd suggest investing in a BoWrench, the tool used to persuade decking into place. They've got a little T&G attachment that slips over the tongue of your board and helps you to suck it down tight. The stuff is never straight, and the business of nailing a block and driving a wedge, or prying with a chisel,can get real old. The tool will set you back near $130, but you'll worship it after 1 job. You could probably sell it for a good proce after the fact. If you're going over drywall, my heart goes out to you.
I love my Senco SFN40 finish nailer for T&G. Use the rubber tip, and you can get that nail right in the corner of the tongue.
Be sure to snap a number of chalk lines across your surface, and measure to them about every 4th course to see that you're working parallel to your finishing point. And lay out those chalk lines FROM your finishing point, not where you're starting from.
Good luck!
Thanks for the tips. I have thought about using a painting pad or roller...I have read it works OK.
I don't plan to finish all at once...thought I'd do a bunch of boards on the "back" side first...then flip 'em and finish the front. I have the house to work in for now....
White Pine...over rock. I don't think code accepts pine directly over insulation...not legally at least.
Thanks!
Whether you can lay your T&G right over framing all depends on what code applies in your area. I have spent way too much time on 4-5 sections of scaffold nailing up T&G ceilings over I-joists. That's where I got to love the BoWrench.
There might be others with better ideas, but for going over rock, I usually carry a cut-off w/ a couple of screws started in it, along w/ several wedges w/ the groove on one edge. When I get to a stubborn board, I run in the block a couple of inches above it w/ my cordless, then drive a tapered wedge into the gap to seat the board.
Also, be sure to check your layout when you start, so that you don't end up with a goofy little rip in a place you don't want it. Most of what we did was 1x6, which averaged 5-1/8 on the finished face, so we'd take the overall dimension divided by that figure to see where we should be to end up looking good. It's helpful to snap your chalklines along those intervals, so you can squeeze your joints down or open them up a hair to keep you on track.
Carry on!
Edited 11/7/2002 1:17:38 PM ET by BEMW