Nailing Brazilian Teak Flooring

carlh6902

I would like to install 3/4" Brazilian Teak (L.L. aka Bellawood) hardwood flooring in our house. I'm told I should pre-drill and hand nail this flooring, as a floor nailer will split the flooring. Has anybody tried to install this flooring using a pneumatic nailer, and made it work? If I really have to drill and hand nail it, I'll go with another wood instead.

Carl

Termite

Let's bump this one back to the top to try to get this fellow an answer. I haven't got a clue on hand nailing flooring....Except to say no thanks!!!

jcalvin

Just finished installing about 1000ft in my home. The air nailer did fine except for the occasional time it would bust off a couple inches of the tongue. I found out that the darker color the wood was, the easier it split which lead me to think it is harder than the lighter color. As far as the first and last few pieces that you have to hand nail, good luck. I tried everything and the only way to keep it from splitting was to predrill the hole only slightly smaller than the nail and then drive it in. This lead to squeaking.

Other than that, we love it. We have a pit bull, 3yr old, 20month old twins, and a contractor that only takes his boots off to go to bed and they are holding up scratch free wonderfully.

I have about 130ft left over if anyone needs any.

__________________
Cal

You hired WHO?
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Heathen

I put down 1,500 sq ft of this flooring (3 1/4 " wide) last year. As previously noted, a few of the tongues split and I had to trim them off. This is not unique to Cumaru. To nail the boards closest to the wall I used a pneumatic finish nailer through the tongue (or in the rare places where I face nailed it). This worked well. We are very happy with the floor, it hasn't changed colors at all and has been dimensionally stable too. BTW- A pneumatic nailer or stapler is a must, don't try a manual one.

Good Luck