help - panic attack - nails heads visible on wooden flooring

[SueOrr0103]

Hello need some advice.

Our builder is putting down reclaimed wooden floor in our house over floor joists. But I can see parallel rows of nail heads on our lovely floors. Is it coomon to nail reclaimed floor boads? I don't remember seeing nails on any wooden floors I have seen.

I'm on a major panic mode now, dont like the look of rows of silvery nail heads on otherwise lovely dark wood floors.

Sue

[peterstorm1985]

How else would you hold the boards in place? I've never lived in a house where the floors were fixed in any other way. Are the heads of the nails round or rectangular?

[red devil]

Traditional floorboards are fitted with 'brad' nails...

http://www.bricksandbrass.co.uk/images/diy/floornails.jpg

They are meant to be seen, finishing flush with the top surface of the floorboard.

When people lift up carpets to expose their existing floorboards, they are usually not that visible, having blended in with the floorboards over time.

It's only when people sand up and varnish their existing boards that they become more visible.

However in your case of using reclaimed boards, it sounds like your builder is using nails that look far too new and shiny, rather than sourcing some that would've blended in better. One solution is to 'punch' the nail heads so they sit a few mm below the surface of the board. If they still stand out visually, the gap can be filled with a matching wood filler to hide the nail head completely.

I hope you are taking notes reren ;-)

[computedshorty]

There is the problem of having

" Our builder is putting down reclaimed wooden floor "

Firstly that it has the paired nails still visible if snapped from behind, or the holes to be filled.

These nails were Floor nails that had a single clasp on one side the nails shown in the picture were used a later date.

During the War I was a Carpenter reusing reclaimed flooring from bombed houses, some of these were fixed by using the shown nails because of the shortage of nails.

If you had spoken to your builder beforehand he would has used a Lost Nead nail that when punched in the wood closes over the top.

In my days we used to mix the sawdust with glue and fill the holes, when dry sandpaper over.

[red devil]

computedshorty said...

This is still done Shorty, not just for filling holes but also the gaps between the boards to cut down on draughts.

However, with modern central heating they tend to move and crack, with pieces falling out. A piece of jute string placed in the gap before filling can help to stop this happening.

[computedshorty]

The Glue we used came in a solid slab that had hardend made cooked from animal bones the slabs were broken with the hammer to peices these put in the Glue pot that had water in it then an inner pot that the glue lumps were put.

We only had wood cuttings or cut offs to make a fire to put the pot on it had to be stired all the time and there was always a skin that had to be moved to one side to get hot glue onto the brush, all the window framed and staircases we repaired were glued this way, we did this out in the open bombsite the smell was terrible.

Never forget my first days working in Friern Road and Etherow Street, where hundreds of homes were destroyed.

[SueOrr0103]

Hi guys,

thanks very much for all your suggestions. Panic over, we asked the builder to "punch" the nails. The floor looks fabulous now.

Thanks again

Sue

[KidKruger]

yeah use a counterpunch to sink the nails in a coupel of extra mm.

Sometimes a guy will lay the floor with nails/floor brads, then go back over the entire floor using a counter punch.

One thing, over time the odd nail will work it's way up and stick it's head out a mm or so. If you walk barefoot or in socks and actually catc the underneath of your toe/foot you'll get a nasty wound. So keep an eye open cos if you catch yourself on a nail you'll be minded to carpet the room immediately !

[Annette Curtain]

KidKruger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> yeah use a counterpunch to sink the nails in a

> coupel of extra mm.

> Sometimes a guy will lay the floor with

> nails/floor brads, then go back over the entire

> floor using a counter punch.

> One thing, over time the odd nail will work it's

> way up and stick it's head out a mm or so. If you

> walk barefoot or in socks and actually catc the

> underneath of your toe/foot you'll get a nasty

> wound. So keep an eye open cos if you catch

> yourself on a nail you'll be minded to carpet the

> room immediately !

What...

A "counter punch" as in George "the grill" Foreman knocked out Joe Frazier with a counter-punch?

Blimey, who's she employing? a builder or a pugilist.

Nette:-S

[maxxi]

Or the last resort of the unhappy shopkeeper...

[KidKruger]

Counterpunch, left hook, spinning back kick and uraken - all obvious tools in laying wood floors.

Nail punch was probably the correct term.

Apologies.

[Huguenot]

No no, counterpunch was the right term. Don't let cyclists drag you down.

It was a tool used in typesetting to make a flat surface concave (like making the hole in the middle of an 'O').

It's still used in woodworking to describe the tool to push a nail below the flat surface of the wood (i.e. also a concave impression).

[red devil]

Cyclists beware, Counterpunch is a Transformer...

http://www.transformers-universe.com/content/images/Imagemaps/G1PunchCounterpunch_Map.jpg

Car drivers in disguise...

[maxxi]

Huguenot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> No no, counterpunch was the right term. Don't let

> cyclists drag you down.

>

> It was a tool used in typesetting to make a flat

> surface concave (like making the hole in the

> middle of an 'O').

>

> It's still used in woodworking to describe the

> tool to push a nail below the flat surface of the

> wood (i.e. also a concave impression).

Voila!

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR6mIsNCiyEuSQeQ9G_sL6X4faPvW7SPv5XcC4GUoYgwpjhrtoOIQ

[Annette Curtain]

Huguenot Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> No no, counterpunch was the right term. Don't let

> cyclists drag you down.

>

> It was a tool used in typesetting to make a flat

> surface concave (like making the hole in the

> middle of an 'O').

>

> It's still used in woodworking to describe the

> tool to push a nail below the flat surface of the

> wood (i.e. also a concave impression).

* throws toys out of perambulator *

(6)