Building and Construction - 1/4" ply on top of 3/4" OSB for hardwood

Author

1/4" ply on top of 3/4" OSB for hardwood

jenerik2@hotmail.com

2006-04-24, 6:21 pm

This post follows an earlier post on running hardwood parallel to the
joists. I've decided to run the 3/4" hardwood perpendicular to the
joists to avoid possible issues. My other problem is that I have 3/4"
OSB as a subfloor which I am hearing isn't ideal for nailing hardwood
to. It's in good condition and I'm wondering if glueing and screwing a
1/4" ply down to the OSB would make a better subfloor to nail into
(better nail gripping). Is it worth the extra $$ and work to do this?

Also, from what I can see in the bundles of hardwood, the lengths of
the boards are substantial, 18" to 7' with a high percentage of the
boards being more than 3 feet long. Does it make sense to mark all the
joists on the roofing paper to make sure I hit each joist with each row
of flooring ensuring that at least 1 nail from each board will be sunk
in a joist.

Last thought: is there anything that can be done (easily) from the
underside to help with nail gripping (assuming that the nail will
penetrate far enough) since I have easy acces from the underside?

Thanks

TVeblen

2006-04-24, 6:21 pm

<jenerik2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1145909829.472239.245290@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> This post follows an earlier post on running hardwood parallel to the
> joists. I've decided to run the 3/4" hardwood perpendicular to the
> joists to avoid possible issues. My other problem is that I have 3/4"
> OSB as a subfloor which I am hearing isn't ideal for nailing hardwood
> to. It's in good condition and I'm wondering if glueing and screwing a
> 1/4" ply down to the OSB would make a better subfloor to nail into
> (better nail gripping). Is it worth the extra $$ and work to do this?

No.

>
> Also, from what I can see in the bundles of hardwood, the lengths of
> the boards are substantial, 18" to 7' with a high percentage of the
> boards being more than 3 feet long. Does it make sense to mark all the
> joists on the roofing paper to make sure I hit each joist with each row
> of flooring ensuring that at least 1 nail from each board will be sunk
> in a joist.

No.

>
> Last thought: is there anything that can be done (easily) from the
> underside to help with nail gripping (assuming that the nail will
> penetrate far enough) since I have easy acces from the underside?
>
Don't waste your time and money. The job will come out fine with a standard
installation. Doing all this superfluous stuff will only make a
less-than-perfect situation worse. Just install the floor as per
instructions over the OSB and use some extra nails. Nothing else. You need
to have some faith here: it will not fall apart, insult your neighbors, or
cause you great embarrassment. It will come out just fine.

SteveF

2006-04-25, 8:21 pm

<jenerik2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1145909829.472239.245290@y43g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> This post follows an earlier post on running hardwood parallel to the
> joists. I've decided to run the 3/4" hardwood perpendicular to the
> joists to avoid possible issues. My other problem is that I have 3/4"
> OSB as a subfloor which I am hearing isn't ideal for nailing hardwood
> to. It's in good condition and I'm wondering if glueing and screwing a
> 1/4" ply down to the OSB would make a better subfloor to nail into
> (better nail gripping). Is it worth the extra $$ and work to do this?
>
> Also, from what I can see in the bundles of hardwood, the lengths of
> the boards are substantial, 18" to 7' with a high percentage of the
> boards being more than 3 feet long. Does it make sense to mark all the
> joists on the roofing paper to make sure I hit each joist with each row
> of flooring ensuring that at least 1 nail from each board will be sunk
> in a joist.
>
> Last thought: is there anything that can be done (easily) from the
> underside to help with nail gripping (assuming that the nail will
> penetrate far enough) since I have easy acces from the underside?
>
> Thanks
>

You are making this WAY too hard.

The instructions with Bruce hardwood flooring say 3/4" OSB is fine. Check
the instructions for your flooring. 1/4" plywood is a total waste of time.

Buy the flooring, put down felt, nail according to instructions. A 12' x
12' foot room is going to use about 1,500 staples. It won't go anywhere.

Suggestion - use staples instead of nails, less splitting, easier to fix
mistakes. Have a hack saw blade handy for when you underdrive the staple,
that would be the mistake. Buy or rent a pneumatic flooring nailer. You
will also want to have a pneumatic finish nailer (2" nails) to do the first
three and the last 4 courses.

Steve.

jenerik2@hotmail.com

2006-04-26, 2:21 am

Thanks for the feedback. I didn't get any instructions with my
bundles. It's 3" Brazilian Cherry - from what I've read nails are
perferred with this wood because of the hardness. Any thought?

SteveF

2006-04-26, 9:21 am

<jenerik2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1146025247.253722.76920@e56g2000cwe.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks for the feedback. I didn't get any instructions with my
> bundles. It's 3" Brazilian Cherry - from what I've read nails are
> perferred with this wood because of the hardness. Any thought?
>

Don't know about cherry and nails. Register at the Fine Homebuilding web
site http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/index.asp and go into the
Forums (down the the lower left - Breaktime Discussion) and search there and
if the subject hasn't been discussed, post a question.

Steve.

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