T&G 1.5" Boards

[Tennessee Pride(Guest)]

Hello all,

I hope all is doing well. I am not sure that this  is the correct forum for the question but here goes. I have recently cut and had milled some 2x6's into T&G boards (1.5 inches thick after milling). I plan to use this boards as the flooring for a loft and ceiling underneath. my question deals with how should i nail these boards? Should I blind nail them, should i face nail them with finish nails, or a combo of the two. I do suspect that a little elbow grease may be needed to get some of the boards completely mated in the T&G. The wood is white pine. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[peg_688]

  When was it cut down ?   1 year to the inch for air drying is a sort of norm.

 If it was felled resently,  then cut and milled , it would be wise to let it dry some.

If you had it kiln dryed and the MC is around or below 13% you could lay it down.

 Generally T&G is blind nailed thru the tongue with either a  12 penny casement nail or with 10  or 12 penny nails .  I'd use Galv. nails as large as I could although no larger than 16's , just so your not splitting the tongue . Near the ends , (within 6" ) I'd pre drill for the nail.

 A nail gun would work[highlight] BUT[/highlight] you'll have to bang the nails home as nail guns don't "suck things  tight", in this case you'll want the brds tight as you can get them.  

In pine I'd want a headed nail I  think. I'd use a large nail set to finish the nail off so I'd not dent the edge of the brd with the hammer head.  [highlight]Or even the sqruare head part of the nail set  layed on it's side in the corner of the tongue[/highlight] that's a good little tip for T&G  

If you need to face nail the first two rows use the casement nails and a smaller nail set to set the nail below the surface .

 When you have to pry on it  the use scrap piece about a foot long so you don't damage the "real" piece .  Some times a big , stout straight slot screw driven into the joist / beam top angled away from you , driven in and pulled / pryed back to you while someone else bangs on the sacrificial block will work to bring a stuborn brd right .  

 I'd sure wait awhile if it was green as your gaps will be quite large after it drys even if you lay it super tight .  Remember pine is soft  

 Good luck , PEG

[glenn kangiser]

My pine boards shrink about 5/8" per 12" of width on the average over a 1 year period.

[Daddymem]

Go to Amazon and look up "Cepco Tool BoWrench BW-2 Decking Tool".  FirstDay Cottages send one of these down with the houses to borrow for the decking like yours.  It works great, pulling in boards you wouldn't think you could get together.  They make an attachment to go over the the tongue if you want.  We blind nailed ours in.  A chisel also works well as a lever to pull in the board right where you are nailing.  We only had to face nail the last board on our deck which will be hidden by wainscotting anyways.

[Dberry]

My pine boards shrink about 5/8" per 12" of width on the average over a 1 year period.

Do you happen to know what the moisture content of your boards was to begin with?  And what the % is now?

[glenn kangiser]

No.  They ranged from fresh cut to bug kill fresh  cut and down under 6 months.  So fairly fresh and wet.  After about a year drying they were pretty stable though.  From what I've read there is free water between the cells that must dry before the cells dry.  After it is gone shrinkage starts and continues until the wood reaches stability based on the surrounding conditions.  I never did any moisture percentage testing.

[John Raabe]

When I first started designing houses for owner-builders we did a lot of exposed beam and deck floors. This was before the days of the "Persuader" daddymem mentions   (a very "helpful" tool!).



I still like to use single layer decking for floors and they can work well if:
• You have dried or aged the decking so that it is as close as possible to the long term moisture content of the final house.
• You have figured out what you are going to do with any plumbing traps and such that will need to poke below the floor.
• You install preselected "straight" boards as tight as possible with generous use of the best fasteners (depends on the final finish of the floor).

Notes:
• Single layer floors are noisy. Carpet and pad above will help. This also allows face nailing of the decking.
• You have to expect that gaps in a single layer floor will open up and collect dirt, etc. You will not get the same quality as a plank floor laid on a plywood subfloor.

In some of those early OB experiments (damp wood manually assembled) the gaps opened up enough that you could see through some of the cracks between floors.  

[Tennessee Pride(Guest)]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. It sounds like a have a few options. The wood was cut over 1 year ago. The mositure content is between 13-15%. The wood dried extemely straight and was stickered and dried very carefully. I used additional lumber that I cut to weigh down the these 2x's on the crib. This is a weekend cabin that will be maintained as a rustic retreat. I figure that I will have some gaps but the money I have saved by milling my own wood off-sets this. I took 80 true 2x6x12' to a local mill and had this made into T&G for $170. They did an awesome job on the milling. I was a little confused on how to nail since these boards were thicker than floor I have installed in the past. Again, thanks for all of the help. I believe that the tool descried in this thread is something I may invest in.