It is very important to know how to properly nail a floorboard if you are using wood for installation. Laying the floor consists of several stages. Every job needs to be done well. Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the final result. That's why editing flooring It's better to leave it to professionals. They know exactly how to prepare the material for work, where to start mounting and what tools to use.

Methods of fixing floor coverings

In order to install boards into the floor, you can use one of three methods.

1. Glue method.
2. Method of using special clamps.
3. Fixing the floorboard with nails.

Features of installing floors with nails

Nailing boards to the foundation is considered one of the most popular methods of installing flooring. There are several rules for how to properly nail a floorboard.

• Fixing the board with nails is always carried out on wooden base. It can be either solid or prefabricated.
• The nails in the first row of boards are driven in at an angle of 45 degrees. After which they are placed in the right place.
• Nails are driven into the tongue and groove. It is very important not to break it. For this purpose the mounting holes necessary elements should be done using a drill.
• Each subsequent row is adjusted to the previous one. The driven nails must be hidden from view.
• When the initial boards are installed, the subsequent ones should be installed in the usual way. manually. To determine whether the board is laid correctly, you need to look at its surface.

Partial replacement of floorboards

Sometimes situations arise when only part of the floorboards need to be replaced. For example, only on small area permanent paint has been spilled on the floor or the board has warped as a result of strong physical impact. It is ineffective to replace the entire floor covering in this case. Recommended partial replacement floorboards.

First, damaged elements are carefully removed. Then new ones are put in their place. It is very important that the planks are nailed correctly. Each board should end under the center part of the transom. Only in this way will the flooring become solid and durable again.

If the work is done poorly and the installed floorboards move along the base, then such a coating will soon collapse again.

Screws for nailing floorboards

In addition to ordinary nails, special screws are used to securely fix the floorboard. They are also called floor screws. They happen different sizes. Depending on the thickness of the floor being nailed, one or another screw is used.

The self-tapping screw for the floor has a special anti-corrosion coating. Thanks to him, the floorboard remains undamaged for many years.

The end part of each screw has a special cutter. It makes it possible to independently drive a self-tapping screw into a board without using a drill. In addition, the screw cutter allows it to be more securely fixed in the floor board. This is the main advantage of a floor screw over a regular nail.

The cutter on the screw is made at a special angle. The self-tapping screw always simply fits into the floorboard, but it is almost impossible to pull it back out without damaging the building material.

There is no cutter under the cap of the screw. The smooth surface of the upper part of the screw makes it possible to drive it very tightly into the surface of the floorboard.

In the video below you can see how to nail a floorboard:

Conclusion

Installing flooring with nails requires professional skills and experience. It is necessary not only to be able to hold a tool and hammer nails, but also extensive experience in laying floorboards, knowledge of all the intricacies of working with wood, drills and screws. Only in this case the work will be done easily, quickly and efficiently.

Additional information:

• You have decided to make a wooden floor, but you don’t know what fasteners to use for the floorboards, then to attach the floorboards, take...
• Have you decided to add beautiful wood floors to your home, but don't know how to install the floorboards? It's not difficult to do...
• Recently, floorboards have become very popular, but it is interesting to know how the process of its manufacture and production takes place.…

While doing construction own home, it’s not enough to pay attention to what materials are used for this - you also need to be very careful about the method of attaching these materials. As you know, any building material“requires” its own fasteners and method of its application. The floorboard is no exception in this regard. Considering the loads that fall to its share, the choice of method of fastening the floorboard simply cannot be an insignificant issue. Indeed, if the boards are not fastened well enough, after a short time they will begin to “demonstrate their dissatisfaction”, loosening and changing their position, and the initially smooth and even plank floor will not only begin to creak underfoot - it will literally fall apart into individual components.

What fasteners are used to secure the floorboard?

Today, manufacturers produce special screws for floorboards, which ensure reliable fastening of the board to the base and guarantee a long service life of the flooring without any additional investments in its repair.

However, it is worth noting that such self-tapping screws are somewhat more expensive than conventional fasteners used in construction. But at the same time, they perform their work very efficiently and as efficiently as possible. As a result, the entire floor covering will last much longer than if conventional screws were used to attach the boards. Saving on self-tapping screws in this case is an almost guaranteed need to repair the floor in the very near future. And on the boards themselves, fasteners that are not specifically designed for them can have a very negative impact- for example, screwing such fasteners into the board can cause a crack.

Features of self-tapping screws for floorboards.

As a rule, screws for floorboards are produced in several standard sizes: 3.5x35, 3.5x40, 3.5x45 and 3.5x50 mm. The size of the screw is selected depending on the thickness of the boards used when installing the flooring. All self-tapping screws have a special protective coating, preventing the possibility of corrosion on their surface.

And you can find out the special screws for attaching the floorboard very easily - there is a milling cutter at their tip, which allows you to screw these screws into the board without first drilling the holes. This allows for a more “tight” fit of the self-tapping screw itself, and therefore a stronger fixation of the board to the base. In the same case, if you pre-drill a hole for a self-tapping screw on the base of the floor, spontaneous unscrewing of the self-tapping screw may occur, and it is not always possible to select the correct diameter of the drill for the subsequent “fitting” of the board onto the self-tapping screw.

It is worth saying a few more words about the geometry of the milling cut on the screw - the cutting angle is selected in such a way that the screw easily fits into the wood without splitting the board. And the entire form of the self-tapping screw is subordinated to this task.

Another feature of the self-tapping screw for fastening a wooden board is the absence of threads on its upper part - this allows the self-tapping screw to more tightly attach the floorboard to the base.

1. Distance between individual screws when fastening wooden board to the base should be from 25 to 30 cm.
2. Some craftsmen recommend using a special glue when laying floor boards on a horizontal base, which is used when laying parquet. This is quite possible option in the event that there is no additional waterproofing layer between the boards and the base - for example, a moisture-proof film. But at the same time, it is important to know that special glue can only be an additional way to fasten the board - the main method is still self-tapping screws. Without them, it is simply impossible to achieve a sufficiently reliable fastening.
3. When ideally connecting flooring boards to each other, we must not forget that the flooring should not fit closely to the walls of the house along its entire perimeter - about 7-10 cm of free space should be left between the edge of the covering and the wall.
4. It is possible to completely “hide” the screws used when installing a wooden floor. To do this, you need to “recess” the head of the screw into the board a few millimeters, and “mask” the resulting hole using a piece of wood of a suitable size and shape, the species of which must match the species from which the boards are made. Some manufacturers of luxury building materials produce similar “stoppers” that are included with the boards themselves.

Methods for fixing floorboards
Fixing floorboards with nails
Glue method
Fastening with clamps
Special screws for floorboards
Recommendations for installing floorboards

When arranging floors in the house, in addition to choosing the type of flooring, you need to be especially careful in choosing the method of fastening the purchased material. Each building material has its own fastening methods, including floorboards. Let's look at how to fasten floorboards using the most reliable and popular methods.

Methods for fixing floorboards

The floor covering experiences quite serious loads, so it is necessary to approach the choice of fastening method with all responsibility.

If some floorboards are not secured well enough, then after some time they will begin to loosen.

As a rule, this happens after a short period of time. The floorboards shift, the initially flat floor begins to make an unpleasant creaking sound, and often it simply collapses.

There are several most common ways to attach floorboards:

• secret method, that is, the use of screws or nails;
• using glue;
• fastening with clamps.

Fixing floorboards with nails

In this case, the floorboard is fastened to a wooden base, which can be solid or made of joists.

The first row of floorboards is secured using nails, which are driven at a 45° angle through the tongue into the base. Then they are driven into place. You should pre-drill holes for fastening elements. This is done so as not to damage the ridges.

When adjusting the next row, the nails must be hidden. All subsequent rows of boards are fixed by driving nails through the surface.

When repairing a plank floor and replacing several floorboards, you need to ensure that all the floorboards end under the center of the crossbar. Otherwise, you may end up with a non-durable coating.

Glue method

If the floorboard is laid on a solid base, it can be fixed with glue. To do this, the grooves of the boards are coated with an adhesive, you can use regular glue PVA, and then placed on the tongues of the previous row.

The glue should be applied in a thin layer in 50 cm increments along the entire groove. The final tongue-and-groove edges should also be coated with adhesive.

Fastening with clamps

Some types of boards come with special clamps that fit into a slot on the board. inside. These elements are designed to connect boards to each other. So, how to lay a floorboard using this method fastenings?

To do this, you should adhere to the following technology:

• Placed on the subfloor waterproofing material, which should be secured to the walls with construction tape.
• The clamps should be driven into the cracks of the boards laid in the first row using a hammer. This is done in the direction of the tongue.
• The ends of the planks are coated with glue, and then the first row is laid.
• Wedges about 1 cm thick should be inserted between the wall and the boards.
• Clamps are also attached to the second row of boards. The floorboards are secured in place by gently tapping a hammer through a block along the edges of the row.
• The remaining rows are laid out similarly.
• Then the wedges between the wall and the covering are removed.
• Installation of baseboards is in progress.

Special screws for floorboards

Professional craftsmen use special screws for floorboards to attach floorboards. The use of such fastening material allows you to obtain a reliably fixed floor covering with a fairly long service life.

Compared to conventional self-tapping screws, the cost of this type is an order of magnitude higher. However, in their properties they are more effective.

Special screws designed for floorboards have the following features:

• These fasteners are produced various sizes. Standard section 3.5 mm, length can be 35, 40, 45 and 50 mm. Depending on the thickness of the floorboards, the size of the screw is selected.
• This fastener for floorboards is not subject to corrosion, as it has a protective coating.
• There is a cutter at the end of the self-tapping screw, which allows it to be screwed into wood without pre-drilling holes. In addition, this structure allows the screw to fit more tightly, which means that the fixation of the floorboards to the base of the floor will be more durable.
• The self-tapping screw has a special milling cut. It has an angle at which fastener easily enters the wood and does not split.
• Self-tapping screws for floorboards have another structural feature, which is the absence of a threaded thread in the upper part. This design allows the floor covering to fit more tightly to the base.

Here are some tips on how to properly lay a floorboard:

• It is necessary to fasten the floorboards to the base using screws in increments of 25-30 cm.
• Some craftsmen recommend that before laying the floorboard and fixing it to the base, apply glue to it, which is used when installing parquet flooring.

  This option can be used if waterproofing layer(for example, plastic film) did not fit. The adhesive fixation method cannot be used alone. It is used only as an addition to the main method of fastening using nails or screws.

  Why is the floor secured with nails and not self-tapping screws?

  Without them, it will not be possible to obtain a strong and reliable fastening of the floorboards (read: “How to lay floorboards - step-by-step instructions”).

• Along the entire perimeter of the room there should not be a tight connection of the boards to the wall. It is necessary to leave a gap between the wall and the floorboards of approximately 10 mm. It will act as an expansion joint.
• The screws used to install the plank floor can be completely hidden. To do this, the heads of the screws should be recessed into the wood by about 3-4 mm. The resulting holes can be hidden with pieces of wood that will match their shape and size. It should also be the same type of wood as the floorboards. Most companies that produce high-quality lumber complete their products with similar plugs.

The strength, reliability and service life of the floor covering will depend on how you lay the floorboard. Therefore, correct fixation of floorboards is a very important point in floor installation; therefore, it is worth approaching the choice of the method of fastening the boards with special care.

Home » Materials for the garden.

Self-tapping screw or nail, what to choose?

Unfortunately, the question that became the epigraph to this material What to choose during construction, self-tapping screws or nails, is not idle enough and is known to many developers when no one really could explain what exactly is needed? This question is not only not idle, but also does not have a clear answer at a time when some technologies will supplant others. However, the advantages of connections with nails or self-tapping screws can be considered when choosing one or another fastener depending on the type of work.

Pros of nails

The main advantage of using nails can be considered centuries-old traditions their use, which revealed both weak and strengths fasteners When driving a nail, you can be sure that such a connection will last forever when cut, pressing parts of the wood against each other, because The steel body of the nail is stronger than wood and is more likely to give way to vegetation than hardened forging or rolling. Even a connection that has become loose over the years due to swelling and shrinkage will remain reliable, meaning only a cut or shift, allowing the same house to change its geometry as it shrinks, while remaining a strong structure. Self-tapping screws also withstand large linear loads, which, however, are inferior to connections with nails. The reason for this is the smaller diameter of the screws and their increased hardness, therefore fragility, so the slightest weakening of the pressing forces entails complete destruction of the structure. In everyday language, nails can withstand wave loads, but self-tapping screws cannot.

What are the advantages of self-tapping screws?

The weak point of using nails is their unreliability from loads along the axis of the nail, the so-called pulling force; almost everyone has successfully pulled nails out of boards.

Fastening the floorboard, description of all available methods

You can combat this by driving nails in at an angle to the joint plane, or punching them through and bending them on the reverse side. Self-tapping screws in this regard have greater functionality, incredibly strongly pressing the parts being connected to each other. But even here, the tension in the metal of the screws can cause the opposite effect, when when the wood gets wet and swells, the caps come off, completely weakening the connection. By the way, when wood swells, very large stresses arise; in the old days, even stones were mined using this method by watering dry wood driven into a crack in a rock monolith.

Even if you decide to use self-tapping screws, most deviate from their installation technology, when you need to drill the part being pressed, countersink a hole for the head, and only then tighten the fasteners. We simply tighten the self-tapping screw without drilling and judge the amount of pressure by indirect signs, the depth of the head, completely ignoring the fact that even a gap may remain in the connection. When driving a nail, we know that 23 of its length should be in the monolith, and 13 in the pressed part, which is also true for self-tapping screws, but few of us choose them not only by length, but also by the size of the bare, without threaded part.

From all that has been said, simple conclusions can be drawn:

• It is still better to use self-tapping screws indoors, where there is less chance of moisture getting in and the loads are more defined and static;
• It is easier and more reliable to fasten sheet materials with self-tapping screws, for example, plywood, drywall, etc., pressing them against frames or other load-bearing, stationary elements;
• nails remain a more reliable type of fastening of wood of external buildings, ensuring reliable and long-term operation, proven by time;
• In addition, where it is difficult to predict displacements, the same gate or light structure, the nails will be more durable.

Type of nails and choice of their size

During construction wooden houses and temporary structures made of wood, any type of nails can be used (Fig. 1).

When choosing nails for building a house, you need to consider the following factors:

• whether the nails will be exposed to a humid environment;
• what materials need to be joined;
• what is the most suitable nail size;
• what is covered with the surface to which the structure is attached with nails (paint, varnish, putty).

When working with structural parts exposed to a humid environment, galvanized nails are used. The same nails are used in structures located in the air or under a layer of paint on water based.
For fastening various materials serve different types nails The length of the nail is chosen so that when connecting wooden parts it was 2.5 times the thickness of the attached material. In such cases, as, for example, in fastening roof coverings, the length of the nail is determined by the depth of its entry into the wooden base. The minimum entry point for grooved nails is 30 mm.
Raw nails are used when fastening formwork, other temporary structures and parts of the frame that remain invisible (plugs, backing boards on the roof, etc.).
Connecting wooden parts with nails. As the nail enters the wood, it pushes the grain apart, which can lead to cracking. To prevent this from happening, nails should not be driven too close to the edge or end of the board (Fig. 2), and the spaces between nails should be large enough.

The susceptibility of wood to cracking when nailing is driven in depends on its moisture content.

Laying a wooden floor on joists

It is easier to hammer a nail into wet wood than into dry wood. Although green wood will withstand nails close to the edge, cracks will appear when the wood dries. Do not drive nails near the edges of thin and wide boards, as contraction stresses will cause cracks where the nails are driven.
Nails should be located in the shaded area. The distance from the edge depends on the thickness of the nail (Fig. 3). The nail size is indicated as follows: 75 (length 75 mm) x 2.8 (thickness 2.8 mm).

Fasteners for floorboards

You have decided to make a wooden floor, but you don’t know what fasteners to use for the floorboards, then use self-tapping screws to secure the floorboards.

Features of self-tapping screws for floorboards

For attaching floorboards, self-tapping screws are much better than a regular nail. After all, an ordinary nail can slip out of the board during its operation.

How to attach a floorboard

But a self-tapping screw screwed into the board will hold very well.

But there are different types of self-tapping screws, and not all of them can hold firmly in wood; flooring screws are suitable for this purpose. At the tip of such a self-tapping screw there is a special tip - a spatula; it is somewhat similar to the cutting edge of a feather drill. With the help of such a tip, the self-tapping screw is screwed into any type of wood, regardless of its density, and there is no need to drill out the wood first, it will not get stuck in it.

Wood fibers begin to weave into the screw groove, which is located on the screw shaft, and therefore it does not move when exposed to loads, both transverse and longitudinal. You can unscrew a self-tapping screw of this type only with a screwdriver installed in reverse.

For floorboards, self-tapping screws with a special hidden head are used; its diameter is three and a half millimeters, and the length ranges from thirty-five to fifty-five millimeters. This self-tapping screw will not split even a thin floorboard and will be able to pierce a fairly thick coating.

It is also worth paying attention to the coating itself. The coating provides a guarantee against corrosion of both the visible part of the cap, as well as the rod, which is hidden in the board. The screw is coated with a base of copper and zinc, and it is applied in a micron layer, resulting in every millimeter of the self-tapping screw being covered.

How to attach a self-tapping screw to a floorboard

After we have figured out the types of screws, we move on to the process of installing the floorboard.

Floors between floors can be made from concrete slabs, or structures made of beams, then they are sheathed with finishing and rough materials. For the rough layer, you can use planed boards, the thickness of which should be five centimeters.

After laying the subfloor, a thermal insulation layer is made, for which a polystyrene film is used, its thickness should be one and a half millimeters, and after that we proceed to installing the floorboard.

To attach the finished floor, as well as to make the sheathing of the subfloor, floor screws are used. You can either fasten it through the boards so that the self-tapping screw pierces the plane of the floor covering in a pre-drilled hole, and then it is hidden with a “hatch” of the same color, made of the same wood, or through the edge of the tongue-and-groove lock, which is located at the side end of the floorboard.

But it is best to use the through-fixation method, it is much simpler and the work will be done much faster.

Fastening the board in practice, what it looks like

After the thermal insulation has been installed, it is necessary to place boards along the wall and lay them end to end. We do this so that a gap is formed between the very first row of the floorboard and the wall. this gap is then closed with a floor plinth.

Now the boards of the first row are laid along the wall and mounted with emphasis on the masonry located at the end. We lay the next row at intervals, the seam must be covered with a whole board from the previous row. After about the fourth row, all the boards need to be knocked down and moved towards the wall, and now we make secret holes, fix the boards with self-tapping screws and seal the fastening points. We screw in self-tapping screws every forty centimeters, but not less than two screws on one board.

Correct fastening of the floorboard in the video below:

Rules for choosing floorboards, preparing bases for laying floorboards, techniques for installing flooring on different surfaces, methods of fastening the material.

Contents of the article:

Floorboard is a building material made from natural wood, intended for the manufacture of floor coverings. The products have special milling on the longitudinal ends, which ensure gapless connection of elements and high strength of the floor. We invite you to familiarize yourself with the methods of laying floorboards and the rules for processing various substrates, ensuring high-quality performance of assembly work.

Features of choosing a floorboard

When purchasing material, it is important to consider factors that affect the durability of the floor. At making the right choice floorboards you will admire the flooring for many years.

Selecting floor boards based on manufacturing methods

Manufacturers offer users two types of floorboards: solid and jointed. Each type of product has its own characteristics, which determine the applicability of the material and the methods of its attachment to the base.

A solid board is obtained from a single piece of workpiece. Depending on the quality of the material, products are divided into 4 classes, but even best samples have defects - knots, resin pockets etc. There are few defects on the boards of the first and second classes, they look harmonious. Such samples are used to make the main flooring. After installation, the surface is not painted, but varnished to highlight the natural beauty of the wood.

Boards of the third and fourth grades must be coated with paint if they are knocked down finishing coat, or used as a subfloor. Perfect flat surface from solid board difficult to obtain, but its relatively low cost makes it popular among buyers. After installation of the coating, the surface is ground or sanded.

Solid eurolining has higher quality. There are ventilation grooves on the back side of the boards, which provide air access to the underside and prevent the formation of fungus and mold. The front side is processed with high quality and rarely requires modification after assembling the floor, but euro-lined flooring is more expensive than a regular board.

A finger-jointed board is made by installing it on a mini-tenon or by gluing several small samples. Finger-joined boards differ from massive boards in their excellent geometry, absence of defects, and high strength. After laying the floorboards, the surface does not require any modification. In its finished form, a floor made from jointed elements is very similar to parquet.

Selecting floorboards by wood type

If you are in doubt about what kind of flooring to lay in a room, buy products made from larch or oak. These tree species are the hardest and are suitable for any purpose. They are laid even in rooms with extreme humidity - baths, saunas.

The lowest hardness of boards made of coniferous trees(pines, spruces). Soft floorboards are used mainly for subfloors. For finishing laying, you can use lumber from coniferous species trees if their thickness is more than 35 mm. Less thin boards can be laid on logs in increments of 30-40 cm or on a solid base, for example, on a concrete screed.

Walnut, aspen and alder are not hard enough for flooring and are used less frequently. Such boards can be laid in rooms with little traffic - a nursery or a living room. It is not advisable to lay poplar and linden boards on the floor because of their softness.

Selecting floor boards by size

Boards with a thickness of 18 to 40 mm are suitable for floors. The most popular thickness of floorboards is 30, 32, 35 mm. For floorboards of this thickness, the joists are placed in increments of 40 to 60 cm.

Bars for boards maximum thickness fastened at intervals of 70 cm or more. Products with a thickness of 15-25 mm are used to create double floors, but in this case it is recommended to use hardwood.

The width of the floorboards ranges from 60 to 135 mm. Narrow samples are used to create original designs. Wide floorboards are laid in large rooms or houses made of beams and round timber. IN small rooms they use elements of small width, because the more boards, the wider the room appears. The most optimal width of the floorboard is 100 mm.

Types of floorboards by connection method

To facilitate the assembly of floors and improve performance, milling of various shapes is performed at the ends of the floorboards:

• Tongue and groove boards have ridges and grooves at the ends, with the help of which a high quality connection is achieved and the strength of the floor is increased. But the cost of such products is quite high.
• The connection can be made “in a quarter”. At the ends of each board there are milling steps in the form of steps. Making grooves is cheaper than making grooves and tenons. The connection of elements is less dependent on the degree of deformation of the boards after drying, which is why floorboards with stepped fixation are quite popular among users.
• Connection using inserts that are installed in the grooves of adjacent boards. Used when installing short boards.

Preparatory work before laying boards

Floorboards high quality sold packaged in plastic film. Before purchasing, inspect the packaging for condensation. Do not take goods with drops of water on the back of the film, this indicates that the material is not dry enough.

Check the moisture content of the boards, which should not exceed 12-16%. The exact humidity values ​​are shown by a special device called a moisture meter. The indicator is also assessed indirectly:

1. A very wet board can be determined by placing your palm on the surface.
2. Tap your knuckles on the floorboard. A dry board will sound loud, a damp board will sound dull.
3. Inspect the product carefully. Dry has a barely noticeable shine. The color of the wet board is matte.

Bring the lumber into the room where you plan to lay the floors, remove the film, lay it on the beams (two on the edges, one in the middle) and leave for 2-3 days. During this time, the humidity of the boards will be equal to the humidity of the surrounding environment and the floorboards will not be deformed. Some of the workpieces may fail or warp; they should be cut into pieces and use flat areas.

Sort the remaining material. Set aside samples with knots, geometric distortions, and blue or orange cores; they can be used in auxiliary premises. Make sure that the tongues and grooves of the tongue and groove boards are easily connected. The joints should close with a slight click.

To ensure that the floor retains its original condition for a long time, provide room humidity in the range from 40 to 80%. In dry air the board will dry out quickly, and in high humidity conditions the coating will swell. Temperature also affects the lifespan of the floor. At temperatures from 17 to 25 degrees, it does not lose its quality for many years.

Technology for laying floorboards on joists

The method of laying floorboards involves the sequential implementation of several stages of work, on which the quality of the floor depends.

Fixing lags for the board on the base

Floor installation work begins with waterproofing the base to protect the lumber from moisture. The easiest way to waterproof is to use mastic and roofing felt. The roofing material is laid over the mastic, overlapping and butted with the wall, only visually laying it in the horizon. To install the logs, the base does not need to be flat, but rigidity is required.

Logs (rectangular beams) are laid on the screed waterproofing and secured to the floor with self-tapping screws, dowels, staples or another method.

Beams for floor boards must meet the following requirements:

• The horizontal surfaces of all beams must be located in the same plane. If necessary, place pads under the beams required thickness or cut off the excess.
• The optimal distance between the joists is 50 cm, but when using thick floorboards, the step can be increased.
• For jointed boards, the distance between the joists should not exceed 40 cm.
• Always lay floorboards perpendicular to the joists.
• IN living rooms the logs should be positioned so that the light through the window falls on the floor along the boards.
• In the corridors, boards are laid in the direction of the most intense traffic.

Attaching floorboards to joists

Laying the floorboards is done in two ways - without shifting the floorboards and with displacement. To install a floor with offset products, you will need to make many cuts at right angles. Not everyone can cut boards evenly, so you will need a template for your work.

Let's consider the technology of installing floorboards with milling in the form of grooves and ridges. The procedure for working with tongue and groove floorboards is no different from assembling other types of boards.

Place the first board on the joists with the tenon facing the wall and fix it at a distance of 1-2 cm from the ceiling, because product dimensions increase with increasing temperature environment. The fastener can be screwed into the floorboard from above, near the wall, where it will be covered by baseboards. On other boards, marks from the heads are masked with sealant or plugs, which some manufacturers supply with them.

You can fasten the boards in the following ways:

1. Using self-tapping screws, the length of which is twice the thickness of the board. To fix floorboards 30 mm thick, buy black self-tapping screws 60-70 mm long and 4-4.5 mm in diameter. Hardware is screwed in increments of 25-30 cm along the length of the board.
2. If nails are used for fastening, their length should exceed the thickness of the floorboard by 3 times (the ancient name is troetes).
3. Narrow thin products 90 mm wide are secured with one nail or self-tapping screw in the center of the product.
4. Boards up to 135 mm wide - with two fasteners, with a width of more than 150 mm - with three.
5. You can fasten them with self-tapping screws, which are screwed at an angle of 45 degrees into the tongue. To prevent the element from bursting when screwing in the fasteners, holes are drilled in the floorboards. The boards are also secured with self-tapping screws on the groove side.
6. At construction markets you can find special screws for fixing floorboards. They have an anti-corrosion coating and are equipped with a small cutter at the tip of the fastener. It allows you to screw it in without first making holes. The geometry of the fastener prevents the wood from cracking when screwed in. Also for self-tapping screws upper part without threads, which allows the boards to be pulled more tightly to the joists.

After attaching the first board, place the next one next to it and slide it until the tongue and groove are aligned. If necessary, drive the tenon into the groove using a mallet, which is used to hit the floorboard through the block. Before attaching the floorboard, secure it with special clamps.

The product is also pressed with wedges. To do this, nail a block to the joists, stepping back from the board by 100-150 mm. Place between the board and the beam wooden block and two wedges with their tips facing each other. Hitting the wedges with a mallet, move the spacer all the way into the board and further until the gaps between the products disappear. Permissible gaps between floorboards are no more than 1 mm. After this, screw in the screws and secure the board. Likewise secure all floor elements.

Before laying the last board, measure the distance between the penultimate floorboard and the wall and cut a board of the required thickness from the blank, taking into account a guaranteed gap of 10-15 mm near the wall. To eliminate gaps, drive wedges between the wall and the board. If the floorboards are slightly curvature, the tenons and grooves are coated with glue to increase the reliability of the connection, and then tightened with clamps or jacks.

If they are difficult to connect, inspect the tenons and grooves for burrs. If necessary, sand problem surfaces.

If the boards are not dry enough, secure them temporarily and leave them in this condition for 5-6 months. In this case, not all products are fastened, but only the fourth or fifth floorboard. After the lumber has dried, dismantle the temporary fasteners, remove the boards and fasten them again, pressing them as tightly as possible to each other.

1. Inspect the surface for any unevenness.
2. Eliminate them by scraping the floorboards.
3. Coat the floor with a starter varnish, which will show poorly sanded areas. Remove any defects found with sandpaper.
4. Install the baseboard and check its fit to the floor. If necessary, fill the cracks with putty to match the color of the wood.
5. To increase the durability of the coating and give it respectability, cover the floor with paint, varnish, oil, or wax. The choice of product depends on the operating conditions and user wishes.

Technology for installing floorboards on plywood

Installation of floorboards on plywood is carried out if logs cannot be used. For example, if the ceilings in the room are low or it will be impossible to open the door after installing the floor. Most often, plywood is laid on a cement screed or on an old floor covering.

Preparing a concrete floor for laying floorboards

If the floor base is concrete, work begins with checking the humidity cement screed, which should not exceed 3%. Concrete with a lot of water increases the humidity in the room, which causes the plywood and finished flooring to rot.

Humidity can be checked special device moisture meter or traditional methods. Place a piece of cellophane on the concrete floor and secure it with tape. If after a day drops of water appear on the underside of the material, then the screed is not dry enough for laying lumber.

Check the horizontal surface of the concrete screed. A slope of no more than 0.2% of the maximum length rooms. The value can be measured using a hydrostatic level.

Check for flatness of the screed surface using a long ruler. To measure, place the tool on the floor and use a feeler gauge to measure the gaps between the ruler and the floor. At a length of 2 m, gaps of no more than 2 mm are allowed. Eliminate defects by modifying the screed: sand the high areas and fill the low areas with a self-leveling mixture.

If concrete screed dry, coat it with a polyurethane primer mixture in several layers. Place a foam film over the primer, which will create a moisture-proof barrier between the concrete and plywood.

Laying floorboards on plywood

For the substrate, use plywood with a thickness of 18 mm or more, preferably moisture-resistant. Cut the sheets of material into several pieces 500 mm wide and lay them on the floor. When installing, leave 10 mm gaps between sheets and walls and 3 mm between individual parts.

Secure the sheets to the concrete with screws and dowels. Sink the fastener heads into the material. Check the horizontalness of the top plane of the plywood. Sand the surface with a sander, vacuum and coat with sealant. After drying, the plywood is ready for laying boards.

Fix the floorboards to the plywood using glue. Short products are glued with epoxy or polyurethane resins. Long samples - glue based epoxy resins or polyurethane. After hardening, such compositions are plastic and allow the boards to expand when high temperatures. The choice of glue is also influenced by the type of primer used to treat the plywood.

To glue boards made of exotic trees or beech, you cannot use water-soluble adhesives due to the specific properties of wood.

How to lay a board on an old floor

To use an old floor as a base, make sure it is strong. Reinforce or replace individual boards as necessary. Next, perform the following operations:

• Remove protruding elements from the surface, sand the boards with 40 or 60 grit sandpaper. It is advisable to do the work with a sanding machine.
• Clean the flooring from dust.
• Check waterproof and thermal insulation properties old floor. If necessary, cover it with waterproof polyethylene foam film.
• Place plywood with a thickness of at least 12 mm on the old covering.

The method of attaching floorboards to old boards is similar to attaching to plywood or joists.

How to lay a floorboard - watch the video:

Floorboards are made according to modern technologies With high accuracy, so you can do the installation yourself. To receive good result knowledge of floor assembly technology and serious attitude to the point.

Flooring is a long-awaited step in the transition from the state of “when will this construction end” to the state of “it seems it will end soon.” The premises take on a more or less normal appearance, and it is easier to estimate areas and volumes. On open roads, verandas, and utility buildings, plank floors are laid from edged boards. But there are cracks in it, which, in this case, is acceptable. In residential premises, a special tongue and groove board is usually used. Its installation has its own characteristics, which we will discuss in this article. So, laying a tongue and groove floor - details and techniques.

What is a tongue and groove board and why is it better?

A tongue and groove board is a board that has a groove cut along one side and a tenon along the other. When laying, the tenon fits into the groove, creating a more durable connection, eliminating “blow-in”. And this is a plus compared to edged or deck boards.

Another plus is related to technological process: a tongue-and-groove board is “adjusted” to its geometry by cutting off the sidewalls, grinding the front side, and cutting longitudinal grooves on the back side for better ventilation. Then a tenon and groove are formed on the treated sidewalls using a milling cutter. After this, the tongue and groove board is ready. With such processing, there is certainly a difference (especially in low-grade goods), but not so great and sanding is needed, but not to the same extent as when using edged lumber.

A little about why it is so much more expensive. There is a lot of work, which is why this material is much more expensive, but the floor is stronger and more reliable.

How to choose quality material

Installing a tongue and groove floor begins with choosing the material. First let's talk about sizes. The width of the floorboard varies from 70 mm to 200 mm. If you choose one that is too narrow, it will take a lot of time to install; if it is too wide, there is a very high probability that when it dries, the edges of the board will rise and the floor will turn out ribbed. The problem can be solved by grinding, but this is additional costs in terms of time and resources. Therefore, most often they take a tongue-and-groove board of medium width - 130-150 cm.

The thickness of the tongue and groove board is from 18 mm to 45 mm. It is not profitable to lay a thin one - so that it does not sag when laid on the joists, they (the joists) must be installed often. Therefore, lumber with a thickness of 28 mm, 36 mm, 45 mm is often used for flooring.

The tongue and groove board is sold in different lengths. The standard ones are 3 m and 6 m, but they produce 4 m and 5 m. The choice here is simple: the length of the material should be slightly greater than the length of the room in which it will be laid. Splicing in length is not very beautiful, that’s why they do it this way more often.

Choosing a wood type

The floorboard is made from pine and spruce, larch, oak or ash. Pine and spruce are not expensive, but their wood is soft. Traces remain from heels, fallen objects, are pressed through by furniture. In places of active movement, “trails” are formed over time. The situation can be saved by covering with wear-resistant varnish in several layers. If this option suits you, it’s a good choice.

A tongue and groove larch board is a more expensive material, but also more wear-resistant. The wood has a pronounced pattern and a pleasant color. Can be used uncoated or coated with oil-based formulations without creating a hard film on the surface.

Oak and ash are very beautiful hardwoods with dense, wear-resistant wood. But the price for them is completely inhumane. As in the previous version, floors made of these types of wood can be used without coating or with more gentle compositions.

Type of tongue and groove board and its characteristics

All lumber is divided into four grades:

Grade C is used when constructing a subfloor. There are too many defects in it for a clean one. Other classes are suitable for finishing coating, well, which variety you choose depends on your financial capabilities - the difference between the classes is decent.

Humidity

For comfortable installation of tongue and groove flooring, choose kiln-dried wood. In this case, the raw material after sawing is kept in drying chambers, in which it is brought to a humidity of 8-14%. Such material is unlikely to dry out after installation - this is almost impossible, but the cost compared to the material natural drying about 50% higher. This is due to equipment costs ( drying chambers) and fuel for drying.

Humidity is measured with a special device, which professionals have, and even then not everyone has. You can also try to determine by appearance. Most often, kiln-dried lumber is packaged in polyethylene so that it does not absorb moisture from the air. Naturally, the packaging must be undamaged and free of moisture (condensation on the inside). If you knock on dry wood, it makes a clear, ringing sound, while wet wood sounds dull.

What happens if you lay a tongue and groove floor? high humidity? The first thing you have to deal with is the formation of cracks as it shrinks. After six months or a year, the floor will have to be re-laid, removing the resulting cracks. Secondly, when drying, cracks often appear, the wood is twisted into different directions. Sometimes these curvatures can be compensated for by pressing the board harder, sometimes not. So you have to keep a couple of boards “in reserve”: to add when reassembling from shrinkage and to replace severely crumpled fragments.

Geometry

When choosing, be sure to pay attention to geometry. In addition to the fact that the thickness and width of the board must match, and there should be no significant curvature, you need to pay attention to the correct formation of the tongue and groove:

In normal production, this is all monitored, but in reality there is a very large scatter - 5 mm is not the limit. It is clear that such a floor will have to be sanded. But the smaller the discrepancy, the smaller the amount of work will be. Therefore, try to find a manufacturer whose difference will be minimal.

Installation of tongue and groove flooring

Due to the possible shrinkage of wood, laying a tongue and groove floor is carried out in two stages. The first time, only every 4-5 planks are attached; after 6-18 months, the coating is sorted out, eliminating the resulting cracks. For the second time, each board is already attached to each joist.

If the premises are residential, the wood will dry out over the course of a year and lose its attractive appearance. To prevent this from happening, the first time the tongue and groove board is fastened with the back side up. When re-installing, turn it face up. We have a clean coating.

Laying a tongue and groove floor on joists is the most acceptable option.

When purchasing material, do not forget to leave a few strips so that you can add them after tightening. Depending on the initial moisture content and the width of the boards, one or two (or even more) additional ones may be required. They are also left to dry. Preferably in the same room, but possible in the attic. On the street this is already a problem, since the appearance will not be the same.

Mounting method and fastening

Laying a floor made of tongue and groove boards can be done using nails or self-tapping screws. The nails are made of flexible steel and can withstand significant loads. When you “twist” the boards, they bend, but do not break. Only there is another problem: removing them without damaging the wood is very difficult, and sometimes impossible. And it is necessary to remove fasteners when replacing boards that are too curved or when reassembling the floor after drying the wood. That’s why they use self-tapping screws more often, and not black ones, but yellow ones. Black ones are made of brittle hardened steel. Under lateral loads that occur when the boards “twist,” the caps simply fly off. So, to lay a tongue and groove floor, it is better to use yellow self-tapping screws.

There are three ways to attach the floorboard, two of which are hidden:

When using a hidden fastening, the self-tapping screw must be installed so that it does not interfere with the installation of the next board. To do this, pre-drill a hole (the diameter of the drill is equal to the diameter of the head), and then install self-tapping screws. The dimensions of the fasteners depend on the thickness of the board, but most often they are used with a length of 70-75 mm and a diameter of 4-4.5 mm. Such a long length is needed due to the fact that during a hidden fastening the screw goes in at an angle, which turns out to be not very deep.

If you still decide to make a reliable fastening into the surface, it can be made less noticeable. This is achieved by deepening the head into the wood (you can pre-drill a hole). The resulting recess is sealed with wood putty and sanded. The second option is to cut out the chop, install it in the recess and also sand it. But all this requires a significant amount of time and skills, therefore, when installing tongue-and-groove boards, they prefer to use hidden fastening methods.

General flooring rules

The first row is laid with a gap of 5-7 mm from the wall and secured at a distance of about 1 cm from the edge, into the front surface - into the face. This place will be covered with a plinth, so this is possible. If the “tenon” installation method is chosen, the groove is turned towards the wall, and vice versa.

The last board is also laid so that there is some gap to the wall. This can be achieved using pads and wedges that are driven between the wall and the last board. It is also attached “into the face”, retreating about 1 cm from the edge.

How to tighten floor boards

If you take a tongue and groove board of class AB or B, there will be a lot of curved board. How longer board, the more obvious the curvature will be. The first few pieces from the wall try to choose the most even ones. They are laid and secured. This will be the basis by which you can navigate. Next, they try to select the boards so that the curved places alternate. They are pressed or even “pulled”, trying to make sure that there are no gaps.

Right traditional way ties for crooked floorboards

Various devices are used to screed floorboards. For example, a support bar and several wedges nailed at some distance. This method is good for everyone, except that you have to screw the support every time. During rough laying, when only 4-5 boards are attached, this is still normal - you can pull together several pieces at a time. But if you need to fasten each one, it takes a lot of time. That’s why they use clamps, special staples, and other devices. The clamps are simply fixed to the joists, the staples are hammered into them, after which ordinary wooden wedges are used, which hold the covering together, eliminating cracks. Both options take less time.

There are also factory options (pictured below). The main thing here is a clever mechanism for attaching it to the joists with a clamp. The mechanism for holding the boards in the desired position is also interesting.

When working, make sure that the tongue-and-groove flooring does not “go away”. This can be seen if you look at the laid floor from the side: the flooring may bend along the edges in one direction. To prevent this, periodically measure the distance from the board being laid to the walls in several places, and adjust its position to acceptable values.

The video shows in more detail how to work with such devices. The first is the traditional method with a thrust board and wedges.

The second is an unusual homemade clamp made from a hairpin and an angle for ceiling mounting of beams. Interesting option— you can adjust the length of the clamp, that is, you can rearrange it every other time.

Very interesting way For quick installation. But in this case, laying the floor from a tongue and groove board is done by two people: one presses, the second installs fasteners. You just have to pre-drill holes for the desired width of lumber.

Can laying a tongue and groove floor avoid this step? Maybe if you buy “extra” class material or lay meter-long (or more) pieces. On a meter length, if there are gaps, they are small and can be easily corrected without tools.