Screw down engineered flooring?

sixfour

New member
I was told I should avoid nailing down the engineered hardwood floors I'm installing in my studio. But I can't find any info anywhere on installing them with screws. No one seems to do this. It seems like more of a thing with solid wood floors. It seems that if installed properly with the right nails that creaking and vibration won't be a problem. FWIW it will be installed on top of plywood which is on top of a layer of foam board. And I think I'll be putting Pergo Gold underlayment between the flooring and plywood.

Anyone have experience/advice with this?
 
I just did about 2000 sq. ft. of hardwood flooring...not the engineered stuff, but the boards go in pretty much the same way...there is a specific flooring nail gun and cleats that you use for flooring...if that's what you mean when you say "nailing down". If you're talking about hand-nailing...good luck.
AFA using screws on hardwood flooring...never heard of that.

Yes...you put down a vapor barrier underlayment between the plywood sub-floor and the hardwood floor...and no, it's not the same stuff they use for Pergo, which is a totally synthetic flooring (no wood involved).
You should go to a flooring retailer, and discuss the proper tools and products to use...because if you mess it up putting it down...the only way to fix it is to rip it back up, and that's not an easy job.

In some cases, you there is specific hardwood floor glue (it's specific, not wood glue or liquid nails, etc)...but that's more for like putting it down on something other than a plywood sub-floor, or in some tight spots where you can't really work with a nail gun...and those are the only places where you might need to use a regular hammer and nails, where the flooring nail gun won't fit, and you want to pre-drill those holes because you can split the flooring with finishing nails. The flooring nail gun uses very high air-pressure to drive the cleats through the wood, and those cleats are flat with jagged edges.

Like I said...go to a flooring store and get the right tools and the right information...every type of flooring has a best/proper installation method, and there are different types/qualities/thicknesses of engineered flooring, so you should match the tools to the materials and the job.

Here's some very basic info covering a few options for engineered flooring. Real hardwood requires a more powerful gun/cleats, but same idea.

 
I've installed a couple of floors of laminated flooring (assume that is the same as what you call 'engineered hardwood', since you mention the Pergo underlayment?) You don't nail or screw these down - they 'float' on that foam underlay. Never heard of anyone putting plywood over foam first.
 
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