Why You Should Use Cleats to Install Hardwood Flooring (Not Staples!)
- Filed under:
- Flooring Installation
By Jim Birch on July 28, 2009
It’s a question I get asked about from time to time, what should I use cleats or staples? I started installing hardwood floors with manual nailers, before staplers were used, so I always leaned towards the cleat side answering that questions. The contractor asking, or standing around the water cooler here in the store would often come back and say something about tearing out a floor, and it was a lot more difficult to do if there were staples than cleats. That led them to think that staples are a better choice. It turns out, holding the floor tighter, may not be better.
I asked Gene Jarka from Powernail this very question, since they make both Flooring Cleats and Flooring Staples. It turns out, that while the staples do hold the flooring tighter, they do not allow for the normal season expansion and contraction that hardwood flooring goes through. The cleats do. So while a floor may shrink in the winter due to the lower relative humidity in the air, if cleats are used, it has a better chance of returning to the original position. If staples are used, there is a chance the floor may stay in that gapped position.
What about cleats vs. staples on engineered flooring?
Comment by fotoburger — September 4, 2009 @ 11:28 am
Powernail makes two types of smaller cleats, 18 gage for the 50P/Flex Nailer, and 20 gage (smaller) for the 200/250 Nailers. I would always use cleats instead of staples for all types of wood floors.
Besides the Floor runner from Bostitch, which I believe is used for really thin engineered floors like 3/8″, the staples, and the guns are not set up to install thinner material than 3/4″
Comment by Jim Birch — September 10, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
I am currently installing 1/2″ engineered wood, and decided on cleats. So far the installation is going quite well. I decided to use cleats rather than staples, because cleats have been around much longer, and no one has anything bad to say about them, and there seems to be mixed opinions on whether staples are a good choice or not. I am nailing into Advantech, so hopefully it will be even more stable. The house is 108 years old, and I had to level the floors with sister boards. The joists themselves are full dimensioned 2×8s. They were severely tilted - one room was 3 1/2″ lower from 1 corner to the other. Flat & level now.
Comment by fotoburger — September 11, 2009 @ 11:07 am
Great! Most of the reasons I hear from floor guys liking staples better than cleats are when they have to tear out floors for some reason or another. They say the staples hold the floor so tight, it is very difficult to do the tear out, while with cleats it is easier. This always made sense to me until I talked to the folks at Powernail.
The fact that the cleats allow for the normal seasonal expansion of the wood makes a lot of sense for those of us that live in places that have varying seasons with different humidity levels.
Good luck, I hope you floor turns out great!
Jim
Comment by Jim Birch — September 11, 2009 @ 11:20 am