Hi, I’m installing new 2” x 5/16” oak flooring on two small stairway landings. While skilled in restoration, I’ve never installed wood flooring and had a few questions:

1. What nails to use? I “believe” 15 gauge x around 1-1/4” is correct but wanted to check. And galvanized okay?

2. How close can you nail to the board ends? Ideally I’d nail within the last 3/4” so the end nails are covered by the baseboards, but I was worried about this being too close and things splitting.

3. I’ve read you should pull the boards tightly together before nails…any good ways to do this? Maybe jamming a chisel into the subfloor to use as a pry bar?

4. 30 pound asphalt saturated felt between the wood and subfloor good?

Thank you so much for your help-
Robert

The original fasteners were 1" diamond point floor brads. Just like finish nails but the tip is not blunt. The diamond point spreads the grain unlike pneumatic nails which have a chisel point, if you look closely. Now floor mechanics use one inch or longer pneumatic nails, some use 18 guage. They are set an eighth inch deep and the nail holes are filled with wood patch that looks like peanut butter. I have been told of oldsters puttying the floor by pressing putty into the nail holes with their thumb after it was colored with colors ground in oil and the first coat of finish was applied.
Use a thick sharpened screwdriver to drive into the floor and pry about 6 rows tight and tack the last row every foot or so as you work along the boards from wall to wall before laying the next 6 rows.
Lay the whole room before snapping chalk lines about 6 inches apart across the floor. Nail one half inch from the edge of the boards with 2 nails at the butt-joint of each board if you don't go wall to wall across the room.You can orient the brads so the chisel point is parallel to the grain to get the best holding power. The boards come in bundles and you ought to be able to get whatever lengths you need. Butt-joints should be no closer than 6" if you have random lengths. Each bundle covers 60 inches wide. Nail within half an inch of the ends. The floor may be laid after the base boards are fastened into place, because no expansion space is needed. If you get a split, the rows are not tight enough together, or the board width is not consistent. The wood patch will fill any split and blend in if you get the patch that matches the specie of oak you use.
Use AquaBar paper to cover the sub-floor so the flooring slides together easily. Butcher paper is good, too
The wood patch needs to be sanded with 60 grit, then 80 and finishing with 100. Scrape any fine scratches and then hand sand 80 grit with the grain before staining.

Thanks, some follow-ups…

• The landings are only around 31” x 34”…so no butt joints, just using 34” strips of wood.

• No glue, just nails. I also already have some Woodwise putty to fill the entire space and sand.

• Even though I’ll be applying putty, I’d still prefer the nails to be similar looking to my original floors (first photo at link below). My 15-gauge nailer has round heads which would seem more similar, whereas my 16/18 nailers have more rectangular heads.

• AquaBar sounds better, but since it's just two small landings, is the 30 pound asphalt saturated felt okay? Only asking as I already have a bunch.

• Bonus question: Do my floors look like Red Oak or White Oak? I think they're White, but just want to make sure. *The floors have already been oil-polyurethaned in the pics, so the wood is darker/golder.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pPc3xXDpbcom6VRRA

Thanks again

It looks like you have white oak. Red oak looks orange.
The 15 ga. brads will look the best. Senco heads are almost round.
I only use the filler across the rows of nails, not the whole floor. Trowel filling leaves little divots where the filler shrinks, so you may need to fill twice. I try to have a little bump at each nail so it dries more even with the surface. I goop after roughing off so it's easier to get the floor flat with no filler to gum up the paper. You may be able to tell when the flooring is pressed against the sub-floor since pneumatic nailer on't always press the flooring down enough when the nail shoot through. Press hard when nailing the floor down. Set the nails an eighth inch.
You don't really need a moisture barrier, the thinnest you have is good. It's just one more thing that you have to press down when you nail.
If you are installing the floor before baseboard, you may want to glue the first row so when you use the screwdriver to pry subsequent rows the flooring can get tight without moving the first row. #30 felt may hold, but could allow deflection nail in the center of the first board every foot, then every 6 inches for final nailing.

Thanks so much for your continued help.

• 15 gauge it is. This gave me permission to pick up a Metabo 15 nailer, so that will be good for future projects. (I may use 18 at the very ends that will be covered by the baseboards just to reduce the risk of end-splitting, TBD.)

• And Red vs. White Oak had been the real mystery headache: The local lumber yards all say Red was the norm for this area, but I just pinged the guy who refinished my floors a few years back, and he said mine are White…so I’m good to move forward with White. (FWIW, the new White Oak thresholds I’ve installed and poly’d look similar in color to the old floors.)

Thank you again for all your help.