Top-Nail 5/16-Inch Strip: How We Did (and Still Do) These Floors

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Tech823opener

My first memories of hardwood floors are of my dad and my uncle installing top-nailed 5⁄16-inch strip. They used solvent in the nail hoppers of the Cavanaugh nailers to lubricate the nails and nailer as the pounding fed the nails into the nail column and head. That smell of fresh-cut red oak and solvent is still clear in my mind all these years later. We didn't visit my dad on site often as little kids, but the memory of my dad sitting on the nailing cart methodically hammering was quite a sight.

To this day, top-nail jobs have a special place in my heart. It could be the sense of history of creating timeless floors, or maybe the memories of learning the family business from my dad and uncle Bob, or maybe I just really like these floors? In any case, we continue to repair, modify, and add on to many of these floors every year, because our area here in Vancouver is one of the regions where they were commonly installed. The ability to save an old floor is a truly rewarding experience for me and my crew, and we are blessed with the knowledge on how to bring these floors back to life.

This is a typical floating system used in 1960s apartments. It consists of a base layer of ½-inch Donnaconna fiberboard, then ¾-inch shiplap, then ½-inch strips of fir or plywood, then the top-nail floors.This is a typical floating system used in 1960s apartments. It consists of a base layer of ½-inch Donnaconna fiberboard, then ¾-inch shiplap, then ½-inch strips of fir or plywood, then the top-nail floors.

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