Can You Nail Hardwoods at the Tongue End?

Position the Planks

Before you can start nailing the hardwood planks down, you have to determine where to place the first plank. You should start the project by laying planks along the longest wall in the room. If you are installing over joists, this wall must be the longest one that runs perpendicular to the joists. Once you have the first plank down, you must remember to stagger the starting point for planks on each row to give the floor a professionally-finished look.

The first row of planks and last row of planks must be nailed through the face of the boards. For all other rows, you must nail each board through the tongue. If you are installing over floor joists, the nails that go through the tongue of each board should go into a joist, if possible. Each board should have two to four nails spaced evenly. For tongues that don’t fall on joists or if you are laying the flooring over concrete board or another sub-floor, you should follow the directions regarding spacing provided by the manufacturer, as this varies from one product to another.

The type of nails you need depends partially on the sub-floor and partly on the type of hardwood you are using. In most cases, you will need a flooring nail that is at least one inch long, but not longer than two inches. The diameter should be one-sixteenth inch. The most common nails for hardwood flooring are 6d and 8d flooring nails.

For at least the first few rows of planks you install, you will need to use a hammer to secure the nails. Once you make it past the first few rows, you can switch to a nail gun with the air compressor set on 70 to 80 psi. If you don’t have a nail gun handy, you can nail each plank with a hammer, but this will take longer than using a nail gun. There are also special flooring nailers available at most tool rental locations.