First floor decking

Stuthehandyman · 9 Sep 2008

I'm building myself a house and I've reached the stage of installing the the first floor decking. The house is weather-tight and I intend to use 2400x600 sheets of 22mm thick moisture resistant T&G chipboard. Someone told me that in addition to nailing the sheets down I should also glue all the joints. Please could you tell me if this is correct?

Thanks.

^woody^ · 9 Sep 2008

You mean flooring, not decking

It is recommended (NHBC - which may apply to you) that the joints are glued, and also the boards are glued to the joists to prevent squeaking.

And fixings ..... "flat-headed ring shank nails minimum 3mm diameter and of length 2½ times the thickness of the chipboard, or screws, to BS 1210 with a minimum length of twice the board thickness and not less than size no. 8" Not more than 300mm apart.

IJWS15 · 10 Sep 2008

Don't nail it, its more work but better screwed down.

I have a glued floor and in places it squeaks.

I have had a nailed floor and as the joists dry and shrink it starts to creak.

noseall · 10 Sep 2008

chipboard nooooooooooooooooooooo.

shocking rubbish.

wouldn't even burn it.

Stuthehandyman · 11 Sep 2008

Thanks for all this good advice. I've already bought the sheets of chipboard (sorry Noseall!) and I agree that screwing them down is probably the best option. I've looked in the Screwfix catalogue and although they have an extensive range of screws, none of them mention BS1210. Please can you tell me the important features to look for when selecting the screws Woody? i.e. Countersunk (obviously), single or double thread, parallel or tapered shank etc.

Thanks

^woody^ · 11 Sep 2008

I'm not sure what BS1210 entails - probably a load of nonsense.

From Screwfix, IMO, its either their standard Quicksilver or Turbo Gold, and as the Quicksilver have a larger head, then I would go for these. No 8 size

But really, any of the standard screws will do

Stuthehandyman · 11 Sep 2008

Thanks Woody, No.8 (4mm) Quicksilver screws it is then, with a big pot of glue!

Stuthehandyman · 11 Sep 2008

Sorry to bother you again Woody but I didn't realise there was so much to learn about screws! Screwfix sell a screw (50954) that's specifically for securing chipboard floors to joists. It's 4mm x 55mm (which fits your criteria) and has an unthreaded portion near the top of the shank to prevent "jacking" but its "collated" which means they come in a plastic strip that I assume is designed to fit some sort of screw-fixing gun. I don't have such a gun so I will be using my cordless driver/drill to put in approximately 1200 screws! Screwfix sell another (not collated) screw (49231) that's 4.2mm x 55mm called "Floor-Tite" which also has an unthreaded portion near the top of the shank but it says it's for high density fibre boards. The Quicksilver screws are threaded all the way up the shank and therefore I assume I might have a problem with the boards "jacking"? What do you think?

r896neo · 12 Sep 2008

Its for fixing down chipboard not for use in the space program!

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First floor decking

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