English Oak flooring

[lonspwi]

Hello,
I have 30sq metres of 18mm English oak flooring to lay. The planks are of various length and widths, all T&G.
Can I (or preferably someone else) lay and nail the planks directly to the joists (they are 290mm apart) or do I have to lay a ply subfloor ?
Also, what is the going rate to pay someone to lay such a floor ?

thanks in advance.
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[WoodYouLike]

18mm thick is the minimum you can use to secretely nail floorboards onto joist (joist not more than 300-350mm apart. so you're fine on that).
Make sure every board covers minimum 2 joists, preferably 3 (specially when 18mm thick).
Going rate? who knows

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[lonspwi]

Thanks for you reply WYL, I think I am prepared to take this on myself, I assume I would have to hire a specific type of nail gun.
The boards have been stored in the (dry, warm) room for over 2 months, would I expect any shrinkage or expansion to take place once they are fitted? Would I have to compress the boards together while fixing them ?
Any other tips would be most welcome.
I apologise if this question has been asked before elswhere.

Thanks again.

 

[Jasonb]

If you secret nail by hand then you will need some floorboard clamps which can be hired from good hire shops. Or you could use a "porta-nailer" which is a type of nail gun, you hit it once to close up the joint then again to fire the nail at an angle through the tounge of the board, again these can be hired.

Jason

 

[WoodYouLike]

The boards have been stored in the (dry, warm) room for over 2 months, would I expect any shrinkage or expansion to take place once they are fitted? Would I have to compress the boards together while fixing them ?

Normal 'wood-working' can be expected during the seasons, but that's not something to worry about as long you leave sufficient expansion gaps around the edges of the floor (even when you nail the boards) and don't start to panick when in Autumn and Winter tiny gaps appear between the boards.

A portanailer would work very well, make sure you are supplier the correct and long enough nails with it.