Fitting T&G floorboards in garden summer house (i.e. shed with windows)

[markjg123]

I want to lay some T&G wooden floorboards in a 7x5 garden summer house, straight on top of the OSB flooring.

My preference for a better cosmetic look is to run them the length of the floor. I'll need about 12 boards (approx. 2100mm x 119mm). The problem I envisage with this is that the OSB floor joists run in the same direction, so finding a fixing into a joist for every board will not be possible unless fixing them to the thin OSB panel itself is enough. The OSB floor sits on a wooden frame, so I could go right through the flooring into the frame.

It's fair to say I have no experience of laying floorboards, so any general advice on how to secure them will be most appreciated.

 

[foxhole]

Lay them on the diagonal, would look more interesting? Need accurate spacing as damp condition in a summer house will cause expansion and problems.

 

[stevethejoiner]

Lay them on the diagonal, would look more interesting? Need accurate spacing as damp condition in a summer house will cause expansion and problems.

I agree with "foxhole", diag looks interesting and can give appearance of a larger space, but I would add that in addition to moist or damp conditions in the winter months, typically a shed/summer house experiences very high temperatures in the summer, and this huge temperature fluctuation is hard on timber, so keep board widths as narrow as possible, don't go for wide boards as the expansion and contraction gaps will be more evident.

 

[stevethejoiner]

Whatever way you decide to run the boards try to find some structure below the OSB to fix too. If the climate is stable 12months of the year and you feel expansion and contraction is not an issue you can nail the T&G down both edges, but if there is any doubt the wood will expand and contract only fix one edge of each board and allow the tongue of the next board to hold the edge of the previous board down,this way the board can expand and contract without splitting. If you hold the board down by nailing both edges, it cannot move and it will split down the centre between the fixings.
You can secret fix by sideways nailing in through the groove of each board, and this looks very professional but this is not easy, you may have to pilot drill or you can split off the bottom lip of the groove. So for an outbuilding I would simply nail through the top of the board at an angle, try not nail dead plumb, nailing at an angle gives a stronger fix, even if a little trickier to do.

 

[markjg123]

Thanks for all the advice. Boards are down and fingers are crossed