Floor boards vs Chipboard 1st Floor (Again?)

Seems like a good recommendation for floor boards, lucky to get 6-8 years out of chipboard.
Really? Parents house was built with them 23 years ago, had a few rooms recarpeted last year, looked like new. No squeeks, no uneveness, what more could you want.

I would always for 22 over 18 for a house (18 for a attic/garage) but that would be what I would do, screwed down, with pre-planned inspection hatches in areas where they where required for major plumbing or electrical junctions. Take photos of where these are and whats under them.


Daniel
 
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no need to take the nails out now they are in (you would probably damage the board trying)

take great care to avoid pipes and cables. It is preferable to mark their positions on the board with paint or pen

Drill pilot holes first. Countersunk screws will tend to pull their own heads below the surface in chipboard but have a countersink ready and try a few, so that you get familiar with how to get the heads neatly sunk wothout pulling too far down. A small drill/driver will be a great help when driving a lot of screws. You can retighten the screws, preferably after a couple of weeks when some of them will have eased a bit.
 
no need to take the nails out now they are in ..... Countersunk screws will tend to pull their own heads below the surface in chipboard
Thank You
one further question - does this advice hold good with wood floorboards, as I am replacing the chipboard with real floorboards, or do I have to do anything else ( I was fine bashing in nails but not very experienced using screws; just checking, countersunk means I use a fat drill bit to make a hole for the screw head to sit in, right? ) and then the screws will stop the floorboards making a crack and squeek noise.
ps. many thanks for the help as I am really struggling with these floorboards.
 
chipboard is a rubbish material. proper wood will need countersinking. You buy a special bit that has a conical end. You can get a simple one that will make a wider hole the longer you press it, or one for the exact size of screw=head, which is better. The simple ones are cheap but wear out fast, so get a few. Cheap ones tend to be silver and better ones blue/black. You will find them in the rack where drill bits are sold.

Practice on a bit of scrap timber, but you will get the hang of it with a minute. Soft materials bore fast, hard materials longer.

Do the pilot hole: find a drill that is half a smidgin narrower than the core of the screw (i.e. the twisty fins stick out further than the shaft down the middle, but your hole must be too narrow for the fins to pass through) and drill that right through the board and into the joist, the depth of your screws. Then put the point of your countersink into this little hole, and drill it just a little bit less than the width of the conical head of the screw, and to a depth that is just a bit less than the head of the screw. When you tighten it firmly it will pull in a little more. In softwood, that's all you need to do. For hardwoods, or a nicer job, there is an extra step, but you sound like a beginner (no offence) so I won't complicate it. In softwood you can often get away with no pilot hole, or a very tight one, but you should always drill the floorboard for a neat job.

there are probably videos on utube or videojug that show it better, maybe someone has a link?
 
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chipboard is a rubbish material. proper wood will need countersinking.
You wont need to countersink softwood floorboards any more than chipboard, infact I would say softwood boards are proberbly more likely to self-countersink than chipboard. Your not flooring it in oak!

Chipboard is one of the lower grade manufactored boards but its very well suited to the aplication of floorboards and very dimentionally stable compaired to floorboards as well as being acustically dull, and cost effective.


Daniel
 
JohnD";p="2503128 said:
chipboard is a rubbish material.
I so agree!! And thank you very much for the help/advice.
(I don't think the video option will help me as I looked at a couple on-line and was almost too frightened to start the job at all!!) good sound advice like this is so much more helpful. I thank you very much and I will have a go with the drill. At least the floorboards are down so I can't risk falling through the ceiling this time.
many thanks
 
floorboard-cutting and joist-notching tool

ae235
 
That looks so scary, it's like something out of a horror movie ! I am sticking to a saw. :LOL: slow but I get to keep my fingers.
That would texus chainsaw, because its a chainsaw...

The really scary thing is that its a chainsaw made by mountfield, a mower company that got bought up by the chinese!

This is much less scary...
stihl_ms_391.jpg



Daniel
 

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