Solid oak flooring on to floorboards.

[carl0s]

I just ordered some solid oak flooring for my small hallway. which currently has cheap laminate on it.
The hallway is only about 2.5m x 1.8m.
It has floorboards, with a ~40cm cavity below.

I am intending to lay under the skirting boards.

Should I secret-nail into the floorboards, or glue, or can I fit it 'floating' on top of some underlay?

I just checked the manufacturers website, and although I'm not sure I'm looking at the same stuff, it appears to say "nail down/glue down only".

How would you recommend I do it? Glue sounds easier than nailing.. without buying one of those special nailer things anyway.

Am I going to have to buy a couple of those strap clamps as well?

thanks,
Carl

 

[carl0s]

This looks informative: http://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/fitting.php

any opinions on that? What's "building paper"?

 

[carl0s]

OK, I think it needs to be nailed.

Those secret nailers are a couple of hundred quid though.

Can I get away with just doing it by hand, with a punch? Or should I look at hiring a manual nailer ?

How many/frequently/far apart should I nail it?

Also, I am going to use my Bosch PMF-thingy to chop under the skirting whilst it is in place. This means I can't nail that edge of the flooring. Will this be a problem?

 

[HMCFlooring]

Not a bad guide that.

Think you will find a glue down installation much easier though for your size of room you could do away with the clamps and cut little wedges out of the boards to wedge from the sides. Leave some weight on the floor if you wedge it up from the sides,