Tongue tite screws used upright thru 20.5 t&g

[Draughtsman]

I was thinking of using them like you might use lost heads, vertically - 2 per joist. Brad drill a shallow 5mm hole to lose the head, and fill. They boards won't be covered

Would the smaller screw head be likely to be an improvement over a lost head re the boards creaking 10 years on.

The boards won't be covered, I'd like smaller screw heads so the filler holes are smaller/ less obtrusive.

 

[Doggit]

It's partially the head that's holding the board down, so you don't want to go for smaller heads. If you use Spax screws, they'll go straight in without the pilot hole, but be careful, as they'll bite in very easily.

 

[Draughtsman]

The screw threads will already have cut the timber up a little anyway so even less resistance to the (smaller) screw head. Good point.

Maybe I should just back to forgetting about screws, I mean, who ever underwent the upheaval of taking a whole floor back up to accommodate some localised works?

I have used lost heads previously, but even with acclimatising the t&g and using joist clamps, there is still a slight tendency for the boards to occasionally creak after a few years.

What if I use the usual 2 lost heads per joist but lean each nail in a pair outwards, away from the other? If the board shrinks then it can only drag itself downwards?

 

[Doggit]

It might well work, but a lot of people advocate glueing the board before it goes down, then there's less chance of any issues later, so there's a bit of an argument for taking up the floor as well.

 

[Draughtsman]

I might not have been very clear, it's a new 1st floor room in an extension that would have a varnished finish to new t&g boards, probably not even stained as blonde would be ok.

Do you mean polyeurethane chipboard glue? I don't fancy using an expanding glue on a job that I have to keep moving on. Maybe pva?

Glue probably wouldn't accomodate re-using any boards that ever came up anyway, so screwing could be dispensed with.

 

[Doggit]

Sorry, thought you were referring to chipboard T&G, as you normally use nails in boards, and screws in chipboard.