In the roberts 1903 catalog they state to use 1 1 4 inch 15 gauge finish nails.
Face nailed strip flooring.
Don t make the mistake of buying stainless steel nails.
Wide plank flooring can also be blind nailed and face nailed or faced screwed and plugs.
A 4 wide plank is still begging to be face pegged as i mentioned also in the article.
Face nailing is the common practice used to nail the first few rows of boards in place because it is difficult to maneuver hardwood floor nail guns close to the wall.
I need to replace the 2 by 3 8 face nailed red oak flooring in a 10 12 bedroom.
It just depends on how narrow you indoor humidly range is.
That s why i switched to the palm nailer and the larger finish nails.
When completed both blind nailing and top screws and plugs hide the fasteners from view.
With 24 nails per sq ft that is a bunch of predrilling.
Wood flooring and wood flooring products on the other hand.
Maybe the narrow strips are a factor.
The proper way to face nail is to countersink the nails with a nail punch and fill the remaining hole with coordinating wood putty.
Most everything seems to be 2 1 4 and wider.
I replaced some individual strips some time back but 120 sq ft is a little different challenge previously i predrilled all the nail holes and hand nailed.
I was careful to hit the floor joists when face nailing and put another nail between the joists giving a 8 nail spacing.
I don t see much discussion of putting down 1 1 2 strip flooring.
Linoleum and vinyl are glued while carpet is stretched and attached to tack strips as anchors.
Most common by today s standards is blind nailing often used with 2 1 2 inch tongue and groove strip flooring.
So if all this sounds like too much work just buy the standard 3 1 4 wide t g strip floor and blind nail it simply and easily with the flooring nailer.
Then with a punch sink each brad 1 16 below the surface of the wood.