Bruce Hardwood Over Osb

I will be installing bruce unfinished 3 4 strip flooring this weekend.

Bruce hardwood over osb.

Install 23 32 inch or thicker osb panels in the proper orientation that is with the side marked this side down facing down. Osb is fine as a subfloor structurally but imo it won t hold a nail or staple as well as spruce plywood. In the event the moisture differential between the osb and hardwood is too great at the time of installation problems can arise. Hardwood flooring will not stabilize the osb subfloor so all movement must be remedied prior to hardwood installation.

Ensure that no fasteners are exposed or raised and that there is at least an 1 8 inch gap between osb subfloor panels. A benefit to using staples over glue is that it can be walked on immediately. There may be some exceptions to engineered floors that can be stapled down check product instructions. Flooring is attached with staples to the subfloor which can be plywood oriented strand board osb high density particle board or even existing wood flooring.

Osb that has absorbed moisture on the jobsite shrinks as it dries which can loosen around nails and staples that attach the hardwood flooring. 2 is there any advantage to. I ve heard of problems with nails not holding in osb all that well. Moisture contents of osb subflooring must be established prior to hardwood flooring installations.

1 should i use barbed nails or staples. My subfloor above grade consists of 23 32 sturd i floor osb over 24 oc joists. I would not install hardwood directly over osb.