Recommended Pneumatic Hardwood Flooring Nailers (Toe / Cleat Nailers)
If you’re reading this article after publication, you’ve likely already committed to installing hardwood floors in your home or investment property. Congrats! Hardwoods are one of the most beautiful upgrades you can add to your home. They are timeless, elegant, and durable. In fact, according to the Wood Flooring Association’s Benefits Page (an admittedly biased resource) about 90% of realtors agree that homes with wood floors sell faster and at a better price.
In addition to added value, there’s no doubt that a proper hardwood flooring installation will create a warm atmosphere for your family or tenants for years and even generations to come.
Hardwood Flooring Nailer: The Most Important Installation Tool
You’ve probably already figured out that the most important tool for installing hardwood floors is the hardwood flooring nailer. In a typical 100 square foot room, you will install as many as 300 hardwood flooring fasteners (cleats or staples) to tighten the wood to the subfloor. A whole first floor of a house could consume as many as 3000 fasteners! A good pnuematic hardwood flooring nailer will be the difference between a perfect floor and a floor that is damaged, knicked, or pulling away from the subfloor due to poor nailing.
Air-powered Nailers vs. Manual Nailers
A quality, well maintained air nailer won’t only deliver a fantastic floor. It also won’t jam or break, saving you dozens of hours on the installation and giving you assurance that your flooring investment retains optimal value throughout the years. Unlike their manual counterparts, pneumatic hardwood nailers ensure a much more consistent fastener-to-floor delivery, and are less likely to short-drive a fastener and risk a difficult extraction from the wood. Most importantly, pneumatic nailers preserve your shoulder and arm muscles during installation, and are more likely to produce a tight installation (fewer gaps between the boards leading to a cleaner, more desirable overall look).
Recommended Hardwood Flooring Nailers
For this job, we often recommend one of two nailers, which are essentially the same models made by two respected names in pneumatic tools, Bostitch and Porter Cable. Both of these nailers provide all the essentials for solid hardwood flooring installation: consistent, reliable drive, large nail capacity, ability to fit into most tight spaces, incredibly easy to get up and running, and relatively lightweight. Both of these nailers are also a bit spendy–unfortunately all high quality hardwood flooring nailers are. But, when you consider the savings over paying for a professional installation, the a pneumatic hardwood nailer makes sense. Also, you’ll have the nailer for future homes, projects, to share with friends, etc. On the plus side, if you buy at the links below, Amazon doesn’t charge sales tax in most places, and shipping is free. That could be a savings of 5-10% off buying locally.
A Note on Compressors & Other Nailers:
Below the nailer details are two links to our articles on Bostitch and Porter Cable reconditioned compressor combo kits that both include a finishing nailer, brad nailer, and crown stapler. These kits are two of our favorite buys on Amazon because they come at a significantly reduced price.
The compressors in these kits will run either of these hardwood flooring nailers. Plus, if you buy the kit, you’ll have all the other nailers necessary to do a complete hardwood installation, and you’ll be prepared for other molding installations in the future (like crown molding or wainscoting).
Recommended Bostitch Flooring Nailer Details
Amazon.com Link >> Bostitch Hardwood Flooring Nailer
- High velocity; high capacity magazine; 420 inch-pounds of driving force
- lightweight, aircraft aluminum construction
- Includes standard rubber mallet
- 17-1/4 wide; 11.2 pounds; 7-year limited warranty
- Pre-finished flooring offset plate (works w/ prefinished floors).
Recommended Porter Cable Hardwood Nailer Details
Amazon.com link >> Porter Cable Hardwood Flooring Nailer
- Durable nailer with 100 cleat magazine
- Works with L-shaped cleats from 1-1/2 to 2 inches
- 70-100 PSI Min/Max oper. pressure
- 20-1/2 inches high; 11-1/2 pounds
- Comes with oil, mallet, appropriate wrenches, and dust cover
Reconditioned Compressor Combo Kits
As I mentioned above, you will need a quality compressor with sufficient CFM to run a pneumatic hardwood flooring nailer. If you don’t already have a compressor, you should definitely consider purchasing one of the reconditioned models highlighted below that are coupled with the other pneumatic nailers you’ll need for a complete room installation. Both of these models save about 40% over retail and are fantastic deals on Amazon.
Amazon.com >> Reconditioned Bostitch 3-Tool Compressor Combo Kit
Amazon.com >> Reconditioned Porter Cable 3-Tool Compressor Combo Kit
More Information on Hardwood Flooring Installation
One day we hope to have our own complete tutorial on how to install hardwood floors, but alas, we don’t have all the pictures and diagrams yet to make the page worth your while. If you’re looking for information, take a look at HomeTip’s Hardwood Flooring Installation Instructions for a decent tutorial on this topic.
What do you think? Do you own a Bostitch or Porter Cable Hardwood Flooring Nailer? What is your experience with these products?
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