Hardwood floor set up: nail heads visible, what now?

< meta itemprop=publisher content=" HomeOwnersHub.com" > Hi all, A flooring installer has actually just completed setting up new unfinished hardwood on the flooring of our home. The flooring has actually been sanded, however no polyurethane has actually been put down yet.
The base floor is concrete.
Due to concerns about the overall height of the flooring, we utilized 5/8″plywood as the subfloor instead of 3/4″. The flooring is 3/4″thick.
The issue is that, on the boards that were face nailed, the nail heads are right at the surface of the wood. In the middle of our great cherry floors, silver nail heads shine in the light. We’re told this is due to the fact that the floor is not thick adequate to do anything else.
We ‘d like to ask the installer “why didn’t you mention this before?” However that’s not exactly constructive.
So the question is: what now? It’s not the nail heads that bother us, it’s that they are silver and shiny. Can we color them? If so, with what? It appears like it would be difficult to punch the nails much deeper. But is that possible? How should it have been done? Screws and plugs? If so, can the nails be taken out at this moment?
Thanks beforehand!

On Jul 22, 9:34 pm, snipped-for-privacy@chicagoits.com composed:

Do not worry about how it must have been done. Your issue now is having the error fixed. Do not enable any finish work on the flooring until the nails are gone and the holes filled to your satisfaction. Read over your agreement, and if possible withhold any further payment until it is done. Contact a legal representative, BBB, whoever you feel can assist if there is unwillingness to make it right. The installer needs to have used 1 1/2″ nails and he might have as quickly utilized a much shorter nail or screw or snipped off what he had with side cutters provided the little number required. Sounds like an inexperienced box store job to me.
Joe

ask the installer what he can do. It may extremely well be possible to punch them down lower. & & fill the holes. that would be my very first choice. it also would be pretty simple to color them, A black or red sharpie would do a good job.
wrote:

responding to longshot, Joanne T Klemanchuck composed: Hi, I have a few nail heads holding up from my wood flooring. They are little. Wha can I utilize to hide them

On Fri, 08 Dec 2017 17:44:02 GMT, Joanne T Klemanchuck

A nail set and a patching crayon.

> > The issue is that, on the boards that were face nailed, the nail

So it’s just a couple of boards. Normally these are at the edge of a room of comparable. Ask him if he can punch the heads below the surface area and fill the holes. Fill ONE hole and examine what you think of the colour match. Be prepared to pay for a couple of different pots of filler and consider blending to get the best match.

On Jul 23, 5:51 am, “CWatters”

Contacting an attorney due to the fact that a floor installer didn’t set his nails? Would it be a criminal case or a civil case?
Are you having the flooring expertly sanded/finished? Call the installer back to set the nails if you desire– appears easier to me to simply buy a 2 dollar nail set at the hardware shop and do it yourself. Less frustrating. Then, your finisher must have the ability to putty the holes. You tend to take a look at brand-new deal with a microscope. As soon as your furniture is moved back in etc, are these nails even going to be a problem?

On Jul 22, 10:34 pm, snipped-for-privacy@chicagoits.com wrote:

The nails are more of a problem than simply cosmetic. When you go to refinish the flooring the nails will wreck the sandpaper on the floor maker. That’s the factor that nails, whether through the tongue or face-nailed needs to be set as deep as the top of the tongue.
You might color the nail head, after doing some tests to make sure that the floor surface does not trigger the paint or whatever you utilize to streak and discolor the floor. Coloring the nail heads just handles the cosmetic problem and not the long term one.
The nails will most likely strike the concrete and bend which would cause the nail set to slide off the head. If that occurs it’ll leave some larger than required holes and the nails might not be set deep enough anyhow. A mangled head likewise won’t look better than a consistent one. Setting the nails would most likely be difficult, but it’s most likely worth a shot.
Pulling the nails would leave some nasty scars. I do not see any reason you ought to have scars in a brand name new floor. It is possible to utilize a pull the nail, utilize a Forstner bit to drill a counterbore and then utilize screws and plugs. That’s a crap load of work and it would probably be just as easy to just install brand-new boards and sand them down. Cherry wood darkens with age rather a bit, so if the putty looks perfect when initially installed, it will look too light down the roadway.
The thin plywood underlayment is the issue. If the floor installer put it down, the entire thing is his puppy. If you had actually the plywood installed by somebody else, and the installer wasn’t familiar with the problem, then it’s yours. Such thin underlayment does not provide much leeway for fasteners. A solid wood floor will move a reasonable bit – you’re lucky that you have cherry which moves less than oak – and much shorter fasteners can work loose more quickly.
R

All great actions, thank you everybody.
The flooring installer put the subfloor down. We understood it was a little thin, however we were told there sufficed room to secure the boards correctly.
The most essential thing I have actually learned is that the nails can not remain the method they are due to issues when refinishing in the future.
Sounds like screw and plugs might be the method to go. We have additional boards too.
I’ll report back on the result.
Thanks again!
— Greg

snipped-for-privacy@chicagoits.com wrote:

IF you select to set the nailheads and putty them DO NOT putty the holes till at least the first coat of sealer/finish has actually been used. If you fill nail holes on raw wood, the area surrounding every single among them will appear as light splotches.