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So I was talking with a flooring inspector in Denver about tack strips
He told me he sees a lot of callbacks where installers use the same strip for every job, even on concrete. He said, 'If you don't use a strip with the right nail angle for concrete, you're asking for a loose edge in six months.' I'd never really thought about it that way before. Does anyone have a go-to brand for concrete subfloors?
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joel_jones1mo ago
Isn't that inspector overcomplicating things? I've used the same basic strip on concrete for years with no callbacks. A good adhesive does most of the work anyway.
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paul_taylor2128d ago
Up in the Pacific Northwest I see a lot of jobs where people try to save a buck on the concrete strips but it always bites them later. @parker_palmer44 I get that the study might show one thing but real world humidity swings in basements really test that nail grip. Here's something nobody brought up yet - the plastic moisture barrier on the concrete itself can mess with how the nail sets. If the strip's teeth don't bite through that plastic cleanly, you're basically just clipping the nail into a slippery surface. So even a good angle strip can fail if the concrete has that thick vapor retarder coat.
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dakotab931mo ago
Right? I had the same thought for years. Then I did a big condo job with all concrete slabs and used my usual wood subfloor strips. Within a year, half the units had edges popping up. The nails were just sitting there in the holes, not grabbing at all. Switched to the 45-degree angle strips for concrete and it was a totally different hold. That inspector knows his stuff.
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