Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Tongue and groove over beams nailing method?

Hi,
I'll be replacing a hallway floor. Its pine, tongue and groove, 18mm thick, that will go over beams with 30cm centers. Can I nail it to the beams through the tongue to avoid nail setting and puttying or will I need more grip than every 30cm? The beams are 10cm wide so each beam could get two or three nails through the tongue. The original floor (tongue and groove also) was nailed through the plank top, nails set and puttied about 80 years ago but they eventually raised through the putty.

Lasty, nails or screws? Which is better?

Thanks,
Mark

Flooring should be installed perpendicular to the joists and nailed approximately every eight inches. A 3/4" plywood (OSB acceptable) subfloor is recommended. For installation directions from the National Oak Flooring Manufacturer's Association, go to www.nofma.org

In the old days, it was installed just into the joists(looked at one like that this morning) or they had rough timbers laid on a 45º angle and the wood nailed into it.

Last winter I did 480 sqft of pine. It was on the 2nd floor of a post and beam house. The floor joists are 4 ft on center, the pine floor is 2X8 T&G. I used a framing nailer with framing nails (don't remember the penny exactly, but they were 3.5-4 inches long). I nailed through the tounge into the beams, and only 1-3 nails per joist depending on how the boards were coming together.

I am not an expert. I do not know how this floor will weather the test of time, but so far so good. The post and beam building is a kit, I have talked to many people who have built these kits and the above method of flooring is common for the 2nd floor. Where you have joists every 30 cm you can get away with the 18 mm boards.

My only advice is do not skimp on the length of the nails. I started with shorter nails and becasue of the angle required to get the nails into the flooring there wan't much left to bite into the joist.

good luck