Flooring stapler or nailer? And good vapor barrier/underlayment?

It has been YEARS since I installed a hardwood floor.  Sad thing is I used to teach classes on it for Home Depot and I forget it all.

Flooring is 1/2" solid maple T&G.  I'm afraid a nailer will just split the tongue off.  Should I get a stapler?  Planning on buying one, not renting.  Too far to the nearest rental place, and CL and FB are full of ones that people bought and used for one install.  Staples?  1-1/2?  Glue to be safe, or no?

Subfloor is old T&G pine that is in very good condition but will require one or two shims between the sub and the joists to firm it up.  I want a good (but not thick) underlayment that will work as a vapor/air barrier (crawl space underneath).  I know I'll be putting holes in it with fasteners, but (assuming I'm getting wood to wood) they shouldn't really affect much.  I'm thinking something better than Rosin paper, but not one of those super fancy plastic/foam 1/4" thick expensive things.  What do you pros use?

Basically, I'm looking for a quick refresher course before I start installing.

Also, can you check my logic here with the drawing below?  I'm considering starting on the right wall with the "A".  Normally I would start at the wall marked with a "B" for visual reasons, but if I start at "A" it will prevent face-nailing and reversing the tongue at "C".  I'm thinking with the wide entertainment center on "B" and the couch on "A", no one will be seeing the seams at the walls anyway.

I am by no means an expert.  I think you actually schooled me a bit when I went to do mine.

I used tar paper as my underlayment.

As far as starting/alignment, I actually measured the whole room and made the boards bisect the room at the center so the "misalignment" was split between both ends of the room (also I have a hallway at the center of the house).  It worked out well because you can't really tell at either end.

You can still measure back from B to the A wall and start from there so it perfectly aligns with B though if you want.

That's true.  Provided the walls are parallel (not likely on a 1920s house) it would be even easier.

I bought the Bostitch big boy years ago (stapler). Great tool, but the Harbor Freight is 1/4 price, and 90+% of the tool. Yeah, tarpaper, 1-1/2 staples, work from centerlines. Rack so seams don't line up. Bob is your uncle.

You're so wrong.  I don't have an uncle Bob.  Pfft.

Don't take flooring advice from Wheelsmithy.  He makes up phantom uncles.  :)

But seriously, thanks for chiming in.

I run and skip I hop and jump, I like to press wild flowers...

Also, get that wood on site and let it acclimate to temperature and humidity for what, a week? At least a few days. Now bring on the back pain.

I'm about to lay pine t&g in my place, so this is semi relevant to my interests. But I'm laying directly to joists and top nailing, so not particularly helpful to you Curtis, sorry mate.  More curious as to wether it's worth finding some kind of underlay to put between the joists and the boards.

In reply to Curtis73 :

You want a flooring cleat nailer. Like this:

They come in pneumatic or manual. Either will work for your job. 
 

Both are driven with a mallet (like in the picture). If you are using a nailer with just a trigger fire- wrong tool. The mallet driven tool keeps the flooring tighter. 
 

There are also staplers which work similarly. They will hold better initially, but more prone to working loose over time than the cleats. Also, more likely to split the tongues (since you are using thin material). 
 

In your old house, use the cleats. 
 

I like tar paper. It seals the nail holes as you drive through it. 

I bought a HF one to do about 700sf of t&g strand woven bamboo on my first floor, it worked great.   I'm not that far from you (near Reading) if you want to borrow it.  

SVreX said:

In reply to Curtis73 :

You want a flooring cleat nailer. Like this:

 

They come in pneumatic or manual. Either will work for your job. 
 

Both are driven with a mallet (like in the picture). If you are using a nailer with just a trigger fire- wrong tool. The mallet driven tool keeps the flooring tighter. 
 

There are also staplers which work similarly. They will hold better initially, but more prone to working loose over time than the cleats. Also, more likely to split the tongues (since you are using thin material). 
 

In your old house, use the cleats. 
 

I like tar paper. It seals the nail holes as you drive through it. 

I was hoping you'd chime in.  The installs I have done before (last one was probably 15 years ago) I always used a cleat nailer, but it was also either 3/4 oak or 3/4 bamboo.  I was afraid with 1/2" hard maple and its easiness to split that a cleat might be too much.  Whatever nailer I buy I'll probably be selling it so I suppose I could just give it a shot with cleats and switch to a stapler if I get the splitz... or vice versa

Sonic said:

I bought a HF one to do about 700sf of t&g strand woven bamboo on my first floor, it worked great.   I'm not that far from you (near Reading) if you want to borrow it.  

Hmmm... case of your favorite beverage in return?

Deal.  My email is abbottcd at the gmails. 

In reply to Curtis73 :

Cleats vs staples...

Your logic is good based on the shank size, but T&G flooring doesn't work if the crown of the staple is protruding where the tongue meets the groove. 
 

So, staplers are designed to SET the crown. The plunger protrudes enough to sink the crown of the staple.  So, the damage to the tongue is not just the shank size, but the entire crown width.
 

Staples are harder on the tongues than cleats.

Ok.  Good to know.

It makes sense, I just work so much with nails vs staples at the theater and narrow-crown staples always win in the anti-split category, but your logic is sound.

I noticed in the first post you noted 1/2" thick Maple.

I usually work with 3/4"  .  Thinking the tongue may be even thinner on 1/2" material.  So,  test first.  The tongue may be a bit more fragile on thinner material.

Are you working with existing baseboards, or no baseboards installed yet?  No baseboards gives you a bit more room to work solutions on that run along wall B.   Even so, with 1/2" maple you should be able to rip the last piece with a circular saw (might have to protect the finish with masking tape before the rip.)  I don't like 1/4 round, so i like to install baseboards after the floor for a cleaner look.

There are existing baseboards, but they're a mix of uninspired 3/4 lumber with 20 layers of paint, and one wall of proper millwork baseboard on the front wall.  It will all come out and be replaced with some 3/4" MDF that I'll rip and mill with a bevel.  Agreed.  I don't like quarter round.

And it will likely go down unfinished and then poly once it's installed.  This is all from my backyard.  Maples came down, trunks went to the mill, and he's fabbing it all into 5" wide T&G for me.  Rough cut first, kiln dried, re-trued on the mill, then planed and grooved.  So when it comes to my house, it will be dried and planed but not sanded.  Easier to install and then sand, then 4 coats of poly.  I did give thought to sanding each piece and spraying it with lacquer, but that's not only labor intensive, I run the risk of getting too much lacquer on the tongue and having it not seat correctly.

Quarter round can go to hell.

I respect the dislike of quarter round, but it's a god-send in older houses like yours. 
 

Your floors are not flat. 3/4" MDF baseboard will not follow the dips and rolls, which will leave a gap at the bottom.  Quarter round will follow the floor, and close that gap.
 

Unless you scribe each piece to the floor.  That's pretty advanced trim work, and it's slow and tedious. 
 

Consider a smaller piece along with your MDF base. If you don't like quarter round, perhaps a profile like a colonial stop molding?

What??? My floors are PERFECT, man.

(said no old homeowner ever)

I just like how MDF mills smooth and takes paint, and it can be coaxed to follow floor lines.  If I can't get it to behave, I can always consider quarter round or shoe.  That also would make a channel to hide my speaker wires and lamp cords.