Recommend me a good flooring screw please

[Sideways]

Asking advice please.
I've had to lift a lot of my upstairs flooring in order to reroute plumbing and I want to put the new boards down with screws rather than nails as built in the late 70's.
The boards are 18mm chipboard.

Is there anything better than these spax flooring screws ?
As in actually better, or just as good at a worthwhile saving.
I like Spax, I always buy TX heads these days if I can, and if they are a good choice, I don't mind the price, but it never hurts to check.

And what's with Optimaxx ? They seem to have something v similar but even more expensive!! A bit surprising for what I'd call a newcomer who've been around quite a while now but haven't really taken off.

Thanks

 

[Bingy man]

Asking advice please.
I've had to lift a lot of my upstairs flooring in order to reroute plumbing and I want to put the new boards down with screws rather than nails as built in the late 70's.
The boards are 18mm chipboard.

Is there anything better than these spax flooring screws ?
As in actually better, or just as good at a worthwhile saving.
I like Spax, I always buy TX heads these days if I can, and if they are a good choice, I don't mind the price, but it never hurts to check.

View attachment 182983

And what's with Optimaxx ? They seem to have something v similar but even more expensive!! A bit surprising for what I'd call a newcomer who've been around quite a while now but haven't really taken off.

Thanks

I use these from Toolstation £26.50 for 500 , never had one break and did a floor a week or so back used 22 mm chipboard . No pre drilling or counter sinking required ..

 

[Orraloon]

As the aim is to get them out again I would drill pilot holes.
Regards
John

 

[ChaiLatte]

I use these from Toolstation

I can also recommend those.

5 x 60 to which you link might be excessive for floorboards. 4 x 50 is adequate.

As the aim is to get them out again

Why do you assume that is the aim? It is the noise and (damage from) vibration from nailing down the boards which is more likely to be the reason for using screws.

In any case, how is a non-piloted screw any more difficult to remove than a piloted one? You can drive screws much closer to the edge of chipboard without splitting than you can with natural wood. Needing to screw the end of a traditional floorboard half-lapped on a joist would be the only place you'd ever need to pilot drill.

 

[squib]

The spax screws are excellent and the twin threads help eliminate creaking when the timbers shrink and expand due to temperature changes etc. I recommend using 5x60 or longer as I have been asked to fix creaking retrospectively and it has been from under sized screws and/or not enough of them.....always fixed with spax.

 

[Chubber]

Tallow. Or what passes for it today. Never squeak/ creak, rarely break.

https://timberfixings.com/Tallow-Lubricant-for-Screws-c78163036

Greased screws in railway carriages built in 1950s still come out, this tub will last a young man's lifetime .

 

[Bingy man]

I can also recommend those.

5 x 60 to which you link might be excessive for floorboards. 4 x 50 is adequate.



Why do you assume that is the aim? It is the noise and (damage from) vibration from nailing down the boards which is more likely to be the reason for using screws.

In any case, how is a non-piloted screw any more difficult to remove than a piloted one? You can drive screws much closer to the edge of chipboard without splitting than you can with natural wood. Needing to screw the end of a traditional floorboard half-lapped on a joist would be the only place you'd ever need to pilot drill.

Good point but previous flooring was nailed down with 3 “ annular ring nails , also I knew I’d be tiling the floor so probably went a little heavy duty . @Orraloon as for removing them they actually come out easily . All the pipework hot/ cold , the waste pipes, and the central heating pipework was replaced due to poor condition so there is no necessity to remove the screws which are covered by 6mm ply and then tiled over .

 

[Fergie 307]

I can also recommend those.

5 x 60 to which you link might be excessive for floorboards. 4 x 50 is adequate.



Why do you assume that is the aim? It is the noise and (damage from) vibration from nailing down the boards which is more likely to be the reason for using screws.

In any case, how is a non-piloted screw any more difficult to remove than a piloted one? You can drive screws much closer to the edge of chipboard without splitting than you can with natural wood. Needing to screw the end of a traditional floorboard half-lapped on a joist would be the only place you'd ever need to pilot drill.

I have a number of access points in my chipboard floors, all secured with the spax screws, as is all the flooring. Never had and problem getting them out when necessary. My workshop walls are all t&g flooring chipboard laid horizontally and staggered like bricks. Don't have to worry about exact distances between uprights, and all done with spax screws. Only time I have ever used pilot holes is for making cabinets out of 18mm ply, when screwing into the sides of the ply. Use the spax floor screws for that as well. They really pull the pieces together very well.

 

[Spectric]

The Spax screws are good because of the two opposing threads which pull the boards down tight when compared to just woodscrews. Reisser also do a good two thread board screw.

The other screws I have used for not only floor boards but to hold slats on sheds are these

https://www.screwfix.com/p/timbadec...VYJpQBh1Xig6rEAQYByABEgI3ufD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

It is like a lost head screw !

And what's with Optimaxx ? They seem to have something v similar but even more expensive!!

Optimax in Wickes are £25 for 500

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Optimaxx-PZ-Countersunk-Flooring-Screw---4-x-50mm---Pack-of-500/p/224418

Spax £20 for 300

https://www.ironmongerydirect.co.uk/product/spax-flooring-screw-45x60mm-pack-300-291096

 

[Sideways]

Thanks, good find on the optimaxx. I was seeing prices over £20 for just 200.
(Edit: ahh, the box of 500 are pozi heads according to the website Edit 2: but the ones in store were TX head at the same good price

Spax are £18 for the 300 tub at Wickes just now.

Comparing, the spax are a much more substantial screw. 300 of their 4.5x60 probably similar weight to 500 optimaxx 4.0x50's. I got both in case I need some short ones but the spax will be my goto.

I do intend to get some of those lost head type screws. Charlie DIYt on youtube was talking about the "lost-tite" ones. I like the design with a fast thread on the front and an obviously slower thread on the back so that they will pull the boards together but that style are advertised for fixing flooring through the tongue. For floorboards where appearance doesn't matter a big CSK head should help keep everything tight and squeak free.

My box of outdoor screws has a mix of spax / screw-tite / timbadeck / forgefix exterior. I've had good results from all those brands.

 

[PDW125]

If they aren’t coming back up, use glue on your joints and boards and then the lost head Spax or other brand ones. Nothing will squeak or move then

 

[Sideways]

@Fergie 307 I have a few access points routed too. Some boards will be replaced as part of this job and I'll rout the hatches before I fix the floor down. Sometimes you need access closer to a wall than the router will go.
My CH is sectioned with full bore ball valves so that I can replace radiators and tails without losing the heating and draining the whole system.

 

[Spectric]

My CH is sectioned with full bore ball valves so that I can replace radiators and tails without losing the heating and draining the whole system.

Done the right way without trying to reduce cost, it is so much easier if in summer you can isolate the heating side for work, radiator removal for decorating etc and still have the hot water working.

 

[Fergie 307]

@Fergie 307 I have a few access points routed too. Some boards will be replaced as part of this job and I'll rout the hatches before I fix the floor down. Sometimes you need access closer to a wall than the router will go.
My CH is sectioned with full bore ball valves so that I can replace radiators and tails without losing the heating and draining the whole system.

Same here. We bought our house as a repossession. It had been empty for at least 18 months and was in quite a state. So completely re wired and replumbed. Seemed sensible to section off the plumbing and heating, just makes things so much easier. I also have ball valves as drain points, each with a snap on hose connector. Makes draining any section down a doddle.

 

[Sideways]

My home is built with that classic late 70's design of plumbing run in the upstairs floor and flow / return drops down to feed the ground floor radiators. It makes for greater accessibility than pipes embedded in a solid concrete ground floor but they were put in with microbore, clipped to the block and just plastered over. Horrid !
I've removed every bit of microbore from the house and while renewing radiators etc, replumbed in larger pipe so the heating can run slower, cooler and still get the job done. Future proofing hopefully in case we ever go heat pump. One of the improvements I was able to make was to fit auto air vents above a few of the pipe drops. Drops to radiators are notorious for getting air locks and being a pig to bleed but with the bottle traps, they sort themselves out quickly. My learning point is that bottle traps gum up and need replacing every few years. The ones that supposedly self seal when you unscrew them to replace don't do that, so put in a ball valve first making it easy to isolate and swap / clean the bottles or take them off and use the handy access points to drain / fill / flush your CH.

 

[trvlr]

my few cents worth...

Pilot holes through the board - whatever type it is - won't hurt. And greasing screws (the pilot holes from where it will carried into the joists (or whatever) and thus help stop screws rusting and also (as per the reference to 1950 railways carriages) allows them to be easily removed if needs-be.

The idea of glueing a floor board (or have I misinterpreted that item - possibly...)?

There are assorted drill bits from Trend which allow the correct/precsie pilot hole for a given size screw; and allow the corect coubntersink too.

Screwfix has some of the range; Champion Timber, Tool Station - and the Big River company all have them as well; and likely some of the DIY stores too.

Incidentaly if teh dril bit part snaps (and it can...) the remains of the "bit" can still perform reasonably well as a counter sink bit.