Which screws for laying floorboards?

[okeydokey]

At last, I have lifted the carpet and underlay on my first-floor landing to sort out the cracked/broken/split floorboards.
The house is 1930's and the poor condition of the flooring is due to a gaggle of heating engineers and electricians pulling them up over the years and generally mistreating them when an extension was built some 20 years ago. They are tongue and groove (softwood) in that area - about 18mm thick.
Until I take them up tomorrow (we are not talking about a huge area) I won't know whether to replace with T+G or square edge or mix and match to fill the gap (widthwise)
To the point
Which screws to use? the type with thread all the way to the head or the more traditional screw with a plain shank below the head and then threaded to the point.
There might be a preferred option otherwise I will just use whatever I come across in the shed I would prefer not to use the square or hex head as if I ever want to take them up, I will never find the square/hex bit.
Hoping not to start a huge debate what's the best please?
cheers

 

[Jacob]

Nails.

 

[Spectric]

Try these, a great way to hold them down and never had a problem with splitting

https://reisser.co.uk/shop/flooring-screw/

 

[Ozi]

Traditionally cut nails but personally when fixing boards over pipes etc I use a shanked screw in case I ever need to get them back up, it's always worked ok for me.

 

[Dibs-h]

I used these in the past:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/tongue-tite-tx-countersunk-floorboard-screws-3-5-x-45mm-200-pack/85991
and no issues whatsoever.

HIH

Dibs

 

[eribaMotters]

It does not really matter what screws you use, just make sure you drill and countersink the boards.

Colin

 

[okeydokey]

Perhaps I should have said that under this area runs the main water supplies for radiators, hot and cold to the Megaflow plus enough wiring to power Blackpool Illuminations so its screw down not nailing.
Thanks I will look at the 2 suggested.

 

[John Brown]

Perhaps I should have said that under this area runs the main water supplies for radiators, hot and cold to the Megaflow plus enough wiring to power Blackpool Illuminations so its screw down not nailing.
Thanks I will look at the 2 suggested.

??? Surely a screw can enter a cable or pipe as easily as a nail, or am I missing something?

 

[Simon89]

??? Surely a screw can enter a cable or pipe as easily as a nail, or am I missing something?

Ease of access in the future

 

[thetyreman]

cut nails are also incredibly hard to get out once they're in.

 

[ChaiLatte]

...am I missing something?

When the house was first built and the floorboards nailed down with traditional cut clasp nails, I do not think the ceiling and fittings below would have been installed.

If he is now banging nails in and rattling the whole structure when re-installing the floorboards, the antique cut-glass chandelier in the vestibule below might be unhappy.

 

[John Brown]

Fair enough, I got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Personally, I'd always use screws, if they weren't going to be visible.

 

[Ollie78]

Tongue tite are great, they also come in stainless if you need that option.

Ollie

 

[XTiffy]

I once was installing alcove cabinets at a customers house. He announced thet he was going to nail down upstairs floorboard as the plumber had finished. Later I heard sounds of water dripping, finding that water was dripping off the passageway light fitting. The customer had very neatly nailed through a copper pipe and wasn't even aware that he had done so. Thus my advice would be screws, drill clearance /csk after checking and marking each board for anything that you might inadvertantly go through. Shades of check twice cut once!

 

[Doug71]

A few years ago I replaced and refitted some floorboards for a customer after the plumbers had made the usual mess. A few weeks later I went to do some more work on the property and the lady of the house told me how her husband thought I had missed some of the screws so he added a few more. He hit seven pipes, at least the boards could be removed easily this time

As @eribaMotters said above most screws will do the job as long as you drill and countersink the boards first. The self drilling type are fine until you need to take them out as the wood tends to break out above the heads on exit, not really a problem if covered by carpet etc though.

 

[okeydokey]

Thanks all - yes screw down for easy access is my objective
Bought some Floor-Tite PZ Countersunk Floorboard Screws 4.2 x 45mm 200 Pack should do the job better than random screws.
See photo for part of the issue
cheers

 

[ChaiLatte]

...checking and marking each board for anything that you might inadvertantly go through.

...and mark to eliminate any possibility of installing the board 180 degrees out.

 

[ChaiLatte]

See photo for part of the issue

The electrical cables touching the 22mm pipe is not the best.

 

[Spectric]

What is used today when the joist can be notched are these plates

https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Main_I...lurl&msclkid=7c72f964f3a2180fe9169ae800f9de0c
It has been sometime since I have seen pipes retained by bent nails and what a lot of rubbish between the joist, much safer to have no rubbish because it is a fire hazzard especially if you get any electrical cable issues as it is an easier point of ignition.

 

[okeydokey]

I have used before and forgotten about these plates so thanks Spectric I will pick some up from TLC tomorrow, I was going to use some cuts from a lightweight joist hanger, but these are ready to use.
Some of the rubbish has since been removed but pipes were hot at the time, one of the white cables is a cat 5 I fed through some time ago so I can tidy, the other "coil" of white was a feed to a downstairs cooker point and pulled up (by others) to under the floor, now I can get to it I can reduce the bulk but can't easily take it back to the (upstairs) fuse board.
re the cable touching the pipe yes not good I might be able to take the thicker one under the pipe just ease the pipe up a bit and cut a shallow notch to take just that one and reduce cable congestion assuming of course that I can still get some fixing for the board - I foresee a few noggins (if that's what they're called) coming in useful screwed on the side of a joist so the floorboard has something to sit on and fix into.
The new boards will cup like crazy due to the hot pipes and drying out but hey ho I don't think I can avoid that.
Another issue and see this next photo is that the plastic pipe connectors sit proud of the joist/floorboard so I will have to make thinner the boards just above so the boards can lay down. And yes, the boards have rattled around under carpet and underlay for too long, and I now have time to sort it out - well improve it best I can anyway!
Thanks all for your comments