Three ways hardwood attaches — nail/staple, glue-down, and floating

Only nail/staple-down uses fasteners (counted per sq ft by board width); glue-down trades them for adhesive, and floating for underlayment.

Three side-by-side cross-sections of hardwood-floor installation. Nail/staple-down: a cleat is driven at about 45 degrees through the board’s tongue into the subfloor over 15-pound felt, blind-nailed and hidden every 6 to 8 inches — which is why fasteners are counted per square foot. Glue-down: the board is bedded in trowel-ridged adhesive and works over concrete. Floating: an engineered click board sits on foam underlayment, unfastened, with an expansion gap at the wall. Only the nail/staple method uses counted fasteners. — Source: NWFA Installation Guidelines; ASTM D4869 felt

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Three side-by-side cross-sections of hardwood-floor installation. Nail/staple-down: a cleat is driven at about 45 degrees through the board’s tongue into the subfloor over 15-pound felt, blind-nailed and hidden every 6 to 8 inches — which is why fasteners are counted per square foot. Glue-down: the board is bedded in trowel-ridged adhesive and works over concrete. Floating: an engineered click board sits on foam underlayment, unfastened, with an expansion gap at the wall. Only the nail/staple method uses counted fasteners.

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