How to Use a Floor Stapler
- 1). Load your stapler with a strip of staples according to the instructions. Generally, you'll have to pull back on a spring-loaded knob and slide the strip into a holding chamber. Connect the air hose to the stapler by pulling back the metal ring at the end of the hose, pressing the hose over the air hole at the back of the stapler, and releasing the metal ring. Turn on the compressor and let it run until the motor turns itself off. This means the stapler is ready to use.
- 2). Set your first course of flooring along one wall, with the tongue side facing out into the room. Secure it to the floor by drilling pairs of pilot holes every 1 to 2 feet and then driving in decking screws. Cut end pieces to size with your miter saw.
- 3). Lay the second course in the same manner, pressing the new planks tightly to the first course as you secure them to the floor. Repeat, until you've laid enough courses to allow your stapler to sit on the boards without touching the wall. This generally takes three or four courses. (NOTE: As you're laying each course, make sure the ends of the pieces aren't lining up from course to course. The planks come in staggered sizes to help avoid this.)
- 4). Once you can get the stapler in, set it on the edge of the first board on the next course, near the end of the board. The body of the stapler should be sitting on the boards, with front lip of the stapler hooking down around the tongue of the board to be stapled.
- 5). Tap the mallet against the front of the stapler to push the plank into place. Then, holding the stapler handle with one hand, swing the mallet down and strike the firing pad in one fast, hard motion, driving in the staple. Continue down the length of the plank, sinking staples about every foot. Repeat for the rest of the courses, until you get near the opposite wall. Stop using the stapler when you're too close to the wall to swing the mallet, and hand secure the last few planks from there.
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