Will stainless steel flooring staples work with ipe?
Or, am I better off sticking with the galvanized?
In older homes like these, the main remodeling goal is often a more welcoming, more social, and more functional kitchen.
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Replies
Is this for outside? Stainless seems overkill for interior work, unless it'll get wet a lot.
outside on a covered porch
Stainless is what I'd use outside. If the staples are going into treated wood, then stainless is the only sensible choice, as galvanized will rapidly fail.Bill
ipe is nice wood - spend the $ on stainless - the porch sounds like a nice long term finish project so do it right - putting a new finish on later is not a big deal but try replacing staples and nails after the project is done.....arrrrgh
Pedro the Mule - I even wear stainless mule shoes <grin>
the $ for the stainless staples is not that big of a deal.
The question in my mind is whether my Bostitich will be able to drive them through the ipe. Between stainless being not as strong as galvanized and ipe as hard as it can get, it didn't seem like a sure thing.
I actually used ipe leftovers to make a raised bed for my indoor pooch.
Stainless finish nails were used on the edges driven by my framing hammer.
I flattened the tip of the nails before driving them and only had a couple that bent just as I started driving them. The rest went right on in.
I did a porch in 5/4 white oak and used Elmer's poly glue, similiar to Gorilla glue, on the tops of the floor joist and used a blind drill jig to predrill and used deck screws on one edge. On the back edge of the porch I ran the screws straight down through the top on both sides and later covered it with a molding. On the ends I used the same drill jig to come up underneath. The porch was only 8' deep so full length boards were used.
3 years later and the porch has held together like a rock without a single fastener in view.
I'd use the same method for ipe but your labor will increase.....probably triple your time over air nailing.
Pedro the Mule
Paul,I would expect stainless staples to be STRONGER than regular galvanized staples. I have not seen heat treated staples, but they may exist, and if they exist could be stronger than mild 304 or 316 stainless.Bill