I'm about to start repairing a load of boards on my Victorian floor...

[dun_edwards]

I've read that screws are better, I bought some decent floorboard screws and I'm finding that I have to countersink them a lot to get that 2mm-3mm clearance I'm after (the floor will need heavy sanding):

I feel like clasp nails are a better idea as I won't have to fill in these massive craters? Am I wrong? I usually am! This board is a board salvaged from the bathroom but the rest of the floor is a RIGHT STATE, so sanding won't be trivial, I'm worried about sanding into these screws.

Cheers!

 

[JohnD]

I think you should practice your countersinking

Looks like you are clumsily using an oversized burr and going too deep with it chattering

You can get individual tools sized to the screw head

In soft timber screws will pull their own heads in.

It helps to drill a pilot hole

 

[Tigercubrider]

If this is a floor to be on show, I would have thought that nails would be preferable?
maybe secret nailing?
or punch the nail below the surface and use sanding dust as filler.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

If this is a floor to be on show, I would have thought that nails would be preferable?

For softwood planks I've always preferred traditional cut clasp nails. In an older building they are certainly more in keeping, I feel

maybe secret nailing?

Yes, for T&G flooring secret nailing really is the preferred option for a professional finish. For hardwood it is the neatest way to go if you can

or punch the nail below the surface and use sanding dust as filler.

Sorry, but to me using PVA and sawdust is a horrible bodgy way of doing it! (yet it surfaces on DIY sites time after time) The reason it should be avoided is that it always shows through finishes, especially if any if the crap gets spilled onto the surrounding wood, and especially if the floor is to be stained - where it will show up as a light or white patch

Punch the nail heads under then use putty (tinted by mixing with oil colour) was a traditional approach used in Victorian times, or finish with whatever then fill the holes with coloured wax afterwards is the least obtrusive (you can actually get hard waxes and shellac fillers specifically for this from firms like Konig).

OP, if you must screw down, get yourself a decent drill/countersink such as a Trend Snappy one, in an appropriate size. For 4mm screws (a typical flooring size) that would be a SNAP/CS/4MM. These cut a smaller, neater countersink, will counterbore cleanly, and will allow filling using either bought-in timber pellets, or you can cut your own using a matching tube plug cutter from the same manufacturer. This is how it is often done on hardwood flooring being laid onto concrete, for example.

 

[dun_edwards]

Thank you so much to everyone that has taken the time to reply! I really appreciate it!

So, I read the clasp nail thing too late and proceeded with the screw based solution. I did, however, buy a much better counterbore that perfectly matched my screws and also tried to minimize the hole and get the screws to "pull their own heads in" as much as possible. Overall I've found that sometimes they do and sometimes they don't, there is a very high variance in the feel of screwing into different boards and joists.

Overall I'm very happy with how structurally firm the boards are, no creaking no movement, the floor feels solid as hell. Also, I've magpied some boards from another room that seem to be 1mm too low (they were orginally the same size but 100 years of timber variance has made them vary now) and screwing has allowed me to tinker and fix this issue in a way that clasp nails wouldn't. I'm going to buy some pine plugs and give that a go although the floor is a pretty knackered old pine floor and maybe I should just use a good wood filler and embrace the rusticness. These boards are only going to look so good. I'll send some photos when I finish the repairing piece but I won't know where I am until that first day with the drum sander!
But, once again, thanks for the help!