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As you may know I asked a few questions to this end already and just wanted to know if I should remove the nails and replace them with screws to hold the 1/2" plywood sub floor securely to the joists so that I will not get noise in the new floor?

Or is that overkill and adding a screw near each nail is good enough?

Once the flooring goes down I don't get a re-try so I would rather get it right the 1st time.

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1 Answer

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You should not need to remove the existing nails. Driving a new screw into the joist adjacent to the nails should be sufficient.

You may need to countersink the screws to get them to sit flush.

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for sure, the screw will sit nice and snug in the plywood ! – kacalapy Feb 1 '11 at 17:26
+1 and screw size should be chosen properly. If screws are too small they just won't hold the subfloor reliably and it will start squeaking sooner or later. – sharptooth Feb 2 '11 at 6:32
@sharptooth what size would be needed for this? i was going to use 2" screws – kacalapy Feb 2 '11 at 13:55
@kacalapy: I'm used to millimeters - I'd choose at least 4 mm in diameter and at least 20 mm in length, preferably longer. – sharptooth Feb 2 '11 at 14:06
It helps if the screw shank does not have threads on the portion that is in the plywood (1/2" in your case) when the screw is fully seated. This allows the screw to pull the plywood down to the joist. – Les Oct 1 '12 at 15:40

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