Air Nailers & Staplers

Yes, it’s spendy, especially if you’re a homeowner just planning to do a couple of rooms. But if you weigh the cost of a professional installation, you come out miles ahead doing it yourself, even with this purchase, and you can work at your own pace instead of rushing a rental back to the store. If price is an obstacle, you might consider a manual nailer; you’ll pay about half as much, but you’ll do more than twice the work!

Professionals love this model, and for good reason. It’s made of aircraft-grade aluminum, so it’s light and strong. Your compressor needs to run between 60 and 100 psi, but best performance came in between 70 and 90 psi. There’s practically no learning curve, so with just a light tap of the mallet, you’ll be cruising along your flooring with 420 inch-pounds of nailing pressure.

The base plates – one is for half-inch planks, the other, ¾-inch -- are nice and wide, giving you rock-solid stability, and the magazine holds 110 fasteners, keeping reloading of your 1-1/2- to 2-inch cleats to a minimum.

We like the long-reach handle, but a shorter version is available, too. If you’re putting down hardwood or engineered flooring, you’d be doing yourself a favor by picking up this nailer. -- Kris Jensen-Van Heste

What’s in the Box
Nailer, graphite mallet, pre-finished flooring adapter foot