Customer Reviews for POWERNAIL PowerPalm Pneumatic Hardwood Flooring Cleat Nailer

I've used this on a 1100 square foot install and I can't imagine installing hardwood floors without it. Forget drilling, hammering, and countersinking nails. This drives cleats with ease after a little practice. One word of caution, always keep it pointed in a safe direction when loading and moving into position to drive a cleat. Several times cleats have shot out of this with enough force to stick into a wall.

Takes a little bit of getting used to but made doing the hallway/closets much easier.

Great tool for all edges close to wall Use same fasteners, which is huge advantage No predrilling edges

Great tool for tongue and groove installation. Very easy to use.

Perfect! Must have for installing 3/4 in floor.

Works well. Allows you to nail right up to walls so you can hide face nails under baseboard.

Had high hopes for this to drive in cleats for boards near the wall but this didn't quite deliver. If holes are not pre-drilled they will bend. Even after pre-drilling this doesn't drive them deep enough. You have to follow up with a punch otherwise the next board will have a gap at the seam. Would have given it higher rating if the nail depth was deeper.

A “Must Have” for anyone doing hardwood flooring!

Tool was very helpful and easy to use for nailing down hardwood flooring close to walls. You have to get used to the tool, no need to push hard at all. Follow instructions how often you need to add oil.

All installs need this!

Overall, I like it and worth the money. It takes some practice, but works well once you get the hang of it. It can be finicky, especially at hard sections of flooring like knots (it will bend the cleats). Some reviews said it didn’t work out of the box…air blows through it. This did happen to me. I threw a couple drops of oil in it and gave it a tap or two. Has worked flawless since.

I am laying down 3/4” oak flooring with cleats. This makes installing cleats a breeze - totally effortless, and also helps sink cleats from my PowerNailer that didn’t sink as far as I would have liked. No buttons to push, just put the cleat in, rotate any direction you need and apply the tiniest amount of pressue to get the thing sunk right then and there.

Works very well, especially in tight spots. Easy to use. Rented one a couple of years ago, but well worth to puchase instead. It has a mgnetic head and shaped prfectly for flooring clears. It arrived within days after order.

This is great tool to use in tight spaces. If install for yourself and you want to do good job, this is the way to go. I had to predrilled the hardwood because was bending the nails, but that didn't bother me.

Good tool for tight spots. Does bend a few cleats in the process. Thought I would be able to get closer than 1/2" to the wall just could not angle the tool to hide the cleats under the baseboards. DO NOT adjust the part where the cleats go woth a cleat loaded will fire

This tool is advertised to install flooring cleats, it won't even drive them through the hardwood. Its a total waste of money. A piece of junk!!!

This palm nailer is a great tool to have for those close to the wall spots where a full size nailer won’t fit. I would recommend practicing on a piece of scrap flooring before nailing down any boards. You will bend some nails don’t worry about it. If they are going to bend it will happen at the start. Just get some pliers and work it back and forth until loose. Try to keep nailer aligned with nail when starting the nail. The off angles are the primary reason for bending nails. You will get the hang of it easily . Happy Nailing

I set up a practice board before using on the actual hardwood floor and bent quite a few nails, but then realized I was out of control, pressing down too hard, too fast and not going in at a 45 degree angle. Once I slowed down and 'followed' the cleat in keeping that 45 degree angle, I stopped bending nails and crushing the tongue. By 'following' it in you keep good contact on the nail, but don't 'outrace' it. I found by doing this I could go in slowly if I wanted and stay in control. I find it is not necessary to predrill anything. I used this on solid oak (3/4" thick) Bruce hardwood. This tool gets me close to the wall for a professional look and saves TONS of time! Also, it is a lot easier on the hands than a drill, finishing nails and a hammer, especially if you have arthritis in your hands and are an elderly person like me. Wish I had this years ago! Don't give up on learning how to use it properly and read the manual including all the safety precautions before use.

works well but it would be nice if it came with a interchangeable tip for standard nails.

Purchased this tool to nail the 3/4 inch hardwood floor . Had to use this will needed to nail up close to wall. Yes its pricey but it beats having to either nail thru the top of the hardwood and having to fill in holes of nail..

product says to use 16g or 18g cleat nails. I was installing 3/4" prefinished bruce hardwood. 18g just bent over. Had to order 16g cleats that worked fine.

There are some tools that make me wonder why I didn't buy this years ago. This is one of those tools. I would not do another flooring job without having one of these. It works as I expected, and is great for getting the boards nailed in that are close to walls.I'm currently using it on bamboo flooring and I am pre-drilling holes for the nails as was suggested in other reviews. Not pre-drilling I did have a couple nails bend on me, but with pre-drilling I had no issues. No complaints on that though, just giving some advice

Works good. Need to make sure you oil it everyday. Bent a few nails until a was able to get the feel for the nailer. Works good!

I’ve been using this palm nailer quite a bit & I recommend that you get one. I admit I was anxious after reading all the feedback about failures, but I’m pleased that the nailer has worked perfectly. There was some initial air leakage, but the instructions addressed it & said which screws to tighten

Excellent! My only regret is not having bought it years ago to avoid having hand nailed pounds and pounds of nails. Makes the job faster, easier & better. Lets you use cleats the whole way (which I believe are better than straight nails.) I did a shallow pre-drill for some holes which is a small effort. It is hard to believe the power delivered by such a small device. I strongly recommend this to anyone installing 3/4 inch flooring.

I tried using this on 3/4" solid hickory. Without pre-drilling cleats bent every time. With pre-drilling cleats bent about half the time. Pulling half-embedded, bent cleats out of hickory is really hard, often resulting in broken pieces left in the wood. A good idea for a tool, but a poor execution to get the job done. I'm thinking it would work better on soft wood like pine, etc., but I can't say for sure.

Perfect for what I needed. I did have issues with every other flooring nail bending. Might be better to use the heavier gauge nails.

Poor quality. First one leaks air so bad item won’t function. Power nail sent me replacement nailer that leaks just the first nailer. I’m will be calling for refund.

Still had to drill holes kept bending the nails but it was better than nailing by hand however was still over priced