I used it to put a 1/4 inch thick pad under vinyl floors. a few hours and a few thousand paperclips i was done. I made the staples just below the surface but not too deep for them to go through. The vinyl is nice and flat with no bulges. I've used a hammer and screwdriver to sink a few where I didn't hold the stapler tight enough or the staples hit a nail in the ground. Sometimes the backing or subfloor can't match and the staples can go deeper , but that's fine as long as it's good as there's enough of it to keep the pad flat.