Perpendicular Wood Floors

Flooring experts recommend installing flooring boards perpendicular to the floor joists in a house with a plywood subfloor.

Perpendicular wood floors.

This can eventually lead to the subfloor sagging in between the joists. Many installers will lay hardwood over one layer of 1 2 in. Is there any reason i can t do it. You are good to go.

The floor joists under the wood floor hold the sub floor in place. We chose to add a second layer because some of our flooring runs parallel to the floor joists. Sight lines and aesthetics. Choosing which direction to install wood floors is often a confusing choice for many.

When hardwood floors are installed parallel to the joists they will sag squeak and gap. If your sub floor is a concrete slab you can run the floors in any direction you prefer. Keep joints that line up at least two rows apart. In these cases the conservative choice is to go perpendicular across the floor joists and allow them to support the new floor as well as the sub floor.

Before starting calculate the width the last row will be. The subfloor is 3 4 inch tongue and groove plywood. Install hardwood floors perpendicular to the floor joists parallel to the longest wall leaving a inch expansion gap around the perimeter. For strength and durability installing hardwood flooring perpendicular to the floor joists is recommended.

In most cases you should try and go perpendicular across the floor joists to allow the boards to span the gaps and be supported by them. Installing them parallel creates the possibility that the floor will sag. Subfloor as long as it s plywood and the hardwood direction is perpendicular to the floor joists. Therefore you should consider going perpendicularly across the floor joists.

If you re laying your new floor in an older home that has a plywood sub floor the first thing to consider is the direction of the floor joists that support it. For aesthetic reasons i would like to run 3 4x3 inch oak strip flooring parallel to the floor joists instead of perpendicular as is typical. If you really want to run the hardwoods perpendicular to the windows and your floor doesn t meet our recommend specs you could glue and screw a half inch of plywood to the existing sub floor. Join the ends of the boards over a floor joist where possible avoiding joints that form an h.

If you go parallel with the floor joists you will not have support under some portions of the wood. Glue using liquid nails and screw the floor down every 10 12 inches square.