Grain Direction Of Hardwood Floor Joists

While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines.

Grain direction of hardwood floor joists.

If the subfloor is stiff enough there is no reason why solid nail down strip flooring can t be run parallel to the joists. A flooring contractor howard brickman responds. In these instances the hardwood floor planks are usually laid in parallel to the longest run or wall in the installation. If you are working on a house that has a wooden subfloor the first thing that you should consider the direction of the floor joists.

Therefore the direction you lay hardwood floors in a new home is based more on aesthetic and design factors as opposed to the direction of the joists. Will this support new 3 4 t g running parallel to floor joist. The shape color variation and grain of the flooring may affect the aesthetic so you may want to consider this as you choose the installation direction. The correct direction for laying hardwood floors.

We have mostly slab foundations in this area and with engineered floors you have more flexibility. Yet another exception if you have solid wood floors not engineered on a pier and beam foundation then you don t have a lot of choice as far as which direction to run the flooring it would best be run perpendicular to the joists. First renail the existing plywood subfloor so that the old nails are tight and add new nails to achieve a maximum nail spacing of 6 inches. Regarding my 3 8 exterior grade plywood which i am almost ready to apply for a floating wood floor as my theory went since the grain seems to run lengthwise along the 8 length laying the panels parallel to the joists would allow the cross grain 4 length to span between perpendicular to the joists where the.

I have added 7 16 osb to the t g and plan on putting 2 8 blocking every 24. 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. I have a 80 year old home. The floor joists are what support the subfloor.

The floor joist are rough cut 2 8 spaced 24 oc with a 8 span. If you install the planks in a certain direction say according to the light you may be able to better highlight some of the most beautiful parts of the floor. The first consideration is always whether or not it s feasible to adhere to the construction standard of running all flooring courses perpendicular to the direction of the floor joists this is done not only to provide solid places to nail into every time the board crosses a joist but also because if the subflooring warps or sags slightly over time boards running the same direction as the.