Flooring Question

I bought a home with hardwood floors in the half of the home. The flooring was laid with the boards (2.25" x 3/4" T&G oak) running parallel to the floor joists. I want to install hardwood throughout the rest of house, but I am concerned about the flooring orientation. Aesthetically, it won't look pleasing if I switch the board direction.

Is this something I should be concerned with, or should I just continue with the flooring "as is".

Thanks, Brad

PS- The current flooring is showing no signs of buckling or any signs of movement. They are three years old.

Reply to
Brad
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The flooring is attached to the subfloor, not the joists. Whole new ballgame. Three years is not a lifetime, but I think there may be an answer in the performance of your other floor.

Reply to
George

In general the floor will be stiffer over-all if the flooring is applied perpendicular to the joists. In practice, if the joists and subfloor are stiff enough by themselves then you should be free to let the aesthetics dictate the orientation.

Consider that some floors will have carpet, vinyl, or parquet laid directly on the subfloor none of which contribute any significant stiffness, and some hardwood floors are installed on the diagonal or herringbone.

This assumes the subfloor _is_ adequate.

Reply to
fredfighter

I installed about 300 sq.ft. of that same flooring in my upstairs office running parallel to the joists because that was the way it looked the best. installed over a plywood subfloor. About twelve years ago with a lot of traffic and still in perfect condition with no buckling.

One thing I wished I had done. the subfloor was nailed to the floor joists without construction adhesive. over time the nails will loosen as the two woods dry. the new t & g oak got a lot of but not all of the squeeks out.

When I did the rest of the upstairs with carpet and ceramic tile in the bathroom, I put a wood screw next to every nail, whether loose or waiting to be loose. with the help of my two boys, only took a couple of hours. took out all of the squeeks and movement of the floor. made it feel much more solid.

frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

Remember, some subfloors are made of T&G boards, which are run perpendicular or diagonal to the joists. This means the finish floor is often parallel with the joists, and still correct.

I didn't see a mention of the subfloor material in the original message.

Barry

Reply to
B a r r y

My subfloors are 6/4 pine diagonal to the joists with a small expansion gap between each.

Makes insulating the first floor over the crawlspace, problematic.

Reply to
fredfighter

Not quite clear here- are you worried about the fact that the exisiting flooring is parallel to the joists and don't want to do any more like that, or is it just that you'd prefer a different orientation?

If the former, that's going to depend largely on what the sub-floor is made of, if the latter, you could consider installing a transition area that includes both orientations (think nested picture frames) to break up the pattern, and make the switch look more intentional.

If it was put in right, it shouldn't- the wood floors in my house are

50 years old, parallel to the joists, and are just fine.
Reply to
Prometheus

On Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:32:35 -0400, the infamous "Mike Marlow" scrawled the following:

Break out the Crisco! and hose it down later.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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