Advice On Laying Hardwood Flooring For Multiple Rooms

[Andy]

Hi Gang

We purchased some bulk oak hardwood flooring that looks really great. We took our time, researched, planned and put some of the hardwood down in our bedroom. It looks great and now we've finished 1 room. Now we'd like to continue and do 2 other bedrooms, hall, kitchen and our family room (all on the same floor). So I'm looking for some advice on how to lay the hardwood so it is continuous throughout our main floor. What is the best way to do this so that it looks great. Please help us newbies. :-)

Thanks Andy

[SteveB]

How you lay the wood is not nearly as important as how *well* you lay the wood.

In general, I recommend running the boards perpendicular to the direction you'll usually look into the room. It just seems to look better that way for some reason. Another common method is to run them parallel to the longest wall.

I lay the boards so they run lengthwise in the hall, because it's more work to cut boards to run across the width of the hall. You then have the choice of laying the rooms the same way as the hall, or perpendicular. Well, you can do them at an angle if you want, but that's a *lot* of work.

If you're going to change orientation between rooms, do it at the threshold so the door hides the joint when closed.

[RicodJour]

You ignore joist orientation?

R

[h]

What difference does that make with two layers of subfloor?

[SteveB]

Tell it brother!

Actually, I've never worked on a house that has anything but concrete slab construction. Pier and beam is extremely rare here, pretty much restricted to houses from the 30s or earlier. No one has a basement.

Bedrock here is hundreds of feet down, and the soil is extremely expansive clay. We have to water our houses to keep the foundation evenly moist. A house next door to me once was foreclosed, and the lawn went unwatered for an entire summer. Two-inch gaps opened up all around the foundation.

I have lots of business fixing cracks in wallboard after people have their foundations fixed. Companies put in extremely deep piers all around the house, then jack up the slab to make the house level again. Basement walls would just fall in.

[h]

Wow. Where I am (upstate NY) everyone has a basement. I know the direction of the joists on the first floor (can see them in the basement), but I have no idea about the second and third floors. I suspect the first floor is different than the other two due to re-beaming after a fire in the 1850s, but I've never checked to confirm. The first two floors have 2 layers of subfloor and the attic just has one.

[RicodJour]

Where does the OP say there are two layers of subfloor, or Steve's reply for that matter? Steve is speaking from slab on grade experience - believe it or not there are homes that have wood framed floor construction.

Providing advice based on assumptions is poor practice.

R

[RicodJour]

I've worked on slab on grade, pier, and basement construction. You seem to be throwing blanket advice over a specific, and unknown, situation.

As interesting as that is, do you have any reason to believe the OP lives in your area?

R

[HeyBub]

Same here. I'm in Houston.

I'm reminded of the instruction Heroditus gave to his students: "The earth is suspended on the shoulders of The Great Atlas. Atlas himself is standing on the back of a giant turtle. And I know, my young charges what you will ask next, so I'll answer without you asking: It's turtles all the way down."

Substitute mud for turtles (mud turtles?) and it's pretty much the same.