How To Install Wooden Floor Across 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.

How to install wooden floor across joists. Attach the rim joists. In these cases the conservative. If raising the floor height is not a problem you can install a layer of 1 2 inch plywood over the existing 3 4 inch plywood. Install hardwood floors perpendicular to the floor joists parallel to the longest wall leaving a inch expansion gap around the perimeter.

Align the edge of the board with the chalk line and drill pilot holes down through the hardwood plank and into the sub floor and joist. Pick one that is straight. Cut and install the floor joists between the rim joists. Stairway and balcony openings are framed using bearing walls or beams below.

Join the ends of the boards over a floor joist where possible avoiding joints that form an h. Beams in the floor require joist hangers. Cover the dirt floor with a layer of 10 mil plastic sheeting to serve as a vapor barrier which will keep moisture from seeping through the dirt and onto your wood floor. While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines.

I m about to lay hardwoods in my house and i ve heard that you should lay them perpendicular to the windows so the light doesn t reflect off the gaps in the boards. Besides solid wood joists systems such as i joists and flooring trusses provide other options for consideration when it comes to installing a flooring framework. A friend told me that i should lay the wood across the joists and that would mean running the wood parallel to the windows. Lisa lisa good question.

Most manufacturers recommend a standard cutting ordering allowance of 5 and a culling allowance up to an additional 10 percent if installed on a. Keep joints that line up at least two rows apart. Begin by selecting a long board to start the first row. In cases where greater open spans are needed framers often use joist hangers which are u shaped hardware pieces that are nailed in to accept hold and support flooring joists.

Lay the sheets in rows across the dirt floor. What s the right answer. Overlap the bottom of the walls with two inches of the sheet edges raised upward along the wall s surface. In these instances the hardwood floor planks are usually laid in parallel to the longest run or wall in the installation.

The correct direction for laying hardwood floors. The other option assuming you have access to the open joists from below is to install 2x4 blocking between the joists 24 inches on center. Cantilevers allow the floor to be framed out past the foundation. Beams under the floor joists allow the floor joists to go over.