How To Lay A Wooden Floor On Joists

Floor joists are used to support a floor over an open area like a basement crawl space etc.

How to lay a wooden floor on joists. Lay the planks in place along the four inch side to serve as floor joists. Work in small sections until the entire floor is covered. While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines. Join the ends of the boards over a floor joist where possible avoiding joints that form an h.

Another important thing to take into account when laying hardwood floors is the possibility that your walls aren t straight. Another thing to consider is floor joists. The correct direction for laying hardwood floors. Install hardwood floors perpendicular to the floor joists parallel to the longest wall leaving a inch expansion gap around the perimeter.

Before starting calculate the width the last row will be. 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. It s like a mini bridge that s only supported at each end. If you can feel some deflection you have two options.

Installing hardwood floors with a few careful preparations elbow grease and a weekend you can have beautiful new floors. 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. Set the first two planks against opposing walls. Keep joints that line up at least two rows apart.

Measure 16 inches from the center of one of the edge planks and then place the next plank across the plastic sheeting centered on the 16 inch mark. 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. 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. When learning how to install hardwood flooring there are a few tips to keep in mind.

Lay down 3 4 in 1 9 cm tongue and groove plywood panels over the joists then use wood glue or panel adhesive and galvanized flooring nails to secure each panel around its edges. Laying a solid hardwood strip floor is easier and faster if you choose a prefinished product to avoid the extra work of sanding staining and finishing.