Flooring Same Direction As Joists

The correct direction for laying hardwood floors.

Flooring same direction as joists.

However if you have 3 4 plywood or osb you can change the direction. For example you can follow the direction of the main or most frequently used entrance of the room. So if you re redoing the floors in the foyer run the planks in the same direction as the front door. Exceptions can be made with the use of additional subfloor use to strengthen the existing subfloor.

Common sense tells you that large floor joists can carry more load and spacing joists closer together also increases the load bearing capacity of a floor. Sight lines and aesthetics laying the hardwood flooring so that it runs from the main entrance of the room to the opposite wall is the best for sight line. The extra two inches of vertical distance when a floor is framed with 2 x 10 joists rather than 2 x 12s can be quite important for example. When hardwood floors are installed parallel to the joists they will sag squeak and gap.

It s like a mini bridge that s only supported at each end. While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines. Hallways should aim to have planks running in the same direction. How joists support floors and ceilings joists the horizontal members that span two walls and or beams have to carry the weight of the walls people furniture appliances and other stuff we place on them.

Most flooring installers will lay the flooring parallel to the long length of the room to avoid the ladder affect. Apart from a few exceptions like sagging joists this is the preferred direction to lay wood floors because it provides the best result aesthetically. Floor joists are used to support a floor over an open area like a basement crawl space etc. I agree that if you have less than 3 4 of you should definitely run the flooring perpendicular to the joists or at a 45 degree angle.

The most common way to lay install hardwood flooring is by aligning the planks parallel to the longest wall or run in the installation. The general rule of thumb is to install perpendicular to the floor joist doing so will allow the flooring to keep its structural integrity if the joists sag. But larger is not always better when builders are constructing a home or adding a room addition. When a load is applied to a joist the wood fibers along the bottom edge go into tension and those along the top go into compression fig.