I want to install prefinished hardwood flooring in an addition to my home and a portion of the existing house. I am told that hardwood flooring should always be laid perpendicular to the direction of the joists – however in my case the joists in the addition are 90 degrees off from the original house. Is this a big issue or should I lay 1/2 in plywood and then use a thinner engineered flooring to approximate the 3/4 in thickness of a solid wood plank?
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Will there be a sub-floor between the joists and the hardwood? Probably 3/4" T&G ply, right?
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Yes, 3/4 in T&G plywood subfloor is the subfloor.
I had a similar issue in our house I have been remodeling. In two thirds of the house, the joist go N-S and E-W on one end. I have original drawings, and this was the way it was designed - go figure.
There is 3/4 plyood for the subfloor on the joist. I added 7/16 OSB as underlayment perpendicular to the joists, then 3/8 prefinished engineered flooring all in one direction. I have had no issues, it turned out great.
Good luck
Edited 11/3/2005 1:41 am ET by TTF
Is replacing the 3/4" T&G subfloor with 3/4" plywood an option? If you were to go this route, there would be no need for the 1/2" ply and direction of flooring would not be an issue, and your floor heights would all match up.
If cost is that great an issue, a layer of 1/2" on top of the existing subfloor will suffice.....but I wouldn`t choose a thinner flooring as the floor heights won`t match up anyway.
(For the record.....laying the flooring directly on top of the existing subfloor, regardless of direction....so long as it is sound.....should be fine. I did this in my own home in a small hallway and have had no problems. In general practice, I prefer to tear out and install plywood as subflooring.)
Lemme get this straight....
YOU BANNED REZ?!?!
Holy bagels and lox Batman!
Why would you replace 3/4" subfloor with 3/4" ply subfloor?
The nails will grab better in the plywood. As I said, in certain circumstances, when the T&G subflooring is in sound condition.....nice and tight, properly secured, not all split and cracked, etc.....I`ll make an exception and install directly on top. In larger rooms, higher traffic areas, I`d rather a plywood sub.
Lemme get this straight....
YOU BANNED REZ?!?!
Holy bagels and lox Batman!
Well that's what i was thinking, but it can be expensive to do that and at most not feasible. I don't know if you are talking T&G OSB or T&G planks mostly seen in older houses say 1950's and older.
Planks.......I don`t consider OSB underlayment.
Lemme get this straight....
YOU BANNED REZ?!?!
Holy bagels and lox Batman!
You are fine with the 3/4" ply subfloor running either way
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The big scare about running the hardwood planks parallel to the joist is over the years you might get a sag at the center of the bays, at least to my understanding. As far as nail grabbing technically I could see that they might grab better perpendicular to the grain but in my field experience I"ve never notived this. So I tend to agree with Piffin. In my opinion you are probably alright. But at least you can be aware of the reasoning behind the possibility of failure.