Can I Install Hardwood Floor Parallel To Joists

The subfloor is tji joists with 3 4 t g osb glued and screwed.

Can i install hardwood floor parallel to joists.

Hardwood floors that are installed parallel to the joists will eventually sag between those joists. Is this ok or should another layer of sheathing be put on the floor perpendicular to previous and then install flooring. With 5 8 plywood or thicker the plywood itself will grip the fasteners well enough to avoid the floor from pulling up so hitting joists periodically throughout the installation is less of an issue. Flooring is tbd but will probably be either 3 4 hardwood or 1 2 engineered.

The most common way to lay install hardwood flooring is by aligning the planks parallel to the longest wall or run in the installation. Joist spacing will be 16 oc tji and subfloor will be 3 4 ply. Older houses with 1 inch planks running. Determine where to start consider your starting point very carefully.

A flooring contractor howard brickman responds. First renail the existing plywood subfloor so that the old nails are tight and add new nails to achieve a maximum nail spacing of 6 inches. Apart from a few exceptions like sagging joists this is the preferred direction to lay wood floors because it provides the best result aesthetically. I have a client that would like their 3 4 birch flooring to run parallel to the joists.

I have always installed hardwood flooring perpendicular to the floor joists. If you insist on changing the recommended floor direction add a minimum nominal plywood underlayment to the existing subfloor. If your subfloor is oriented strand board osb we d run the wood across the joists. If you prefer a layout that requires the boards to run parallel to the joists you need to shore up the subfloor by adding a layer of 3 8 inch plywood.

I believe the national wood flooring association recommends a glued 5 8 1 2 subfloor combination for a parallel application.