Direction to run hardwood flooring

[fireant911]

Progress thus far: we have installed some tongue and groove knotty pine on the ceiling portion of the space above our garage. The drywall was finished last week and I did the painting over the weekend. The final aspect of the mini-splits will be finished on Tuesday. Hardwood is next.

My wife and I went to our local hardwood store yesterday to decide on what material but a question arose between us after we arrived home with some samples - what direction should the hardwood run? Should it run in the same direction as the material on the ceiling or should it run perpendicular to that? See picture below. The attic room, which will eventually be an office for me, is 40 feet long and 10 feet wide. There is a 'partial' partition inside this space where the stairs come up.

 

[gayler]

I say perpendicular to the floor joists.

 

[chipper]

I always thought the rule was run it the direction of the longest part of the room if that makes sense...in other words the same as your ceiling.

 

[fireant911]

I say perpendicular to the floor joists.

Are you saying that in regards to floor strength (i.e., some additional rigidity may be gained by installing the flooring material in this fashion)? Perpendicular would be in the same direction as the material on the ceiling.

I always thought the rule was run it the direction of the longest part of the room if that makes sense...in other words the same as your ceiling.

I was very curious if there were any rules that pertained to this situation. What I want to avoid is some 'tricks to the eye'/illusions. The hardwood will be 3-1/4" wide.

 

[kbs2244]

Structurally, gaylar has it right.
You want to bridge the joists to avoid any wavy look.

Visual design would say chipper is right.
You want to emphasize the major sight lines.

I would say it depends on the strength of your sub floor.
If it is strong enough to avoid any sagging when the flooring is running with the joists then you and do it that way.

Judging from your PIC you can accomplish both by matching the ceiling.

 

[dirttracker18]

Run it the longest run for the room. This helps to make the room feel bigger.

Normally it is run long.

 

[fireant911]

kbs2244,
That is some really good 'nice to know' information about the waviness factor - I would have not thought about that until it was too late.

dirttracker18,
Because the room is so long and narrow, any means to make the room look bigger is a wise thing to do.

It looks as if running it along the same direction as the ceiling material is the proper way to do this. Thanks for the help and especially for the reasoning behind your statements!

 

[ADSR]

Run it the longest run for the room. This helps to make the room feel bigger.

Normally it is run long.

Correct! This is the rule for a reason. It will look much better.

 

[BJ42LX]

Herringbone.




Just kidding. Go down the room to match the ceiling and the long dimension of the room.

 

[ddawg16]

If your depending on the hard wood floor to add anything strength to your floor.....then your sub-floor is too weak.

You can go any direction you want...but the norm is to go in the same direction as the longest dim. In your case, going perpendicular would really make that room look choppy and draw the eyes too much to the floor. The floor is to be seen...not 'noticed'.

 

[evildky]

There is no wrong way to lay it. Old broadboard hardwood was nailed directly to the joists which would be lengthwise. in the 40' they started laying 1 x sub floor nailed to the joists then layed the new thinner hardwood perpendicular to that which would be width wise for you. I personally would lay across the narrower part of a room I think going lengthwise in a narrow space makes it feel more narrow.

 

[Tweeker]

I always thought the rule was run it the direction of the longest part of the room if that makes sense...in other words the same as your ceiling.

 

[Scott H in Wheaton]

Mitre it and run it at 45degree angle.
I just did my living room this way and love the way it turned out.

 

[Autorotica]

I would run it the short direction just so you have the entire length you cant get the nailer into....

Chris

 

[ADSR]

I would run it the short direction just so you have the entire length you cant get the nailer into....

Chris

Then the room looks short and chubby

 

[DIC]

I would run long .. It wouldn't look right cross ways

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Yep, runs parallel with the long walls, same as ceiling. To hinder the "bowling lane" effect of a 40 foot long room with the long hardwood lines ,one could get creative and put a "accent" design midways Something just to stop the eye from going 40 ft non stop. jmo

 

[glmron]

I would run it perpendicular to the joists and then put one of these in the middle.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Herringbone.




Just kidding. Go down the room to match the ceiling and the long dimension of the room.

I was going to say the same thing.

Mitre it and run it at 45degree angle.
I just did my living room this way and love the way it turned out.

I think doing the 45 would add alot of character to the room.

 

[jake00]

I'm a floor guy.

If you're subfloor is 3/4" or less, it's gotta be perpendicular to the joists to avoid wave /sag. If it's >3/4 then any direction is fine.

 

[rick carpenter]

Running it perpendicular to the ceiling boards might clash visually.

 

[GRN96WS6]

Mine runs perpendicular to my joists in my house.

 

[wrenchguy]

old school i believe is run it 90* to joist, which brought up its problems when dimensional board subfloor was used.

 

[duneslider]

Read the manufacturers instructions. Typically, they all say it should NOT be run parallel to the joists and doing so will void the warranty. Running perpendicular will make for a stiffer stronger floor.

The National Wood Flooring Association recommends that it be run perpendicular to the joist unless you block the joists every 24" or add an additional 1/2" layer of plywood underlayment installed on top of the existing with the long direction running perpendicular to the existing.

Now, as a contractor there were times that I felt the subfloor was sufficient and I felt okay going against the trade associations recommendations. In the end, it is your floor so do what you want to do. In your space I would install it the same as the ceiling.

 

[RVDan]

Run it towards the natural light.

 

[fireant911]

... Running perpendicular will make for a stiffer stronger floor.

That is what I have always thought, too. I had asked a similar question much earlier regarding stiffening of the floor but it kind of went south... The floor is plenty strong now and I was just curious (my earlier question) about methods that may be employed to stiffen up the areas in-between the joists.

The sub-flooring is 3/4". I spoke to the hardwood store yesterday afternoon and asked the same question and without any hesitation, they stated "opposite of the floor joists". Diagonally is an interesting and aesthetically-pleasing approach.

The room is not entirely continuous and is partially broken up by the top of the stairwell (see pic below). Hopefully, it will not look too long and narrow. One side is 16' whereas the other side is 20' with the 4' stairwell partially dividing the two.

 

[James E]

Perpendicular to the floor joists is correct but I have to disagree with some in this particular case about how the room will look. I think if you run the floor that way (parallel to the ceiling), the room will look like a tunnel--especially if the floor boards are the same width as the ceiling ones. To my eye, running the floor perpendicular to the ceiling would counteract the tunnel-look.

Of course, with a window at the end, if you do get waves in the floor, not only will you get squeaks but the dips in the floor between joists will be highlighted by the light through the window.

You may not have an option, though.

 

[66HertzClone]

If you run the floor parallel to the joists, for many of the floor planks you will only be able to secure to the sub-floor, perpendicular allows for every board to be fastened to a joist. I had the same question when we put our floor in, and was told perpendicular by my GC and the flooring guys. I would think that the boards secured only to the sub-floor in time will squeak as there is a better chance of the board flexing enough in time to work some nails loose.