[msaeger]

I will be starting to put in my 3/4" red oak flooring soon and have questions.

First one is which direction should I lay it? I have attached my floor plan and the whole area will be wood except for the bathroom.

I am thinking it would be best to have it running with the long wall in the hallway and going the same direction in the bedrooms. Then in the bedrooms it would be running with the shorter wall but I don't know if having the hall and bedrooms going different directions would look good.

 

[HandiMandy]

I am no expert but put mine in perpendicular to my floor joists. I have one short hallway where it goes across the hall and a hallway where it goes the length. I have attached photos of both. Hope it helps.

 

[msaeger]

That is what I was planning if I put it perpendicular to the joists then it will be parallel to the long wall in the hallway but I am not sure if that is the best way to do it in the bedrooms. In the bedrooms I would need to start in the closet then and it will be parallel to the shorter walls.

 

[epson]

It’s your house and your floor, you can put it down anyway you want it as long as the wife likes the end result. Usually the flooring will go along the long walls less joints to contend with. Longer flooring strips are more appealing to the eye…

 

[Awoodfloorguy]

I would also go parallel to the hallway. I would lay it the same direction in all rooms rather than switching directions in the bedrooms.

 

[woodman58]

Wood flooring should be layed perpendicular to floor joists. This will make for a more stable floor and less chance of wood loosening and start squeeking. You can lay it diaganolly with no problems.

 

[JazMan]

msaeger,

The flooring should go parallel with the long wall of the hall. (<west - east>) By the looks of the floor plan I'm guessing the joists run north - south which would make it all work as designed.

I know you're having a problem figuring out how to make it work when you said the bedrooms should run the other way because of their size. You obviously don't know about "spline" and when to use it.

Start along the 'south' wall of the hall and go east-west. Then continue through the doorways into the bedrooms. From there continue north to the north walls. Then back the other way towards the south walls.

But, you ask; " the tongue and grove are going the wrong way". That's what the spline is for. Insert the spline in the groove and now you're going the right way again. Hardwood spline. http://www.brazilianhardwood.com/products/accessories/splines.php The red item is the spline.

Jaz

 

[msaeger]

I have read about using splines but was trying to avoid it because it seems like it would make the job more complicated.

I stuck a compass on there with how my house is actually sitting just so I can verify how you mean. By the compass I have on there my joists are running north to south so running the floor east to west would be perpendicular to the joists.

 

[JazMan]

I stuck a compass on there with how my house is actually sitting just so I can verify how you mean. By the compass I have on there my joists are running north to south so running the floor east to west would be perpendicular to the joists.

Yes, that's it, just as I thought.

Jaz

 

[msaeger]

My thought has always been to do each room individually and putting a wider board under where the doors will be. I thought that would be easier than running it all together between the rooms. Would doing it that way look bad?

 

[JazMan]

That would look pretty bad, plus it's wrong. I don't see why you'd wanna do that.

Jaz

 

[msaeger]

I am talking about a threshold between the rooms. It seems like it would be easier than doing it all in one piece.