Laying Hardwood Lengthwise Or Widthwise

Before going with a standard vertical pattern consider the shape and size of your room.

Laying hardwood lengthwise or widthwise.

The correct direction for laying hardwood floors. If your installing 3 8 or 7 16 glue down wood then it s not to much trouble either way. One dilemma often faced by homeowners is what direction to install the hardwood boards or planks in any specific room or throughout the whole home. Although engineered wood flooring is more resistant to expansion and contraction than solid wood it is still important to leave an expansion gap when installing an engineered wood floor.

Also another thing to consider is if your installing nail down hardwood then it would be much easier to run the planks across the hallway because of the tight space you will be working in not much room for swinging a hammer in a hallway when running lengthwise. Yet another exception if you have solid wood floors not engineered on a pier and beam foundation then you don t have a lot of choice as far as which direction to run the flooring it would best be run perpendicular to the joists. For smaller areas such as 10 x 12 rooms leaving 3 8 expansion would be satisfactory. When you lay a hardwood floor in your home some of the first things that come to mind are color choices and the type of wood.

How much will depend on the layout involved seasonal change in relative humidity species selection and type of hardwood cut. The best way to decide is to lay out the floor and visualize what looks best. Hi floor doc i have a long hallway leading to a large living room at the end. Solid hardwoods by far will expand and contract more than engineered products.

The contractors had started to put in the floors in the hallway. But as a general rule laying the boards in the manner i ve shown below is a good go by. It s in a condo unit so the floor is on a subfloor on concrete. Here are a few tips to help you decide.

The most common way to lay install hardwood flooring is by aligning the planks parallel to the longest wall or run in the installation. Figure 1 hardwood flooring installed lengthwise perpendicular to entrance figure 2 hardwood flooring installed widthwise to entrance. While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines. But the floor is sideways rather than lengthwise along the hallway.

Apart from a few exceptions like sagging joists this is the preferred direction to lay wood floors because it provides the best result aesthetically. The direction in which the flooring runs may not be a top consideration but it is essential to plan this aspect carefully.