Does Lamiante Flooring Hve To Perpendicular To Joists

A flooring contractor howard brickman responds.

Does lamiante flooring hve to perpendicular to joists.

This can cause laminate or engineered flooring to pull apart slightly allowing moisture to enter through the cracks. Others say that the laminate isn t stiff enough so it wouldn t. Installing them parallel creates the possibility that the floor will sag. Most directions recommend running laminate flooring perpendicular to floor joists.

This provides added strength to the floor and helps cut down on bowing in the laminate. Most manufacturers recommend that you run the flooring across the floor joists. 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. There are also tools you can use to measure the deflection or flatness of the floor and of course you can also hire an engineer to come inspect the floor joists and sub floor to calculate deflection and grading.

Some people say laying the laminate perpendicular to the joist will provide some structural support and help prevent future squeaks. If the answer to either of these questions is yes then you will want to lay the hardwood planks across the floor joists in a perpendicular fashion. The real reason for this is because there is over time a slight give between the joists. The floor joist run parallel to the length of the room and i would like to lay the hardwood lengthways not perpendicular to the joist installing hardwood over laminate my home was build just 5 year old and now i want to install a hardwood floor in our kitchen.

If you have an older house with a shiplap floor the shiplap is perpendicular to the joists so the flooring is parallel to the joists. If the subfloor is stiff enough there is no reason why solid nail down strip flooring can t be run parallel to the joists. That said some times it s not possible to do this. Some houses have the shiplap on a 45.