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Does hardwood flooring really have to be installed perpendicular to the joists under the sub floor?

I am installing hardwood on the lower level of my splitlevel home. Have removed a halfwall between kitchen and diningroom. Would like to install flooring parallel to joists but everything I've read says to install perpendicular. They also recomend laying the flooring parallel to length of room which would put my boards parallel to joists underneath. Any tips or ideas would help.

Public Comments

  1. they are only thin and wont hold your weight
  2. the reason is over time they will warp with the joist........follow the directions, or you will regret it over the long run.
  3. You could boost your subfloor to give it sufficient support to allow you to do it your way
  4. If you could add 3/4" plywood before installing hardwood it would be strong enough. If not you will run into problems later on.
  5. Yes the are right . Unless you can strenghten your sub floor you will have problems in the future.
  6. The reason you align with the longest wall in the room is that is easier and less noticeable if the room is slightly out of square. If you have two layers of sub-floor turned perpendicular to each other on top of the floor joist in your home, and your installing 3/4" hardwood flooring, you could safely install it as you would like.
  7. In older houses I've worked in that had good wood flooring, the sub-floor was installed at a 45degree angle to the floor joist, and the hardwood flooring was installed perpendicular to the joist. The subfloor I'm talking about is slat board though.
  8. it depends on the thickness of your sub-floor. Older homes have tongue and grove wood planks that around 3/4"or 1" thick and you can install a hardwood floor in either direction. Most newer homes have a thinner sub-floor made of ply-wood and these have some 'give' in which case you would want to install your board perpendicular to the floor joist
  9. Floor warps are horrible and no one notices them until you are trying to sell your home and some smart alec inspector comes in and rolls a tennis ball on the floor and starts laughing at you. The warps occur so gradually you never notice yourself, yet it hurts the value of your home seriously because potential buyers ALWAYS think you have warped joists or even foundation problems instead of just warped floorboards. The price of what you would need to do for parallel installation is simply not worth the benefit. I always say add sisterboards, add thick plywood subflooring, and then pray. It's easier to just do it the right way the first time! Also, if you have not purchased your flooring yet, a piece of advice: Don't cheap out. Quality flooring is worth the price, and over the life of the house you will forget about the minor extra cost. Be sure to leave the flooring in the room for a few days before you begin installing it. Good luck to you -- flooring seems like such a big hassle, and then you are done and your room looks really great!
  10. Make sure you have a good heavt sub-floor and you can install it on any angle you want even 45 degrees. My Mother's house in parallel to the joists for 60 years and no problems