On Jul 24, 11:55*am, "SteveB"
wrote:
h wrote:

"RicodJour" wrote in message

... *On Jul 24, 8:02 am, "SteveB"
wrote:
Andy wrote:
Hi Gang

We purchased some bulk oak hardwood flooring that looks really
great. * We took our time, researched, planned and put some of the
hardwood down in our bedroom. It looks great and now we've
finished 1 room. * Now we'd like to continue and do 2 other
bedrooms, hall, kitchen and our family room (all on the same
floor). So I'm looking for some advice on how to lay the hardwood
so it is continuous throughout our main floor. What is the best
way to do this so that it looks great. * Please help us newbies. :-)

How you lay the wood is not nearly as important as how well you lay
the wood.

In general, I recommend running the boards perpendicular to the
direction you'll usually look into the room. It just seems to look
better that way for some reason. Another common method is to run
them parallel to the longest wall.

I lay the boards so they run lengthwise in the hall, because it's
more work to cut boards to run across the width of the hall. You
then have the choice of laying the rooms the same way as the hall,
or perpendicular. Well, you can do them at an angle if you want, but
that's a lot of work.

If you're going to change orientation between rooms, do it at the
threshold so the door hides the joint when closed.

You ignore joist orientation?

What difference does that make with two layers of subfloor?

Tell it brother!

Actually, I've never worked on a house that has anything but concrete
slab construction. Pier and beam is extremely rare here, pretty much
restricted to houses from the 30s or earlier. No one has a basement.

I've worked on slab on grade, pier, and basement construction. You
seem to be throwing blanket advice over a specific, and unknown,
situation.

Bedrock here is hundreds of feet down, and the soil is extremely
expansive clay. We have to water our houses to keep the foundation
evenly moist. A house next door to me once was foreclosed, and the lawn
went unwatered for an entire summer. Two-inch gaps opened up all around
the foundation.

I have lots of business fixing cracks in wallboard after people have
their foundations fixed. Companies put in extremely deep piers all
around the house, then jack up the slab to make the house level again.
Basement walls would just fall in.

As interesting as that is, do you have any reason to believe the OP
lives in your area?

R