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. :-)

Thanks
Andy

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.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX

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?

R

On Jul 24, 11:51*am, "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?

Where does the OP say there are two layers of subfloor, or Steve's
reply for that matter? Steve is speaking from slab on grade
experience - believe it or not there are homes that have wood framed
floor construction.

Providing advice based on assumptions is poor practice.

R

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

SteveB wrote:

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.

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.

Same here. I'm in Houston.

I'm reminded of the instruction Heroditus gave to his students: "The earth
is suspended on the shoulders of The Great Atlas. Atlas himself is standing
on the back of a giant turtle. And I know, my young charges what you will
ask next, so I'll answer without you asking: It's turtles all the way down."

Substitute mud for turtles (mud turtles?) and it's pretty much the same.