Which Way To Lay Engineered Hardwood Floors

The correct direction for laying hardwood floors.

Which way to lay engineered hardwood floors.

Sightlines running your hardwood planks from your main entrance toward the opposite wall will help simplify the sightline and makes the room appear less busy. Apart from a few exceptions like sagging joists this is the preferred direction to lay wood floors because it provides the best result aesthetically. When installing engineered wood planks or strips by nailing or stapling it is necessary to use the proper type of flooring stapler or nailer made for the thickness of the engineered wood flooring that is being installed. A way to avoid transitions or to create a nice impactful visual statement consider laying your wood floors in a diagonal or herringbone pattern throughout your house.

But now half of the flooring he installs is engineered made of thin sheets of wood glued together like plywood. Jeff hosking a flooring consultant for this old house first began laying floors 35 years ago back then 90 percent of his work was installing solid wood strips with nails. But as a general rule laying the boards in the manner i ve shown below is a good go by. Verify that the radiant heat system you are considering is compatible with engineered wood flooring.

In most homes this means running the planks lengthwise straight away from your front door all the way to the. We have mostly slab. But at the end of the day the layout doesn t typically impact performance or quality. Made from layers of real wood compressed together engineered hardwood floors are better able to handle changes in moisture and humidity than solid hardwood.

Engineered hardwood floors may be installed over wood subfloors using staples or flooring cleats. Usually selecting the direction of your wood or vinyl plank flooring comes down to personal preference. The way your floors are laid out can affect the entire feeling of the room making it feel larger smaller busier or calmer. The direction in which you install hardwood flooring boards is dictated by several factors which we will cover in this segment.

For example nailing down or stapling an engineered hardwood flooring over a radiant heat system takes special care. 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. Factors such as visual aesthetics structural integrity and the installation method should all be considered when installing your new hardwood flooring. Have you planned to install your engineered hardwood in a way that is compatible with a radiant heat system.

While personal preference is a factor the direction in which you run hardwood flooring boards is governed by visual and structural guidelines.