Which way to lay hardwoods in kitchen?

14 years ago

Is there a rule of thumb for laying out hardwoods? We don't know which way to run the oak, horizontally/parallel to the perimeter cabinets and island or vertically?

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Comments (5)

lrs_48
14 years ago
Structurally, the best thing to do is to lay the planks perpendicular to the floor joists.
jerry_t
14 years ago
Your question is too generic to answer without knowing the substrate and thickness and whether the wood is to be nailed, glued or floating.
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When we redid our long, narrowish galley kitchen and adjacent laundry room we also used 12x24 tiles. I could have gone either way since our surrounding wood floor is on a diagonal. Our tile guys recommended it go lengthwise (bowling alley) saying that is how they would lay hardwood in the room. I laid tile out both ways and agreed with them. I think the only time you get the "it makes the room look wider" is when it's laid on the diagonal. Can you lay some tile out in both directions next to the hardwood? Personally, I think it looks better going in the same direction as the wood floor, but it's really a personal preference. BTW, our tile is laid in a 3/4 offset pattern like in your last picture.
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joseph105
14 years ago
Always perpendicular to the floor joists if nailing with cleats, or staples, or when gluing. This is not negotiable; the joist in a sub floor expand and contract seasonally, as will your wood, and you don't want those forces working against you. Having said that, when i am going over concrete with glue, or floating a floor i usually look at the house and determine where the floor joicts would be if it had them, and install perpendiculer to that. The only exception to that would be floating ferry large melamine floors, ie, more than 1400 ft. In such cases i will usually install so that the length of the board points toward the longest part of the floor. Blessings...
kaidan
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you joseph!
jerry_t
14 years ago
"" Always perpendicular to the floor joists if nailing with cleats, or staples, or when gluing. This is not negotiable ""

That would depend on how thick the sub-flooring is... 3/4" thick and under would be perpendicular. If they have a doubled layered plywood substrate 1" or thicker..... anyway they choose.

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Which way to lay hardwoods in kitchen?

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lrs_48

jerry_t

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Which way to lay hardwoods in kitchen?

Comments (5)

lrs_48

jerry_t

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kaidan
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