Hardwood parallel to Joists - I am sick.Please Help

[dhayes14]

Hello All.

Please don't flame me and I really need some guidance. I know I should have brought in a pro on this. We built a house in 1999 and my cousin who is a contractor installed some hardwood in our dining room and den last year. All went well and looks good. He is now on the second floor in our bedroom and has 2/3 of the floor in. In reading up on the direction of the floor I noticed that the proper way to install hardwood is perpendicular to the joists. Well in the dining room and Den he installed parallel to the joists. The floor is standard 5/8" plywood tounge and groove.

Needless to say I am SICK! I really do not want to tell him to rip out the 2/3 of the floor and redo it since it will likely destroy the wood. He stapled into the tounge about every 10 inches. Is there any way to resolve this by possibly using blocking from under the floor? I know it is a big job but perhaps we can take out the ceiling from under the floor and install blocking to shore up the floor.?

Am I over thinking this?

Again, thanks for any assistance and please don't flame me..I feel horrible.!

Thanks
Dave

 

[dhayes14]

Hello...Also I should point out that the joists are doubled in the room which is about 20x14 (the bedroom referred to above). The joists are 16 inch centers. The hardwood being installed is 3/4" and the planks are 3 1/4" wide. They are Oak..

Thanks
Dave

 

[dhayes14]

Sorry..One last piece of this. The original 5/8 subfloor was glued and screwed. Not sure this matters.

Thanks

 

[Ernesto]

I would'nt worry about it to much if the joists are doubled. Worst case scenerio is you see slight dips in the floor between the joists (single). Nailing schedule is 6 to 8 inches.

 

[dhayes14]

Thanks Ernesto! I appreciate the insight. We are sick about this but I am not sure what we can do if anything at the moment. We will likely need to live with it. It is really a solid floor being 3/4 but it is the future I am worried about.

Goes to show you to hire someone who knows what they are talking about.

Again, Thanks!
Dave

 

[Ken]

Agreed. I wouldn't worry. When I install a floor on a diagonal Im not hitting the joists anyway.

 

[davidh]

Wood should be nailed every 6 inches 3 inches from ends , not important in this case , since the room is not that big , meaning , picture this double joist , solid sturdy , 16 center , what about in between the joist ? Is that plywood , pound for pound as sturdy as those joist ? No give ? Add to that your hardwood flooring tongue and groves running with the direction of floor joist , , may be many years down the road , yet in time if for any reason you want to locate those double joist , floor joist , no need for stud find or a tape measure 16 center , you will see them ! I have seen it to many times , , like I said earlier , in many years from now , not like this will happen over night , I have had customer in the past that wanted there wood flooring installed in the same direction as the floor joist , we would have to sugest against it , and if the customer still insisted , we had to have them sign off on it , because if any problems arise , any problems at all , even if the problems has nothing to do with the way the floor Is laid , if an inspector had to be call to assess the job , chances are he will state the hardwood installed parallel with floor joist , and end off inspection . Will enough babbling , I am sure in your case , you will be ok


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