Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Hardwood flooring layout

I am in the process of setting up my living and dining rooms for hardwood installation. My flooring is T&G exterioir plywood 3/4". I am fine with that.

My question is about layout. The dining room and living room are joined together. I have an L shaped pattern between the 2 rooms. What I would like to know is, how do I go about laying down the hardwood flooring from a layout standpoint. My joists run parallel to the longest walls that joined both rooms. However laying this out based on the longest room would not look attractive when standing in front of the living room and also they would be in parallel with the joists. Any ideas or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Would a border around the perimeter help.

Here is a rough room layout.

xxxxxxxx Dining room
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx The joist run parallel to this wall.
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx Living room.
xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx


I tried my best with the picture above.

Thanks,

Mike12333

Let's see if I understand your picture correctly - assuming your diagram is north up, your joists are running North-South? If so then you would lay your boards East-West. That is the same configuration in my own house, and it looks great.

Thanks for the reply, you are correct with the joist running north to south or vis a versa. That is what I expected ,that the flooring will have to be installed perpindecular to the joists.

I thought that may look ackward with that layout, even though that it is the appropriate method of installation.


Thanks again,


Mike

I have a question regarding the nailing schedule for 3/4" x 3 1/4" Harwood. As per NOFMA the face nailing used is 6d (2" long) and the staples are 2" x 1/2" crown. I have read here in this forum that if you penetrate all the way through the subfloor ( in my case the subfloor is 3/4") that there is potential for squeeking. If this is the case , what is the best anchoring and installation length size suggested by the professionals.


Thanks,

Mike