Flooring direction, long room but with two giant sliders on one wall

7 years ago

We have a family/dining/kitchen open concept room, roughly 35 ft by 15(ish) ft. One wall of 35 ft has three giant sliders on it. My first inclination was to run the flooring the length of the room but because of the two giant windows/sources of light, I'm unsure whether or not I should run it width wise (into the windows). The kitchen is going to be scrapped and replaced. It would be more convenient for me to run the new flooring into the windows, allowing me to stop the laying process just before the kitchen, allowing time for a kitchen install but I'm not sure if that's the best direction of this space. My assumption is I could go either way but let me know your thoughts.

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Comments (3)

gregmills_gw
7 years ago
what type of flooring are you going to lay?

If you are planning on doing a hardwood nail down, you want to cross the joists, and right now it looks like your joists are running the direction into the slider doors. and assuming you have 3/4" plywood as subfloor and not planning on adding another layer, you're kind of stuck laying parallel with the slider doors.

also as for the kitchen, if you plan on floating any floor, then you will want to wait for the cabinets to be installed, but if its nailed or glued, then you might as well as lay the floor in the kitchen and then install your cabinets.
John
Original Author
7 years ago
The plan is to float the new flooring (e.g. click lock laminate), no nails/glue necessary. Does that open up the option to lay either way a little more?
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Cancork Floor Inc.
7 years ago
Floating hardwoods have maximum lengths and maximum widths that they are allowed to run. These will differ depending on the direction of the long-edge and the direction of the short edge.

With your room shape and the type of install, the decision may be made for you. Simply find the installation instructions and read them...carefully. Somewhere on that sheet there SHOULD be a 'maximum run' or 'maximum dimensions' without requiring a transition strip.

You will also wish to find out the requirements for t-moldings through door ways or at pinch points in the space (pinch point is like the entrance to a hallway or the "breezeway" that you have as the entrance to your kitchen). A T-molding requirement might also help dictate the direction of the planks.

All of these things must be discovered and put into consideration when trying to determine plank direction and the space it applies to.

Step 1: Read the installation instructions a few times. It should take 3-5 readings to catch all the technical requirements.