This is to provide the strength and stability needed when installing hardwood flooring directly onto joists.
How to lay engineered wood flooring on joists.
Both solid wood and engineered can be.
It is also advised that long length boards 6ft or 1 83m are used.
Apart from a few exceptions like sagging joists this is the preferred direction to lay wood floors because it provides the best result aesthetically.
The other option assuming you have access to the open joists from below is to install 2x4 blocking between the joists 24 inches on center.
Keep joints that line up at least two rows apart.
The most common way to lay install hardwood flooring is by aligning the planks parallel to the longest wall or run in the installation.
However is it possible to install our finish floor directly over the joists without a subfloor in between.
Before starting calculate the width the last row will be.
If raising the floor height is not a problem you can install a layer of 1 2 inch plywood over the existing 3 4 inch plywood.
If you can feel some deflection you have two options.
A normal 3 4 floor without a subfloor is going to bounce like a rubber ball if you lay directly over the floor joist.
Wood floor fitting over joists.
Either solid wood flooring or engineered wood flooring can be laid directly onto joists if the planks are at least 18mm thick.
They didnt use a plywood in older homes it was a 1x4 on a diagnonal then a finished floor went over that.
This is the typical structure of a floor.
Put the first board up against the mason s line with the groove side facing away from the walls.
Here s how to install click lock engineered hardwood flooring.
Join the ends of the boards over a floor joist where possible avoiding joints that form an h.
To answer directly to the question yes it is entirely possible to install a hardwood directly on top of the joists.
Install hardwood floors perpendicular to the floor joists parallel to the longest wall leaving a inch expansion gap around the perimeter.