Heres my problem, old house 1913. They built the sub floor by laying diagonal 1x8s (which look like they were originally the concrete form boards) over the joists. Then 3/4 fir T&G was nailed over the diagonal sub floor perpendicular to the joists. This was probably done because the sub floor varied in thickness. I plan on re-nailing the fir (with ring shanks or 2" staples) before laying the new floor just to tighten things up and reduce squeaks.

I pulled up some old 3/8'" oak flooring that was running perpendicular to the fir T&G and it was relatively squeak free (just nasty looking and water stained) and had gaps between the boards due to a bad installation years ago. They probably didn't let it acclimate before installing.

My question is, which way should I lay the new oak flooring? Should I run it perpendicular to the joists, in which case it would run the same way as the fir, or should I run it perpendicular to the fir, which would miss the joists? The original floor and sub floor is about 1-1/2 combined so I probably wouldn't hit the joists anyway. I am using a pneumatic floor stapler with 2" staples.

I am inclined to lay the new oak, the same as the old oak, parallel to the joists but perpendicular to the fir. I like the look and I believe the fir and sub floor will hold the staples OK. Although I have refinished quite a few oak floors, this is my first complete installation.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Luckydog

You should install the new oak flooring perpendicular to the existing fir flooring.

Thanks Gary,

That's the answer that I was looking for. I know that in a perfect world, I should put down 1/2" plywood then the new oak but that would mean putting 1/2" down on most of the house putting me in budget problems not to mention cutting and fitting all of that ply. As it is, the fir is level, with few if any defects, having been covered by the 3/8" oak all of these years.

I just picked up 650sf of unfinished red oak and will soon hump it into the house so it can equalize for a couple of weeks. On to the granite counter tops which I am installing this weekend.

Luckydog,

one-eyed Jack of all trades.

Def. go perpendicular. If your subfloor is anything like mine in my 1930 house, things have settled and so there are small cracks in some spots where the tongue of some of those subfloor boards have pulled away from the groove of the board next to it....needless to say if the hardwoods you are laying down end up right on the cracks, the staples are going to blow right thru.