Hello,

I ripped up my old flooring, which was red oak, and I see a pattern of saw cuts across the width of two and a half t&g sub floor planks. Anyone know why this would be done? It has piqued my interest. I thought it may have something to do with trying to straighten a twisted plank, but there is definitely a pattern to it. Also, the nails are so close to the end of the board, it would split the plank, so I assume the cut was made after it was nailed. if anyone knows, I'd be interested to find out.

Thanks,

Snoopy_

looks like they replaced a few boards. they all fall on a joist and the rest of the boards run full length.

It runs across the whole floor, in a definite pattern... every joist, every three planks... starts closest to the one wall and continues across the whole floor in a diagnonal pattern. I was just wondering if this was some sort of "old school" method of decreasing movement or squeaks, etc... The house was built 1957.

I just exposed my subfloor on my 1986 house, and found the same cut, in one spot only, the boards are shifted and the cut looks identical to yours. I thought it must be a way to relieve twisting or bending force, but it's a mystery to me.

Added:
After studying your pic it occurred to me that this was a short cut used during sub floor installation, they nailed down the planks first and then cut them on top of the joists to allow for the next board to be butted up to it, instead of measuring and pre-trimming the part of the planks that did not reach the next joist. Clever...
That's why you see the partial saw cuts into the adjacent planks. The saw was set just deep enough to cut the plank and not the joist and went into the next one over.

Handle,

That makes a lot of sense. So, it allowed them to lay down the planks with minimal measuring. It is funny that it devlops a defined pattern though... staggered, 16", every two or three planks. They look like steps.

I am almost finished installing the new floor. It took a lot longer than planned, and now I wished I paid to have it done. It takes a lot longer than 1/2 hour tv show. And, I have four of my kids helping me (all boys, aged 16-22)!

I suspect they didn't want all the seams on one joist, so when settling occurred, the stress would be dispersed across the whole floor and not just one seam, but I could be wrong.
Imagine! Back then they actually cared about stuff like that.



Tell me about it... I'm just getting started, and it's already been a substantial time / work investment. But the results should justify the effort, I think. I don't mind paying, but it's hard sometimes to get competent contractors to do a good job in a timely fashion. Having zero experience with flooring contractors though, I could be wrong about this too.

BTW, great "handle" Snoopy. Good luck with the project!