Floor Thickness Wood Construction

The first approach to achieving a strong durable struc ture involving economical use of materials is to follow a basic modular plan for layout and attachment of framing members.

Floor thickness wood construction.

For joist spans 16 inches or less nwfa recommends minimum panel thickness of 5 8 inch plywood or 23 32 inch osb. Usually manufactured in 4 by 8 foot sheets plywood panels and osb are acceptable subfloors for hardwood flooring as long as they are the proper thickness. Joists in home construction are usually made with 2 by 10 or 2 by 12 lumber. A floor s framework is made up mostly of wooden joists that run parallel to one another at regular intervals.

3 4 inch solid this is a 3 4 inch thick solid piece of hardwood floor and what you might typically think of for hardwood floors. It is an ideal building material for subfloors. Because solid floors expand more when exposed to moisture than engineered floors you can only install them over a plywood subfloor at or above ground level. The heaviest rating is for 7 8 inch thick panels for which joists can be spaced 32.

The building code requires 5 8. Depending on if what the floor finish will be tile hardwood or carpet there are different recommendations for the actual thickness of the plywood you ll need. Keep in mind that for mechanically fastened floors osb doesn t hold fasteners as well as plywood so you need to use a thicker material to get the same holding power. Both come in 4 by 8 sheets and feature tongue and groove installation.

Wood construction data 1. Such methods use a 4 foot design module which governs a 16 inch spacing of joists. For retrofitting older construction 23 32 and 3 4 inch thick panels can be used over 24 inch on center joists. The bulk of the floor s thickness comes from the joists which are the horizontal beams that carry the floor s weight.

Some newer homes have manufactured i beam shaped joists. Laminate floors with a thickness of 12 mm to 15 mm feel more like hardwood floors than thinner laminates. Subflooring only adds 3 4 inch to the floor thickness. The national wood flooring association s brett miller explains why minimum building code for joists and subflooring isn t always sufficient for wood flooring.

There are two main types of subflooring plywood and oriented strand board or osb. Construction adhesive is used between the joists and the subfloor but it does not measurably add to the thickness of the floor. Details for conventional wood frame construction.