Should subfloor be staggered?

To avoid buckling, subfloor panels should be spaced with a 1/8-inch gap at all edges and ends to provide room for naturally occurring expansion.

What does it mean to stagger the end joints of a plywood subfloor?

The end joint is where one board or plywood sheet butts up against another. In almost every situation, it’s important to stagger these joints to avoid straight lines that extend in a perpendicular direction across the lengths of the boards. This is a matter of appearance, but more importantly, it’s one of stability.

What is a staggered joint?

The staggering of rail joints is logical because it avoids placing two weak spots, the joints directly opposite each other; it reduces the impact at the joints to that of a wheel load instead of an axle-load; and it produces a more uniform vertical continuity of the track.

What do you need to know about floor joist blocking?

Floor joist blocking refers to solid, lateral supports installed between floor joists to evenly distribute loads placed atop floor joists. Blocking uses lumber the same size as the floor joists and is fastened either in a staggered or straight line mid-span or every 8’ depending on the length of the joist.

What’s the best way to stagger a subfloor?

When laying the plywood, install a full sheet along one edge of the floor, then start the next row with a half sheet and use a full sheet for the third row. This technique will produce a regular H pattern, which is undesirable for finished flooring but fine for a subfloor.

Why do you stagger end joints on subflooring?

Staggering the corners makes for stronger subfloor, and a better and smoother surface for your floor covering to rest on. While staggering is correct, exactly how incorrect is a non-staggered formation? Short answer: it is twice as incorrect. With unstaggered joints, you have 4 corners converging at one point.

What’s the difference between subfloor, underlayment, and joists?

Laminate flooring gets a completely different type of underlayment—a thin foam that comes in rolls and which gets taped together. The subfloor is the thick flat surface on which all other layers rest. The subfloor is the bottom-most layer and it rests on the joists. If you have a concrete slab floor, the slab may be considered the subfloor.