Hi Everyone,

On the main floor of our house we put down 9″ pine boards perpendicular to the 2×10 joists below.   We have 5 1/2″ tongue and groove maple flooring.  We are thinking that if we lay the flooring parallel to the pine boards then the florring will move as the pine expands and contracts.  But if we lay the pine perpendicular to the pine boards, the fasteners won’t be able to grip the joists.  Because we live in a climate that gets a lot of moisture (Vermont), and because the maple is so wide, and because the pine may not hold the fasteners as well as plywood, we are wondering if our floor will buckle in the hot humid weather in August.  Does anyone have experience doing a floor along the lines of what we are thinking?  How did it work?  And does anyone have suggestions?  One possibility would be to lay another layer of plywood, but we are overbudget and beyind schedule and would prefer not to.  Are there other techniques that might prevent the maple from moving too much?

gratefully,

Bill