How do I not create a pattern

[chirpychippy]

You may recall or you may not, a while ago I was asking questions on how best to lay a real wood floor onto screed, or as is the case vinyl tiles which are stuck to the screed. Well I ummed and rrr'd and decided that the floating floor method in this case would be better, thus I have now purchased an Ash Tongue and Groove real wood floor, which has yet to arrive, the question I put to you is this, it is coming in lenghts of 1200mm 600mm 300mm or thereabouts, now I am not sure how to lay it without creating a pattern, so I am in a bit of a tizz, possibly thinking to much, but I would rather no the secrets rather than making a pigs ear of it, please help, thank you

 

[mattysupra]

If there is a floor i hate fitting it is random plank! And guess what ? You just brought one . Anyway there is no real secrets as such. You just need to be careful of where you use each board. You need to dry lay each row in turn making sure your happy with where each boards header drops. You also need to open all the packs and sort out how many boards of each length you have. Make sure you use the correct amounts of each board length so that you don't end up with bands of short ones or long ones across the floor. Does that make sense??

 

[WoodYouLike]

Sorry Matty but I don't see a real problem with random length boards.
In some cases it even prevents having too many off-cuts, because you can use the smaller ones at the beginning of a new row (or at the end) to create the staggered joints you need without creating a fixed 'pattern' (where every second or third row has joints in the same place, looks awful IMHO).

Just make sure the joints always overlap with at least 30 cm. And use the various board lengths 'at random'.

If you have bought a 'cheap' offer you could end up of way more small lengths than quality products have and will end up with many joints in your floor. But that's price versus quality end-result for you

 

[mattysupra]

Sorry Matty but I don't see a real problem with random length boards.

Guess its down to different methods of fitting, mine must be better than yours

I just dont like the messing around with all the different lengths. Some floors are fine and give a nice variety of lengths but as you know, some flooring can come with loads of stupid little bits you cant do much with. I find i get more waste with random plank also. Guess its me being very picky . But when i fit a floor where all planks are the same length i have a method that normally leaves me with half a board waste. At the worst i get a quarter, half and a 3/4 length left over. And that is making sure there are no repeating planks, i's or h's left in the laying in the floor.

 

[chirpychippy]

Now theres an idea I didn't think of, laying it dry first to get an idea, cheers! No this flooring didn't come from the bargain bin, well at £65 odd a square mtr not to my pocket anyway, lets wait and see. But may I ask one more question?

In the room there is door way which leads out onto the veranda, there is enough room between the reveals of this doorway for probably one board's width, my quandry is how to cover the gap between board which will but up "less 10mm of course" to the bottom of the door frame, whic is raised, I have thought about using quadrant, but I don't like it or scotia, but again I don't like it, is there anything available within the flooring market which would look a little more desirable and proffesional, thank you

 

[mattysupra]

you need to under cut them so the wood flooring goes underneath them. Turn a plank of wood upside down so you don't mark the face and then rest a saw on top of the plank and cut through the door frame. don't worry the frame wont fall down.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hope for £ 65.00 you'll don't end up with loads of lengths of 30cm!

As for covering the expansion gap in front of higher items, like hearths or doorways like yours, look at the [http://www.woodyoulike.co.uk/shop/#ecwid:category=380999&mode=product&product=1316227]picture in this link[/url]: flat beading. 5 x 28 mm strips of Oak, we use that almost daily to cover most expansion gaps.

 

[chirpychippy]

woodyoulike's method with the oak strip looks like it will fit the bill, thank you very much, but that is not to say that MattySupra's method isn't as good or if not better, the only problem is, is that I do not understand how I would cut into the bottom of the frame using this method, initially I thought you meant a hand saw, but that wouldn't work, but then neither would a skill saw because of the height issue, so would mind expaling to me in laymans terms how you do this cut, please, thank you.

 

[mattysupra]

if you have your wood already read the instructions. it should have a picture and texed on how to do it.

 

[chirpychippy]

O.K Thank you another question. Is it really neccasary to put corking strips around the edge of the floor for expansion then shrinkage, personally can't see what difference it would make if it wasn't there at all, to my mind if anything the cork would stop the floor expanding and cause the flooring the belly up?

 

[mattysupra]

forget the cork. Some manufacturers like junkers tell you to put it around the perimeter. The reason for this is to make sure you have left expansion. (the cork will crush when the floor grows) I cant remember how much of the top of my head as don't use it (i think 3/4 of its thickness) So for instance if 15mm cork you are guaranteed 10mm expansion. But if you leave it out you will have the full 15mm expansion if needed or you have fitted a greater width than they say you can to there recommend expansion with cork.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Plus, if the floor expands (which is very normal during the different seasons) the cork can start to make creaky noises (comes in handy during Halloween )

Leave it out!

 

[chirpychippy]

Why isn't anything ever simple, this bl**dy floor has turned up and I have taken the information leaflet out only to find that it can't be glued together "only secret nailed" meaning that I have to lay either OSB or Ply down to to carry out this secret fixing thus raising the floor level by around 2" or 1,1/2" if i am lucky. But to be honest why can't I glue the T&G together, after all it is engineered Oak thereby I would guess that the grains are going in all different directions anyway, can I call upon you once again to give me an honest opinion because I really want to glue it together,

 

[mattysupra]

you can glue together. Who makes it?

 

[chirpychippy]

Good question, there is absolutely no reference to manufacturer, can't be bothered to dig out paperwork, thanks for your advice I am going to glue, now I can de-stress and apologise to the missis for biting her head off.