When installing a wood/laminate floor, should the planks run...

[ChrisnSteph]

...horizontal or vertical when you're entering a room? My dh and I are having a disagreement about this. I say horizontal. What do you guys think?

 

[Disney Ella]

That's how mine run, original wood in a 70-year-old house.

 

[Galahad]

We are putting new hardwood floors down and putting them at a 45% angle across the rooms.

 

[Mike.Wazowski]

horizontal is it...
everytime Ive seen it at least...
although I did live in a 1900's sears kit hout that ran it vertical...

 

[DawnCt1]

We are putting new hardwood floors down and putting them at a 45% angle across the rooms.

That's how ours are done and they are "picture framed" around the perimeter of the room.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

We are putting new hardwood floors down and putting them at a 45% angle across the rooms.

I love that look but we are installing laminate, so that's not an option for us since my dh doesn't know how to do it tht way. I've seen it go both ways, but I think horizontal looks better.

 

[damo]

Horizontal, like a bowling alley. I think it should run parallel to the longest wall.

 

[Beth76]

What about rooms that you enter from different sides? They should be placed how they fit best. Your installer will know how to do that. When I had mine put in I had visions of it going one way, but the installer said it would look much better (due the size of the room) to go the other way.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

What about rooms that you enter from different sides? They should be placed how they fit best. Your installer will know how to do that. When I had mine put in I had visions of it going one way, but the installer said it would look much better (due the size of the room) to go the other way.

Well, my dh is the installer. He's done this before, but I'm kind of nervous because this is a LOT of laminate he's putting in - about 1700 sq ft worth. It's a typical tract home (dining/front room are in one "box", then kitchen/family room are in another "box"). I'm going to really plead for horizontal, but he's balking at it because he already installed the bathroom laminate and it's horizontal when you walk in, but to make the rest of the floors run parallel with it they would have to be vertical.

 

[Serena]

Personally, do it the way you like. But yeah, it usually depends on the room itself.
If the room is long or short, that kind of stuff.

 

[Jpgirl]

We took the prominent feature in the room (big window or fireplace) and ran the planks perpindicular to it. Now the last time we did it (Nov 06) it was a bedroom and I thought the floor would look better if it was hroizontal to the door-so it would be horizontal as you came in-also horizontal to the feature in the room-a long set of windows. So we laid out planks(without connecting them) both ways and perpindicular to the window and the door looked better. It seemed backwards but it really looks good and we're quite happy. We got this hint years ago on some home repair show. And looking back our old house's wood floors were laid this way. Good luck

 

[Wishing on a star]

Okay, here is how I think it is commonly decided.

Most rooms are clearly wider in one direction... Rectangular, not square.

The wood-planks should follow the directions of the LONGEST measurement of the room. Whether that is 'horizontal' or 'vertical' from any given entrance.

You want the eye to follow the w-i-d-e-s-t path to visually open up the space.

like this:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

not this:
________________________________________________
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Okay, here is how I think it is commonly decided.

Most rooms are clearly wider in one direction... Rectangular, not square.

The wood-planks should follow the directions of the LONGEST measurement of the room. Whether that is 'horizontal' or 'vertical' from any given entrance.

You want the eye to follow the w-i-d-e-s-t path to visually open up the space.

like this:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

not this
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l

Wow, thanks for that! Ok, so the room he's starting in is a big rectangle, with the front door being at the shortest end of the rectangle. So based on your theory, the planks should run vertical - is that correct?

 

[hydster]

We have laminate in our living room and our office which are next to each other. They run opposite ways and I love it! LOL The front room runs verticle, the office runs horizontal. Running the office horizontal made for less cuts for dh to do and also made the 2 different floors feel different on purpose. We had Pergo installed in 2001 in our living room but did another brand in the office 2 weeks ago so we wanted it to look like we did that on purpose!

 

[Wishing on a star]

Yes, It would look something like this... the lines would be 'vertical' as you enter from one of the shortest ends.

____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________
l____________________________________________


But, as others have said, if you have a personal preference for some reason, then either way is probably Okay!

Maybe you could call a local flooring store and ask them how they would recommend it. They should know how they measure and how the installers usually do it. You can act like you are a potential customer who is just trying to get the 'design' right. You don't have to tell them you are a DIY'er.

 

[Galahad]

I love that look but we are installing laminate, so that's not an option for us since my dh doesn't know how to do it tht way. I've seen it go both ways, but I think horizontal looks better.

Oh, I don't know how to do it either. Thankfully we've hired somebody competent.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

Okay, here is how I think it is commonly decided.

Most rooms are clearly wider in one direction... Rectangular, not square.

The wood-planks should follow the directions of the LONGEST measurement of the room. Whether that is 'horizontal' or 'vertical' from any given entrance.

You want the eye to follow the w-i-d-e-s-t path to visually open up the space.

like this:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

not this:
________________________________________________
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l
l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l l

that's what our contractor did. He laid a transition piece at the point where the 2 rooms meet.
one was vertical, the other horizontal.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

All the laminate flooring instructions I've ever read suggest that it has nothing to do with the shape of the room and everything to do with the orientation of the main source of light.

Where is the window in the room? The planks should run parallel to the main source of sunlight. (i.e. the planks run perpendicular to the window through which the most light enters the room.)

If you run the planks in the other direction you will notice the seams between the planks a whole lot more. By installing the flooring in this method the seams between planks will be less noticeable.

 

[oxfordcircus]

Here's another vote for make the laminate run parallel to the longest wall. Once you cut it, the laminate is worthless on the cut side. There's is no way to improvise another "groove" into the end you've cut. I would align it to minimize the number of cuts, and therefore minimize the waste, which is very expensive with laminates. By the way, I will never have laminate in a house again.

 

[Wishing on a star]

By the way, I will never have laminate in a house again.

May we ask why???
Durability, Personal Preference, ???