Which direction to run hardwood/laminate?

[curls00]

Here is the floorplan of my second level. We plan to rip out the carpet in all 3 bedrooms and the upstairs landing. The closets will remain carpeted. The bathrooms will both be getting tile. For safety reasons, we are not putting laminate on the stairs and are keeping it carpeted.

LOTS of light comes in the master bedroom -- 6 windows facing east. Considerable light comes in the other two bedrooms in the PM -- faces west.

Should I run the laminate front-to-back, or side-to-side?

Thanks!

http://www.minto.com/img/series/floor_plans/54/royalton2.gif

[trucanuck]

Front to back because of the hallway. Or you could go sideways just for master and retreat (ask your installer what he thinks).. Do the closets as well, it will be worth it, especially if you want to sell, and for yourself.

[curls00]

I will be DIY'ing this. Have done laminate many times before -- it's not terribly difficult IMO.

I will very likely be putting transitions in the doorways for the three bedrooms due to fluctuating humidity levels, and because I will have to work on this in sections (one room per weekend, basically). The transitions will mask any sliiiiight variations in lining up the planks.

Front-back makes sense. However, the stairs are all open and the 'hallway' feels almost most like a room - more square than anything. It's not narrow by any means. Does that change your response?

[speedyforme]

I say front to back for the hallway and the back bedrooms and side to side for the master. And also do the closets.

[Si98]

Front and back up to including the closet area in the master bedroom then angled for the remaining area.

[curls00]

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone.



I say front to back for the hallway and the back bedrooms and side to side for the master. And also do the closets.

I am leaning towards this after speaking more with my wife. And yes, it makes sense to do the closets, providing I can put the tracks back in for the closet doors. There's a trick whereby you make a 3/4" hole through the laminate where each track screw goes -- allows for expansion/contraction and is completely hidden by the track. Might look into doing that.

[Zamboni]

Might look good laid on the diagonal...especially with the master bedroom windows being on an angle. Lay some peices down and see how your wife likes it.

[curls00]

Might look good laid on the diagonal...especially with the master bedroom windows being on an angle. Lay some peices down and see how your wife likes it.

I'm not sure an angled floor would look good in this case, simply because the angles of the corner windows (45*, give or take a few degrees) do not correspond with the angle of the wall that has the bathroom door (30*, give or take). I think it would look weird and have too many angles-on-angles. I almost did 45* tile in our front hallway but the wall wasn't really 45* so it would have looked weird -- ended up not doing anything (yet) -- that's a project for later in 2012 (says my wife...). :)

[DiceMan]

I read that hardwood should be laid perpendicular to the floor joists for structural reasons. I'm not an expert - just what I thought I read.

[Zamboni]

I'm not sure an angled floor would look good in this case, simply because the angles of the corner windows (45*, give or take a few degrees) do not correspond with the angle of the wall that has the bathroom door (30*, give or take). I think it would look weird and have too many angles-on-angles. I almost did 45* tile in our front hallway but the wall wasn't really 45* so it would have looked weird -- ended up not doing anything (yet) -- that's a project for later in 2012 (says my wife...). :)

I agree-didn't notice the bathroom door wasn't at 45*

Definetly wouldn't lay the floor oriented this way \ in the MB, it will look odd when you reach that bathroom door wall.

Coming out of the other corner window so wood is in this direction / would look better but still not perfect.

[lazymonkeygod]

I read that hardwood should be laid perpendicular to the floor joists for structural reasons. I'm not an expert - just what I thought I read.

This is what my builder told me too.

[chimaican]

I'd personally run it front to back for everything. Reason being that when you look from the hallway, the home will look bigger as there will be no perpendicular lines (this includes the MBr). If you prefer you can run side-to-side in the MBr as the room will look bigger from the perspective of the bed (assuming right hand-wall?), but then the MBr will look smaller from the hallway.

[synaptech]

Obviously you decide what makes sense for your install, but when I installed laminate, the instructions suggested running the seams of the laminate perpendicular to the windows. The reason was to minimize the visibility of the seams in direct sunlight.

Looking at the floor installed in my current place, this was adhered to. As others have also said, running from front to back will give a better illusion of length/depth.

[new_vr]

Obviously you decide what makes sense for your install, but when I installed laminate, the instructions suggested running the seams of the laminate perpendicular to the windows. The reason was to minimize the visibility of the seams in direct sunlight.


But with hardwood, there won't be seams as such..each piece of wood is individual, the "seams" are supposed to be there

[synaptech]

But with hardwood, there won't be seams as such..each piece of wood is individual, the "seams" are supposed to be there

OP has said he installing laminate.

[l69norm]

I'd personally run it front to back for everything. Reason being that when you look from the hallway, the home will look bigger as there will be no perpendicular lines (this includes the MBr). If you prefer you can run side-to-side in the MBr as the room will look bigger from the perspective of the bed (assuming right hand-wall?), but then the MBr will look smaller from the hallway.

+1, the optical illusion will make the house appear bigger (longer)

[curls00]

Great suggestions and insight everyone!

The bed in the MBR is on the right-side wall. The room looks huge (and is really quite big) as it is. The view from the hallway into the MBR isn't too key, IMO... the doorway is just a single door and sight lines don't lend themselves to a grand entrance. Also, no direct light from any windows directly into the hallway (via the MBR anyhow).

The laminate we plan on getting will have either bevelled or pressed edges, so the individual planks will look a lot like real hardwood and will have 3D qualities. There will also be (likely hand-scraped look) grain -- it won't be a flat surface w/ semi gloss.

[Mr Nobody]

I'd do front to back for everything, include master. Rule is to run it in the direction of the natural light, or the length of the room. Here, I'd choose light over length.

I'd do the closets too. Easy to take off the rails and drill the holes to put it back afterwards. I've done it before.

Transitions at the door is good since you will need it based on the length of the entire floor anyways for expansion. Also lets you change the flooring of each room later if you need/want to. Make sure the transition is positioned so its right under the closed door.

Bullnose to the edge or the stairs, or leave a chunk of carpet on the hallway and use a transition. Whatever looks better. Can't tell just from the floor plan. If you leave some carpet in the hallway, it also saves you from having to remove the spindles and railing. And from having to drill all those holes for the spindles. Plus bullnose is expensive.

I'd remove all the baseboards, do the laminate, then put the baseboards back versus doing the laminate to the baseboard then adding 1/4 round. That's cause I hate 1/4 round. I'm assuming after removing the carpet, the height is not going to be perfect for you to squeeze the laminate under the existing baseboard. There's pros/cons to either method.

Also make sure to get the laminate under the door trim for a finished look.

[curls00]

I'd do front to back for everything, include master. Rule is to run it in the direction of the natural light, or the length of the room. Here, I'd choose light over length.

I'd do the closets too. Easy to take off the rails and drill the holes to put it back afterwards. I've done it before.

Transitions at the door is good since you will need it based on the length of the entire floor anyways for expansion. Also lets you change the flooring of each room later if you need/want to. Make sure the transition is positioned so its right under the closed door.

Bullnose to the edge or the stairs, or leave a chunk of carpet on the hallway and use a transition. Whatever looks better. Can't tell just from the floor plan. If you leave some carpet in the hallway, it also saves you from having to remove the spindles and railing. And from having to drill all those holes for the spindles. Plus bullnose is expensive.

I'd remove all the baseboards, do the laminate, then put the baseboards back versus doing the laminate to the baseboard then adding 1/4 round. That's cause I hate 1/4 round. I'm assuming after removing the carpet, the height is not going to be perfect for you to squeeze the laminate under the existing baseboard. There's pros/cons to either method.

Also make sure to get the laminate under the door trim for a finished look.

Thanks.

The way the stairs and railing are now is that the stairs are bullnosed (and carpet, obviously). I know that existing bullnose will need to be cut off and the laminate bullnose installed in its place. Next to the stairs is a railing (running perpindicular front/back where the area is open-to-below). This oak railing is affixed at the bottom to an oak baseplate, and the existing carpet butts-up against it. I assume I would need to butt-up the new laminate to the baseplate here. However... what about the 1/4" expansion around that area? The area is about 4' long. Worst-case, I suppose I could leave about a 1/4" expansion and fill it with tinted flexible latex caulk to hide the joint but still permit expansion (?).

I think the hardest part of the entire project will be getting the rows to line up between rooms, even if I put in a T transition. The reason being, I will have to work in sections, and, the rows for each doorway extend into the middle of the hallway and/or room -- never right against a wall and never with a common starting point. This will be tricky. :)

[Mr Nobody]

From the description of the stair edge, railings, bullnose, oak plate, etc. I hate to see laminate meet that oak plate and then a (tee?)transition piece between the two just for expansion. I've seen that in many houses and I just don't like it. I'd either keep carpet in that area or like I said previously, rip everything out and run laminate right to the drop edge.

If keeping carpet, maybe something like: draw a line from the wall that's left of the word "soaker" upwards, and from the wall above the word "DN" leftwards. Until the two meet. Now that area bound by those lines and the stair edge will be kept carpet. If that makes sense. You would need to visualize in in reality to see if it'll look good though.

When I did it in my last house, My runs for the two rooms (the other two rooms ran perpendicular) did no line up with the hallways. I don't recall it being an eye sore. Not sure how your particular pattern looks like and whether it'd look odd. I can understand wanting to line them up. With careful planning, it's doable. Treat it like you are doing the entire floor at once with no transitions.

[dirtmover]

Unless your floor is completely flat, which is highly unlikely, you're better going perpendicular to the joists which will minimize the risk of fracturing any joints when walk on it. Yeah, I learned this the hard way :(