Lately I've found the manufacturers listed numbers of the plank widths being off. So I'm carrying my digital caliper with me. Running thirty or forty rows and having your width exact is always a challenge guessing with a tape measure.
Measuring Widths of Planks
- Thread starter Ernesto
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I cut one plank into 4 inch wide strips and lock them all together, adding a strip of duct or blue tape if necessary to keep them together. With a line snapped down the center of a room, it's quick to slide that narrow width of planks around to see where they end up. It at least gives a quick, 'real world' visual of the actual locked together width. That would be about 6' of material locked together. That said, from a centerline in the room, two moves right or left would be enough to measure location points in a 24' wide room. With this taped together row of planks laying through a doorway, you can see where to begin or end a row..... Start at the doorway, and quickly see where joints will end up on the opposite side of the room, or at floor registers offsets, etc.
I did this on my first Pergo installation 50 years ago.
I need some new calipers.
I did this on my first Pergo installation 50 years ago.
I need some new calipers.
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I did it my way starting way back with 'Pergo Original' because the boards back then measured something in between English and metric. The room widths were such that I had like, 1/8 to 1/4 inch of being exactly where I needed to be. Stacking the small sections together like I mentioned gave me some super accurate information. Yes, it's kinda like counting on your fingers, instead of measuring accurately with calipers, but it works extremely well.
Nick
In Remembrance
I get a lot of Bruce with pinched ends , and i don't see it till it's nailed.
If it seems I might wind up with a shitty fill piece along a long wall I'll bang ten planks together side by side to get that measurement rather than measuring the width of a single unit. This way whether it's a vinyl plank, laminate or engineered wood I can use that example of "growth" for my layout.
Moreso recently than in my earlier years I prefer to go metric on something like estimating the growth on a plank job. The math is a hell of a lot easier than trying to do feet, inches and fractions. OK, I may as well be honest. I can't figure out the fractions, inches and feet across a big room. I only have so many fingers and toes and I don't have any fractions of a finger or toe. So that ain't gonna work.
Moreso recently than in my earlier years I prefer to go metric on something like estimating the growth on a plank job. The math is a hell of a lot easier than trying to do feet, inches and fractions. OK, I may as well be honest. I can't figure out the fractions, inches and feet across a big room. I only have so many fingers and toes and I don't have any fractions of a finger or toe. So that ain't gonna work.
I get a lot of Bruce with pinched ends , and i don't see it till it's nailed.
Pinched ends, you say? You mean where the board is scant in width? Like the last three inches or so? Usually on the tongue side?
This happens because a device (usually a wheel) on the machinery used to hold the wood over against a fence cannot be in the exact same place as the cutting tooling. As the board moves through the moulder or side matcher and the trailing end goes past the hold over it is free to move away from the fence and toward the cutting head. This can happen on each and every board that goes through the machine. This shows up in the finished product because the chop saw operator did not cut enough off of the piece in an effort to increase yield.
Even if you can't see it, you can usually feel it with your fingers by sliding your finger along the edge where the width changes. It's much easier to feel in square edge products. Try it sometime.
Nick
In Remembrance
Thanks Stranger . I knew what caused it . i been to the Mills.
I don't slide my finger along the edge of to many things , But i will give it a try .
Thanks
I don't slide my finger along the edge of to many things , But i will give it a try .
Thanks
Thanks Stranger . I knew what caused it . i been to the Mills.
I don't slide my finger along the edge of to many things , But i will give it a try .
Thanks
Nick calling me strange? Now that's a hoot!
Figured you knew the cause. Now everyone else that didn't....does. When you find one, you know another way to look. I know, I know, I know.......wtf is a guy to do after he has the whole room racked out? Feel your wood before you nail it?
Nick
In Remembrance
Haven't seen you around in awhile, that's why i called you stranger .
Just makes me mentally irregular because i have to pull the board .
Just makes me mentally irregular because i have to pull the board .
