Racking

[frjeff]

I am about to begin laying 3/4" Pine flooring in one of my rooms.

While my supplier ships in "random" lengths (18" to 8'), 99.9% of the pieces are 8'.

How do I begin to lay out this project (racking) so that I get a random length pattern in the finished floor?

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[FloorMaven]

I am about to begin laying 3/4" Pine flooring in one of my rooms.

While my supplier ships in "random" lengths (18" to 8'), 99.9% of the pieces are 8'.

How do I begin to lay out this project (racking) so that I get a random length pattern in the finished floor?

Thanks,

Jeff

With all the lengths the same size you won't have a random length pattern unless you cut the boards. You can achieve a random stagger with identical lengths. Simply stagger randomly. With eight ft. Lengths it's possible to not have any matching rows.

 

[Chobasco]

After your first row, I'd grab about 7 of the 8' pieces, and roughly cut each one about a foot shorter than the previous, but not exact 12", just eye it. Then, after the first row, I'd put the cut pieces in this order: 7-3-6-2-4-1-5. Full out each row with those 8' boards, including the last piece you need to cut. Save the cut pieces, and in order, for the most part, it should create a continually random layout with almost 2 feet between adjacent ends of boards. So after you rack 7 rows, you should have 7 cut pieces to begin your next 7 rows. With such long strips, staggering the ends by that much will look cool, and be extra sturdy.

 

[Dan]

Keep in mind, anything you cut off from the end one row can be used to begin another. The end cut will tongue end cut off, but will still have the groove end, or vise versa. With that in mind, when you get to the end of a run, either find the board with the shortest waste or pick a board that will give you the left-over length you desire to begin another row.

One thing you want to stay away from is an "H" joint. This is where there's an end joint and two rows away you have another end joint. The third row is ok. Try to keep your end joints at least two times in length, the width of the boards.