OT: Laying out engineered wood floor

Most houses are not that square - if the error is bigger than the baseboard molding covers, you trim when you hit the far wall. Don't fuss about more than one line if you are doing this "continuous" - you start one place, the joints set where the rest of the product ends up, you trim as needed, and you charge (money or beer, depending on what basis you are helping) as needed to cover the work of trimming.

As for parallel lines, geometry is your friend - grab a pencil and a string and make like a large compass held by an ancient Greek guy, but given inflexible materials, only one line matters... Multiple iterations of 3 4 5, 5 12 13 etc. can also be done with a measuring tape and pencil, depending on what you have to work with, spacewise. The compass methods are usually more accurate.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

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I was told to start a decorative parquet pattern at the room's center or the most visible area and work outwards towards the walls, where the baseboard covers gaps.

jsw

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Chalkline your best guess at 'straight', 3-4-5 or square perpendiculars from that into the rooms, then perps off those to check alignment in those rooms.

Or start in the rooms, project perpendiculars from lines parallel to the the walls, establish perpendiculars to those in the hallways, and compare.

Or, man-up and do it all at 45=B0 :)

Dave

Snap a chalk line down the length of the hall , being VERY precise as to measurement/alignment with that long wall . Let said line extend out to the far wall of the rooms on either end , giving you a baseline for further measurements . If yours is like mine (in the middle of an install ...) the visible face width is the number to use for calcs . If the hall length is prependicular to the long wall of the rooms , turn it in the hall , center of the doorway is a natural break point . Also gives room for expansion/contraction of the flooring due to temp and humidity changes . TIP: Use a piece of the flooring , with a piece of light cardboard and the foam underlayment under it as a guide to cut the doorcasings and face trim off so the flooring will slip under . Lots easier than coping , plus it lets the floor float as designed . Hand saw or a sawzall with med fine blade on low speed works well .

--
Snag
16 yrs as a
floor mechanic
and got the bad back
to prove it !

I suppose you could use a surveyor's transit

I do not have a transit, but being an optical engineer this is the approach I used for a similar tile layout problem. It takes advantage of the geometry theorem that says when a line crosses two other parallel lines, the opposite angles are equal.

Take two laser pointers and mount them rigidly on a plate or holder at approximately 90 degrees (they could be off by many degrees). If the line A is oriented north/south, align one laser along the line in the North direction and the 2nd laser points East (lets say) through the doorway into the next room. Make a chalk line along the 2nd beam, this is line B. Go into the next room and align one laser along line B pointing West with the other laser pointing SOUTH (it is important this is opposite the direction used when aligning to A). Make a chalk line parallel to south pointing laser, this is line C. A and C are exactly parallel.

You can also use a laser and a penta prism. The penta prism always deviates the beam exactly 90 degrees relative to the input beam. They cost about $25 to $30 at online surplus optics stores such as

Make sure that you leave a reasonable expansion gap all round. If you don't, the floor will start to bubble when temp or humidity increases.

It also helps align with the final wall, since you will likely have to cut each board lengthways anyhow.

--
Dirk

http://www.neopax.com/technomage/ - My new book - Magick and Technology

I like this one. No large precision square required and I can extend line B quite a ways. Easy to make with a long straight edge and a laser stuck on it at approx. right angles.

--
Paul Hovnanian  paul@hovnanian.com
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Have gnu, will travel.

That's what bathroom timers do, start in the middle. Establish a datum line, work outwards, and cut tiles whereever they hit something.

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Hm, my reply didn't 'take'...

Anywhoo, you could establish a line in each room parallel to the wall,

3-4-5 a perpendicular to the wall, run the perp out into the hallway (chalkline), 3-4-5 it again, then see if the lines from the rooms are parallel.

Or man up and do the whole thing at 45 degrees... ;)

Dave

RCM only

That sounds like the way to do it. Make sure you make cutouts for the trim so the first run is square to the wall. That's KEY! This is where the little HF Multifunction Tool comes in handiest. Once you have that first long run, check out the straightness with a line snap it with chalk. Now measure to the far walls. Make sure you remove the existing baseboards (reinstalling afterwards) to ensure that the edge of the flooring is covered later. It's much cleaner and allows you to leave the specific gaps requested by the manufacturer of the flooring.

You can buy a 5' long right triangle square for $58, but I'm not sure how much it would help you here, except to verify the inaccuracies of the existing walls in your home. ;)

-- Woe be to him that reads but one book. -- George Herbert

As an experienced tile layer... measure... measure... measure... before you fix "center", to make sure that you end up with reasonable sized pieces at the edges... no slivers. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |

      Remember: Once you go over the hill, you pick up speed

Dividers. They look like a compass, but aren't used for drawing circles or arcs, but for tracing the contour of the wall or door jamb that you're trying to butt up against.

Have Fun! Rich

Was thinking the same thing, But not center. Start at the area that most people will see when they walk thru the door.

Cheers

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

isn't this better discussed in alt.home.repair than in an ELECTRONICS NG ?

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

Perhaps! But I think many of us are handymen around our own homes as well. I started laying tile floors 40+ years ago.

Quite frankly there's very little, if anything, I need to ask here in regards to circuit design ;-)

But I do appreciate experienced insight into tools I haven't used before. This week I've increased my tool investment by close to $500, based mostly on recommendations I received on this group. ...Jim Thompson

--
| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
| Phoenix, Arizona  85048    Skype: Contacts Only  |             |
| Voice:(480)460-2350  Fax: Available upon request |  Brass Rat  |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com |    1962     |

      Remember: Once you go over the hill, you pick up speed

Jim Thompson wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

perhaps the OP should take a course at Home Depot. IIRC,they teach such courses,and you learn from a pro. On Usenet,the level of expertise and quality of advice varies greatly.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
localnet
dot com

I like this one. No large precision square required and I can extend line B quite a ways. Easy to make with a long straight edge and a laser stuck on it at approx. right angles.

--
Paul Hovnanian  paul@hovnanian.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Have gnu, will travel.


go along the wall in the room and hope the next room has a parallel wall.  I 
have done a couple houses for friends and do one room and go up to the door 
and through the door with flooring.  Notch for the doorway.  Then you can 
start working to the walls in the next room.  Before starting, pay the $10 
or so for a long commercial tapper.  Some of the flooring kits have a 
tapping block and the baseboard spacers in with the padding.  The short 
tapping blocks both suck and have a tendency to break.  The large one is 
solid.  Get a white rubber mallet for tapping the wood, does not leave black 
marks.  I cut a 1/3 off each row starter block, so each 4th row is lined up. 
Save the ends as they can be used at the other end at times.  You can 
eyeball a straight line when it is that long one side of a room to another 
room.  Personally I would look at the prefinished 3/4" flooring that does 
not float.  Looks much better.

Check the manufacturer's installation instructions on continuous runs. Mine said no longer than 30 feet. The floor needs room to expand/contract. Do not attach baseboards to the floor; only to the wall.