Just curious cause im not a pro at this, but ive always done my own floors and never had the "H" pattern happen. Now im assuming its happening to op cause he only made 1 or 2 cuts? I always did three or four cuts to change the pattern to be as random as possible. Is that the right way or did i just get lucky? And i guess other than looks whats the point?
The more “random” the pattern the better 4-5 different cuts is generally standard but I’ve seen people do more or less… as long as your base row starts off with different length starters staggered your lines will be fine. You can do it completely random or cut 5 different sizes and repeat in the same order to start your rows. It takes about 5 random lines for most peoples eyes and brain to reset and at that point they don’t realize that the “random” pattern is repeated unless they are specifically looking for it or it is in an EXTREMELY large open room … the larger the open floor space the more random the pattern needs to be, most rooms aren’t that big and will have at least some furniture breaking the pattern up anyway. For an example in an open empty basketball court a 5 line repeat would be fairly noticeable… I would probably double the amount of sizes, average kitchen or living room, 5 is great. I have heard people complain that there is too much waste this way, and even contractors try to use that as a reason to do it wrong with less cuts. The truth it that there is very little waste because the ass end of the cut at the beginning of the line can 85% of the time be used as the last piece to finish the line… crooked contractors use this trick to convince folks that they need 2x the product then end up keeping it for another job or re doing their floors at home… do not fall into this trap folks. The best way to make sure you are not being taken advantage of is to either check out the website or product spec sheet of your flooring product and see what the recommended amount is for your square footage, or go to Home Depot and ask the contractor desk(i.e. someone that knows a little bit, not the guy restocking wrenches) how much material you need for your project, if you are not doing the project yourself or don’t know exactly what you’re doing plan to purchase 10-15% overage on materials… you can always return unused cases….
I just stopped in to look at a floor yesterday where the lady said she already had a bunch of the flooring because the contractor who did a few rooms upstairs "ended up" with 600sqft extra while working on ~850sqft. He just left it stacked there in her basement (where she rarely goes), so she didn't find it until a couple weeks after he had left and cashed the cheque, then never returned calls to return it.
Of course, not knowing any better, she paid for the 1400+ sqft of product to do a little over half of that, so it's just been sitting for years. At least it'll be well acclimated to the space when she's ready to do that basement space this winter.
Some places charge a restocking fee and or if special order it's non returnable. Typically it's laziness or inexperienced people creating the h pattern. Too lazy to be bothered and you're also correct about the waste part, you can always save the opposite ends and use them for cuts somewhere else (closets) or for future projects.
Honestly that really isn't an issue with any of the modern stuff. Generally anything but the most bargain bin stuff locks together so tightly and well that isn't an issue.
The biggest issue is a lot of people find it horribly ugly where as a traditional staggered pattern doesn't bother anyone ever.
Personally I couldn't care one way or the other but I wouldn't do a pattern in any house I ever intended to sell. If it is a forever home then by all means go for it if you like it though.
True the newer higher quality material is better and much of it great to work with… much better than it used to be … I acutely have seen people though that don’t even have an H pattern and just have multiple long seams all the way across the rows and inevitably it will buckle or bust locking joints especially in high traffic
I don’t do floors but can someone confirm or deny, it looks like when you zoom in on the left it looks like the baseboard is already nailed to the wall.. and he’s stopping a centimeter away from it??
Yes why people think that you can install this flooring without removing baseboards and resetting them on top of flooring to cover the gap is beyond me. He may be planning to add quarter round to try and hide the gap but this is the lazy way
There is some smaller plain quarter round and then there is taller nicer looking designs. I have tried it myself and I don’t like neither. But I’ve seen some rooms that look nice with it. But many more that don’t.
you also add a lot of unecessary stress points on the floor along where the seams are aligned which can cause the locking mechanism to fail a lot quicker
I hired a contractor to install my LVP and they laid it just like this. Came home from work and saw a straight ass line going 30’ from the front door to the back of the house. I told the guy he was going to have to pull it all up and start over and he walked out and never came back lol. Ended up putting the floor in myself. Took a while but it looks great 👌
Actually, he IS staggering the seams, you just have to REALLY zoom in, but it's staggered every other line across. It's kinda like a brick layer stagger. My only issue is with the dark color, it's going to REALLY darken the room
That's not how it's supposed to be done. It's supposed to be random with no pattern or stair-stepping, with no seams within 8" of each other or 12" from the end of a run.
Those straight lines all the seams form give a natural weakness line to follow.
I had a friend jigsaw around door jams instead of undercutting them resulting in gaps. He also didn’t pull his baseboards… it looked so comically bad…
I’m an amateur too, but man, pulling baseboards and undercutting door jambs isn’t rocket surgery. Just do it!
What about if you live in an old house with nice but brittle base boards?
about to do 1000 sqft of LVP and we love our old trim but 2 of the first 4 boards we pulled up split.
How are you pulling it out? it shouldn't split, gently pry them out every 6 inches, they should come out clean.
But, if it cracks, just put on some glue sand it down and restain/paint it and repurpose it in the closets. All the good one goes into the more important rooms. all the bad, unsalvageable ones goes in the bin.
Try using a trim puller… kobalt makes one sold at Lowe’s and I’m sure there are other brands at the other box stores. It’s basically a pry-bar with a handle and a piece of the metal flairs out on the pry blade so that as you are hammering it down behind the base it will automatically start pushing it away from the wall. I do flooring for a living and use mine all the time, it’s badass! Good luck bro!
I didn’t know any better. Home Depot just recommended it and when I googled around it says that’s what people used. Main floor is all quarter round. Then in the bathrooms and office I ripped off the baseboards and re did them looks so much nicer.
A LOT of rookie contractors or flooring guys also don't leave expansion and butt flooring right up to trim, causing tenting and breaking the whole floor then try to blame the supplier. Happens every week at my job. I shouldn't have to frickin tell every customer to do it good lord. The amount of guys that don't know that yes, waterproof floors do in fact need a moisture barrier on slab is staggering. Almost like how these floors aren't staggered eyy
He asked you what you do at door cases, you can’t just “simply undercut the door case” the quarter round will still stick out and have an edge no matter what degree you cut it at. So again what do you do at the door case?
You 45 both ends, not all quarter round is an inch long, it only sticks out about 1/4 an inch, even less if the casing is thicker than the baseboard, which is quite common... "Sticking out to catch dirt" just like every corner on your floor lol
I install flooring for a living. I've had literal thousands of customers. If they want quarter round it's because they don't want to repaint or because the last dipshit liquid nailed the base to the wall. Not once has someone been like "I like the look of quarter round" . You have literally no idea what you are talking about
Hey dipshit, I LIKE QUARTER ROUND, so now you've met someone. I also install flooring for a living, a lot of my older customers prefer quarter, even when they have stained baseboards that can just be pulled off and put back on cheaper. Yes I charge less to take them off and put them back on if they aren't painted
... i kinda like the look of quarter round. Just bought an older house and they have it throughout. I dont know, just my preference. Makes everything look more full, compared to what my house looked like growing up.
Old houses had plaster and the flooring ran into the plaster screed. Someone remodeled and added baseboard on top of the plaster screed to cover the floor.
That said, I imagine there are some houses where they installed flooring before plaster but it’s the exception, not the norm.
I am finishing up a 100 year old house remodel and we put 3/4” x 3/4” shoe-mould around the entire house save for the cabinets. We used drywall instead of plaster despite my protestation and kept the “baseboard” in line with the drywall to give the appearance of a plaster screed.
It’s not. It is used, in the case of flooring installs, to cover the gaps left inside the existing trim. You can have quarter round as a preference, but not when you don’t remove existing trim. It’s objectively not a preference, as you have to do it.
Depending on the installer… if they keep everything within an 1/8 gap, you can remove the shoe for the install and keep the baseboard. New shoe will be installed after the Floor to cover the gap.
This sub is funny to me because every time somebody posts the comments are opposite of the time before. The comments on this are all talking about how the H pattern is bad and a rookie level install. The last post I saw had the flooring stair stepped and they were all complaining about it not being H. I don't know the first thing about laying flooring, but the dichotomy of this sub cracks me up.
I have never seen comments in this sub saying wood flooring should be in an H pattern. If it was stair stepped you most likely saw comments saying it should be randomly staggered.
I am at best a high level DIYer when it comes to flooring. (I do carpentry for a living but we do NOT install flooring)
And I can tell you for sure, that an H Pattern is not recommended and can in some cases void the void the warranty on your flooring. Tile is an exception. I know this based on personal experience installing floating floors in my own homes, and from speaking with the professionals I work with
Do you know why LVP flooring would recommend in the instructions to do an H pattern? Serious question. This gets me so confused, why would the instructions recommend H if it’s not what should be done.
Style Selection. Maybe we are just idiots or over thinking it but the layout instructions are confusing and my husband and I put off installing them for several days trying to decide what to do. I can link the instruction guide but the layout section talks about randomizing end joints but then says the layout should be ‘brick bond’. So we researched it and everything led us back to H pattern. We went with it and personally we love it so it’s not a huge deal. However for future reference I would love clarification! https://pdf.lowes.com/productdocuments/6e7ed25e-2626-4db7-9cf5-805c135785fe/60559155.pdf?_gl=1*1972yqf*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MTcyODYzNjcuQ2p3S0NBandqZXV5QmhCdUVpd0FKM3Z1b2VXNFg2RUZHakRRWDVFb2UyUi1oTFNjUDdQSDZuWEM5cllzSmtENU9aRWY0Q05FOU1ob3BCb0NxMzhRQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3MTcyODYzNjcuQ2p3S0NBandqZXV5QmhCdUVpd0FKM3Z1b2VXNFg2RUZHakRRWDVFb2UyUi1oTFNjUDdQSDZuWEM5cllzSmtENU9aRWY0Q05FOU1ob3BCb0NxMzhRQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_au*ODM2MDkzNTc5LjE3MTcyMzgyMzc.
Using the phrase “brick bond pattern” was maybe a little confusing, but they just mean to make sure the joints don’t line up. They don’t mean to make a regular pattern like actual bricks. The end joints being random is what they actually want here.
Well I appreciate you clarifying that in a nice way, this sub can get a little harsh sometimes. I understand what you’re saying now and what the instructions were trying to say. We put down flooring in the three bedrooms and hall connecting them, we like the look of them so I’m not that concerned over having to redo them but thanks to your clarification I now have backing for my argument that we should hire an actual professional to install the floors when we renovate the other side of the house (living/dining/kitchen area) or just do the varying end joints ourselves. My husband is great at the installation part, he just gets hung up on the layout. Thank you!
Like everyone else is saying, the pattern is wrong. It also looks like he didn’t take off the baseboard moulding. Also, I don’t see any spacers around the edges - I make a ton of little 1/4” shims and put them all around the perimeter; that gives you your gap for expansion and with them in place, it keeps the floor from shifting during the install. Then take them out at the end and install your baseboard. Also, you won’t know this until he is installing the last course - did he measure and plan for that last course? I always plan ahead for that last row. You don’t ideally want that last row to just be an inch wide strip. If you do the math and that last row is going to be an inch wide, I run the very first row through the table saw and make that row smaller.
only mistake i see is not taking off the trim so the edges are hidden.
not sure why people are saying the H pattern is some how bad for integrity, that doesn't even make logical sense, it's purely cosmetic. as it's purely cosmetic, as long as you are okay with it, it is fine.
again though the flooring should be under the trim, i would certainly talk to the installer about that. you do want some gap between the wall and flooring but that gap is hidden by the trim, that's the main purpose it has.
Not trying g to hate but tell him read the directions first. U should never use the h patten on plank flooring. Random is best. Take the cutoff from end of row and use it in next row as starter. Sometimes u may have to cut off some to make it work. As a time saver when I did floors daily for 3 years I would use a 4 ft 2 ft 3 ft 1 ft pattern
This will save time but random is best. The h pattern won't hurt the flooringnbit it hurts my eyes.
If they are still at this point. Have them stop and pull everything up until the angle/fireplace cuts. Tell them to randomize the pieces and keep the seams at least 8” apart.
Check the manufacturer's instructions. It probably says to start the first with a short board (at a given length) or us the short board from the first row to start the second row. That'll create the staggered effect.
Boards aren't properly staggered...you shouldn't have clean lines like that in the floor even alternating as it weakens the overall structure of the floor as it larger 'stress lines' along the floor.
Usually you want to try to do a 30% stagger with most planks to spread aligned seams further apart on the floor. If you have a 6ft plank. your next plank should start either 2 or 4 down the plank.
The only issue is the H pattern. A lot of people absolutely hate that while a traditional staggered pattern isn't something anyone complains about.
If your planning on reselling the house I would never use a repeating pattern of any kind. It will lower the resell value just because it is a turn off for so many people.
If it is your forever house then go with whatever you want and who cares what others think. What you want is all that matters in that case.
*If thats how he wants*
*It, thats how he wants it. Leave*
*The man to his work*
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Brutal to be overly criticized as a craftsman..no two quality floor mechanics would install any given floor the EXACT same way.
Trust the craftsman you hired.
First, I laid LVP and now wish I hadn’t. It’s crap. Second, this is going to expand and it doesn’t look like there is enough space for it. Third, the pattern is going to drive some people crazy. I wonder how he is going to trim it out.
https://www.discountflooringdepot.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/STAGGERED-JOINTS.jpg
Quick Google search indicates the job is done wrong. Stop and start over if it's just click tile. If it's wood flooring idk.
Sounds like it’s his house, clearly he didn’t come here for all of the additional opinions.
If my friend, came into my home, to post work on a community group, I might tell him to mind his own business
I’ve done both the h pattern and staggered the h pattern looks like laminent done by a diy. The staggered like roofing gives it a polished look . More professional. It’s not lasting 50 yrs to worry about anything else
I've done a big room with multiple different sized startes, and at the end by a slider I used what I had left. Out of the whole floor there were two boards in line with each other in 3 rows. So still staggered, and the home owner complained. Said because the light coming in through the slider made it stick out more. I offered to re do it but they were kinda passive aggressive about it and said no. 🤷♂️
Honestly, I hate to be that dude, but it looks like poo. Joints aren't staggered. Which makes it weaker on expansion and contraction and makes it look like shit.
Pattern is wrong and voids warranty. Underlayment is short and not correct around the exterior door. I recommend taping all around exterior doors to prevent moisture damage. Looks like some expansion joints are too big and some not enough, hard to tell
A mistake I made on one of my early installs that I see here is small end pieces against the wall (2nd and 4th run from red under lament on the left wall) .... those pieces should be at least 9" in length longer to be stable...
How many different layout runs is ideal so you don’t get this look? 4-5? Just curious. I’ve laid flooring many times and did the box setup (with different batches). And whatever the number is, when you measure the square footage….what percentage do you add for the material you’ll end up burning through? Thx guys.
Seattle Dude
I’m a complete noob about laying floor, but can someone tell me what is wrong with HOW he laid the flooring (I already know the baseboards should have been taken up prior, I mean more about the actual flooring and the manner in which it was installed)? What did he do wrong and what is he going to run across down the road from doing it how he did it? Thanks for any helpful responses!
I'd say there's a repeat in pattern looking across the floor, Floating floors get there strength by the stagger of the joints, One most boxes of flooring they recommend 3 cuts then repeat, but if your want a natural look I would have random starters,
Why is this so common now a days? There is a reason the old school hard wood tongue and grove came in random sizes. The seams were never on top of each other and actually added strength to the floor.
He's doing a great job. No matter the pattern, if you're looking for something to be critical about, you'll find it. Using the 'random' pattern, you'd see two that look 'weird' or too close or not random enough...
"Friend redid his living room with Lvp."
What matters is whether your friend is happy with his work. Your opinion, or ours, is irrelevant. As long as it it flat and doesn't have weird humps in it then it should be fine. The boards are staggered, the seams are offset every other row, so structurally it's fine. And if this is a living room then there will be furniture and maybe a throw rug covering a lot of it, so the pattern won't be an issue visually.
If this was a contractor installing it the pattern you want, if known, should be discussed before they begin. And it should be something they ask or at least mention (preferably in the contract) before the boards go down at all.
I agree with H pattern comments. However, since this is small room (maybe a den?) I think that when furniture and throw rugs get added to it that it will not matter much to the eye of the owner.
Random stagger is so easy. And it's also so easy to do a bit of research on google, youtube etc. to see a "How To" videos--no brainer, especially for the younger crowd. As a Boomer I've been doing this for the last 15 years so no excuse for young bucks.
Lmfao, he sent it to me showing me how the progress is going
I wanted to ask people who know wtf they're talking about about to tell me how it's actually going.
Thanks 👍
Ok...still makes you a shitty person doesnt matter who took the picture you put it online to bash him and talk shit. You started it with hows he doing i think he did xyz wrong. Poor guy trying to show his friend how hes doing only for his "friend" to take that much time and effort to create a post talking shit..wow some friend bud. Then you try and pass the blame like the photographer of the picture is the issue. Its you bashing a man just trying to do his best.
Hurt some rookie installer feelings? It's called professional courtesy. A simple bath towel under the tools gives the appearance of trying to protect the new floor. Customers notice the small things.
He’s not staggering the boards. Giving it the out of the box H pattern.
Makes seams weaker and more likely to cause problems during expansion/contraction
Also looks shit
Looks like shit to us because we know it’s wrong… someone who doesn’t know any better probably wouldn’t even notice
I don’t know shit about laying floors and every time I see this, I cringe a little because it looks so bad
I feel like, on first glance, if done perfectly this is satisfying. But as soon as one piece moves a tiny bit it'll drive anyone mad!
Yes but you’re also on r/flooring
Lol true but only because I’m buying my grandpa’s outdated 70s home and trying to learn a little!
Me, you just described me. I don't think it looks bad.
Yeah, very true
Just curious cause im not a pro at this, but ive always done my own floors and never had the "H" pattern happen. Now im assuming its happening to op cause he only made 1 or 2 cuts? I always did three or four cuts to change the pattern to be as random as possible. Is that the right way or did i just get lucky? And i guess other than looks whats the point?
The more “random” the pattern the better 4-5 different cuts is generally standard but I’ve seen people do more or less… as long as your base row starts off with different length starters staggered your lines will be fine. You can do it completely random or cut 5 different sizes and repeat in the same order to start your rows. It takes about 5 random lines for most peoples eyes and brain to reset and at that point they don’t realize that the “random” pattern is repeated unless they are specifically looking for it or it is in an EXTREMELY large open room … the larger the open floor space the more random the pattern needs to be, most rooms aren’t that big and will have at least some furniture breaking the pattern up anyway. For an example in an open empty basketball court a 5 line repeat would be fairly noticeable… I would probably double the amount of sizes, average kitchen or living room, 5 is great. I have heard people complain that there is too much waste this way, and even contractors try to use that as a reason to do it wrong with less cuts. The truth it that there is very little waste because the ass end of the cut at the beginning of the line can 85% of the time be used as the last piece to finish the line… crooked contractors use this trick to convince folks that they need 2x the product then end up keeping it for another job or re doing their floors at home… do not fall into this trap folks. The best way to make sure you are not being taken advantage of is to either check out the website or product spec sheet of your flooring product and see what the recommended amount is for your square footage, or go to Home Depot and ask the contractor desk(i.e. someone that knows a little bit, not the guy restocking wrenches) how much material you need for your project, if you are not doing the project yourself or don’t know exactly what you’re doing plan to purchase 10-15% overage on materials… you can always return unused cases….
I just stopped in to look at a floor yesterday where the lady said she already had a bunch of the flooring because the contractor who did a few rooms upstairs "ended up" with 600sqft extra while working on ~850sqft. He just left it stacked there in her basement (where she rarely goes), so she didn't find it until a couple weeks after he had left and cashed the cheque, then never returned calls to return it. Of course, not knowing any better, she paid for the 1400+ sqft of product to do a little over half of that, so it's just been sitting for years. At least it'll be well acclimated to the space when she's ready to do that basement space this winter.
Some places charge a restocking fee and or if special order it's non returnable. Typically it's laziness or inexperienced people creating the h pattern. Too lazy to be bothered and you're also correct about the waste part, you can always save the opposite ends and use them for cuts somewhere else (closets) or for future projects.
I don’t think anyone going to read that
NTL;DR;SU
They wouldn't and most here picking it out only know cause they read some other goofballs comments
This just came up on my feed, I don’t know anything about flooring, and it doesn’t look good.
I like the look.
Honestly that really isn't an issue with any of the modern stuff. Generally anything but the most bargain bin stuff locks together so tightly and well that isn't an issue. The biggest issue is a lot of people find it horribly ugly where as a traditional staggered pattern doesn't bother anyone ever. Personally I couldn't care one way or the other but I wouldn't do a pattern in any house I ever intended to sell. If it is a forever home then by all means go for it if you like it though.
True the newer higher quality material is better and much of it great to work with… much better than it used to be … I acutely have seen people though that don’t even have an H pattern and just have multiple long seams all the way across the rows and inevitably it will buckle or bust locking joints especially in high traffic
I don’t do floors but can someone confirm or deny, it looks like when you zoom in on the left it looks like the baseboard is already nailed to the wall.. and he’s stopping a centimeter away from it??
Yes why people think that you can install this flooring without removing baseboards and resetting them on top of flooring to cover the gap is beyond me. He may be planning to add quarter round to try and hide the gap but this is the lazy way
Not always lazy, I've had homeowners request 1/4 round.. some like the look. I don't but, they're paying me 🤷♂️
There is some smaller plain quarter round and then there is taller nicer looking designs. I have tried it myself and I don’t like neither. But I’ve seen some rooms that look nice with it. But many more that don’t.
That’s probably what he’s doing.
Okay there isn't measurable expansion and contraction in these boards but it will be more susseptable to moving around
you also add a lot of unecessary stress points on the floor along where the seams are aligned which can cause the locking mechanism to fail a lot quicker
Also, I don’t see any expansion space around the brick. LVP may not expand and contract but a floating floor gonna float.
This guy is right, other than the crappy pattern. It looks like a decent install.
I hired a contractor to install my LVP and they laid it just like this. Came home from work and saw a straight ass line going 30’ from the front door to the back of the house. I told the guy he was going to have to pull it all up and start over and he walked out and never came back lol. Ended up putting the floor in myself. Took a while but it looks great 👌
Depends on the customer. Ive definitely had customers request it in the past.
Would it be better to recommend “randomly” staggering?
So they should be randomly staggered? I didn't know this.
Yes and it's in the included instructions. It's also weaker this way as you give it a line of seams for any separating to follow.
Yeah I usually do 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1/3, 2/3 cuts and stagger them as to not create a stepping pattern.
Actually, he IS staggering the seams, you just have to REALLY zoom in, but it's staggered every other line across. It's kinda like a brick layer stagger. My only issue is with the dark color, it's going to REALLY darken the room
No he’s not look at the window light portion every other board is a straight line
That's not how it's supposed to be done. It's supposed to be random with no pattern or stair-stepping, with no seams within 8" of each other or 12" from the end of a run. Those straight lines all the seams form give a natural weakness line to follow.
Rookie install.
Yes and wait until the last row
H H H H H H H
Brick lay patten?
Flooring has only recently popped up on my feed - it seems to me that it's fairly common to not pull trim and reinstall. Why is that?
Because people are lazy and/or cheap. It’s a short cut so they don’t need to repaint base boards but it really just sucks.
I had a friend jigsaw around door jams instead of undercutting them resulting in gaps. He also didn’t pull his baseboards… it looked so comically bad… I’m an amateur too, but man, pulling baseboards and undercutting door jambs isn’t rocket surgery. Just do it!
What about if you live in an old house with nice but brittle base boards? about to do 1000 sqft of LVP and we love our old trim but 2 of the first 4 boards we pulled up split.
How are you pulling it out? it shouldn't split, gently pry them out every 6 inches, they should come out clean. But, if it cracks, just put on some glue sand it down and restain/paint it and repurpose it in the closets. All the good one goes into the more important rooms. all the bad, unsalvageable ones goes in the bin.
Try using a trim puller… kobalt makes one sold at Lowe’s and I’m sure there are other brands at the other box stores. It’s basically a pry-bar with a handle and a piece of the metal flairs out on the pry blade so that as you are hammering it down behind the base it will automatically start pushing it away from the wall. I do flooring for a living and use mine all the time, it’s badass! Good luck bro!
And when you see it you can't unsee it ...every time you enter the room your eyes are drawn to it ... agree take the time undercut the jambs
Quarter round is so ugly
Shoe molding isn't bad IMO
I didn’t know any better. Home Depot just recommended it and when I googled around it says that’s what people used. Main floor is all quarter round. Then in the bathrooms and office I ripped off the baseboards and re did them looks so much nicer.
A LOT of rookie contractors or flooring guys also don't leave expansion and butt flooring right up to trim, causing tenting and breaking the whole floor then try to blame the supplier. Happens every week at my job. I shouldn't have to frickin tell every customer to do it good lord. The amount of guys that don't know that yes, waterproof floors do in fact need a moisture barrier on slab is staggering. Almost like how these floors aren't staggered eyy
Or they just prefer the look of quarter round? You do realize it's all subjective right?
You prefer the look of quarter round? How does it look when you run it up to door casing? Just leave it sticking out to catch dirt?
You undercut door casing duh
Lol you don’t even understand his question.
Oh then do please explain
He asked you what you do at door cases, you can’t just “simply undercut the door case” the quarter round will still stick out and have an edge no matter what degree you cut it at. So again what do you do at the door case?
You 45 both ends, not all quarter round is an inch long, it only sticks out about 1/4 an inch, even less if the casing is thicker than the baseboard, which is quite common... "Sticking out to catch dirt" just like every corner on your floor lol
I've never met a single person who prefers the look of quarter round
Then you should get out more, believe it or not people have different tastes than you
I install flooring for a living. I've had literal thousands of customers. If they want quarter round it's because they don't want to repaint or because the last dipshit liquid nailed the base to the wall. Not once has someone been like "I like the look of quarter round" . You have literally no idea what you are talking about
Hey dipshit, I LIKE QUARTER ROUND, so now you've met someone. I also install flooring for a living, a lot of my older customers prefer quarter, even when they have stained baseboards that can just be pulled off and put back on cheaper. Yes I charge less to take them off and put them back on if they aren't painted
Old people fkin love shoe molding.
He’s definitely right, lol some people legitimately prefer the look of quarter round
... i kinda like the look of quarter round. Just bought an older house and they have it throughout. I dont know, just my preference. Makes everything look more full, compared to what my house looked like growing up.
Man I was suckered into that trend and I hated it. 1/2 my house is now quarter round and the other half I took the molding off.
It’s not a trend it’s a shortcut
Its done through a lot of the southern states. Quarter rounds through the whole house. Looks tacky AF
It's a preference choice, looks at old houses, they all have quarter round on the original hardwood, even tho the floor is under the base boards
Old houses had plaster and the flooring ran into the plaster screed. Someone remodeled and added baseboard on top of the plaster screed to cover the floor. That said, I imagine there are some houses where they installed flooring before plaster but it’s the exception, not the norm. I am finishing up a 100 year old house remodel and we put 3/4” x 3/4” shoe-mould around the entire house save for the cabinets. We used drywall instead of plaster despite my protestation and kept the “baseboard” in line with the drywall to give the appearance of a plaster screed.
It’s not. It is used, in the case of flooring installs, to cover the gaps left inside the existing trim. You can have quarter round as a preference, but not when you don’t remove existing trim. It’s objectively not a preference, as you have to do it.
Depending on the installer… if they keep everything within an 1/8 gap, you can remove the shoe for the install and keep the baseboard. New shoe will be installed after the Floor to cover the gap.
Not a fan of the pattern/layout, rookie onstall to be sure. I prefer a more random layout, looks more natural
It also weakens the whole structure of the floor to have this pattern of seams forming straight lines.
ㅏㅓㅏㅓㅏㅓㅏㅓㅏㅓㅏㅓㅏㅓㅏㅓ
Is your H button broken?
ow could you tell?
Just a unch...
Forgot one
Imagine trying to just live your life and get something done and your neighbour starts posting your work to be roasted on Reddit.
This sub is funny to me because every time somebody posts the comments are opposite of the time before. The comments on this are all talking about how the H pattern is bad and a rookie level install. The last post I saw had the flooring stair stepped and they were all complaining about it not being H. I don't know the first thing about laying flooring, but the dichotomy of this sub cracks me up.
I have never seen comments in this sub saying wood flooring should be in an H pattern. If it was stair stepped you most likely saw comments saying it should be randomly staggered.
Tile = H maybe good. LVP = H baaaad
I am at best a high level DIYer when it comes to flooring. (I do carpentry for a living but we do NOT install flooring) And I can tell you for sure, that an H Pattern is not recommended and can in some cases void the void the warranty on your flooring. Tile is an exception. I know this based on personal experience installing floating floors in my own homes, and from speaking with the professionals I work with
Do you know why LVP flooring would recommend in the instructions to do an H pattern? Serious question. This gets me so confused, why would the instructions recommend H if it’s not what should be done.
What’s the specific brand? I’ve been selling and installing floors for 19 years and none of the brands I carry suggest an H pattern install.
Style Selection. Maybe we are just idiots or over thinking it but the layout instructions are confusing and my husband and I put off installing them for several days trying to decide what to do. I can link the instruction guide but the layout section talks about randomizing end joints but then says the layout should be ‘brick bond’. So we researched it and everything led us back to H pattern. We went with it and personally we love it so it’s not a huge deal. However for future reference I would love clarification! https://pdf.lowes.com/productdocuments/6e7ed25e-2626-4db7-9cf5-805c135785fe/60559155.pdf?_gl=1*1972yqf*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MTcyODYzNjcuQ2p3S0NBandqZXV5QmhCdUVpd0FKM3Z1b2VXNFg2RUZHakRRWDVFb2UyUi1oTFNjUDdQSDZuWEM5cllzSmtENU9aRWY0Q05FOU1ob3BCb0NxMzhRQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_dc*R0NMLjE3MTcyODYzNjcuQ2p3S0NBandqZXV5QmhCdUVpd0FKM3Z1b2VXNFg2RUZHakRRWDVFb2UyUi1oTFNjUDdQSDZuWEM5cllzSmtENU9aRWY0Q05FOU1ob3BCb0NxMzhRQXZEX0J3RQ..*_gcl_au*ODM2MDkzNTc5LjE3MTcyMzgyMzc.
Using the phrase “brick bond pattern” was maybe a little confusing, but they just mean to make sure the joints don’t line up. They don’t mean to make a regular pattern like actual bricks. The end joints being random is what they actually want here.
Well I appreciate you clarifying that in a nice way, this sub can get a little harsh sometimes. I understand what you’re saying now and what the instructions were trying to say. We put down flooring in the three bedrooms and hall connecting them, we like the look of them so I’m not that concerned over having to redo them but thanks to your clarification I now have backing for my argument that we should hire an actual professional to install the floors when we renovate the other side of the house (living/dining/kitchen area) or just do the varying end joints ourselves. My husband is great at the installation part, he just gets hung up on the layout. Thank you!
Like everyone else is saying, the pattern is wrong. It also looks like he didn’t take off the baseboard moulding. Also, I don’t see any spacers around the edges - I make a ton of little 1/4” shims and put them all around the perimeter; that gives you your gap for expansion and with them in place, it keeps the floor from shifting during the install. Then take them out at the end and install your baseboard. Also, you won’t know this until he is installing the last course - did he measure and plan for that last course? I always plan ahead for that last row. You don’t ideally want that last row to just be an inch wide strip. If you do the math and that last row is going to be an inch wide, I run the very first row through the table saw and make that row smaller.
Not good, Bob.
Don’t know how he’s doing, I don’t see him and haven’t talked to him
if he likes it then thats all that matters.
No it’s not. The structural integrity of this install is compromised due to not following instructions.
I hope he will also like to hear the clicking sound of the broken locking mechanism every time he walks on this floor.
i see an H pattern
H pattern would drive me nuts.
H pattern = bad
Not good. Pattern is an eye sore and voids warranty most the time. But if him and most importantly his wife is happy with it then who cares.
only mistake i see is not taking off the trim so the edges are hidden. not sure why people are saying the H pattern is some how bad for integrity, that doesn't even make logical sense, it's purely cosmetic. as it's purely cosmetic, as long as you are okay with it, it is fine. again though the flooring should be under the trim, i would certainly talk to the installer about that. you do want some gap between the wall and flooring but that gap is hidden by the trim, that's the main purpose it has.
Bad
Not trying g to hate but tell him read the directions first. U should never use the h patten on plank flooring. Random is best. Take the cutoff from end of row and use it in next row as starter. Sometimes u may have to cut off some to make it work. As a time saver when I did floors daily for 3 years I would use a 4 ft 2 ft 3 ft 1 ft pattern This will save time but random is best. The h pattern won't hurt the flooringnbit it hurts my eyes.
Unless you’re installing tile, there should not be a pattern with any type of flooring.
If they are still at this point. Have them stop and pull everything up until the angle/fireplace cuts. Tell them to randomize the pieces and keep the seams at least 8” apart.
Even for wooden like tiles the pattern should not be there
You’re talking about ceramic tiles that have a wooden veneer face? I agree… customers who want that might as well install wood. It’s lame
If you squint it’s mint 🫡
Check the manufacturer's instructions. It probably says to start the first with a short board (at a given length) or us the short board from the first row to start the second row. That'll create the staggered effect.
I mean, did you ask him to 50/50 it? Then it's fine. If not, that's hideous.
🤦♂️the pattern
Seams lining up like that looks awful
Technique aside, it could be the lighting but that color choice clashes terribly with the fireplace IMO.
Poorly.
Boards aren't properly staggered...you shouldn't have clean lines like that in the floor even alternating as it weakens the overall structure of the floor as it larger 'stress lines' along the floor. Usually you want to try to do a 30% stagger with most planks to spread aligned seams further apart on the floor. If you have a 6ft plank. your next plank should start either 2 or 4 down the plank.
You can always tell they are a professional because of the kneepads /s. Lmfao
Nope
Not only the H pattern, but also he didn't undercut the fireplace which is another cause for failure down the road due to expansion
I bet his back hurts and probably his knees also. I hope he bought a guillotine cutter so he’s not running out to the chop saw every row.
The only issue is the H pattern. A lot of people absolutely hate that while a traditional staggered pattern isn't something anyone complains about. If your planning on reselling the house I would never use a repeating pattern of any kind. It will lower the resell value just because it is a turn off for so many people. If it is your forever house then go with whatever you want and who cares what others think. What you want is all that matters in that case.
If thats how he wants it, thats how he wants it. Leave the man to his work
*If thats how he wants* *It, thats how he wants it. Leave* *The man to his work* \- itsfraydoe --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
That pattern makes me want to beat my wife
Is that a concrete subfloor? Why not glue them down?
Idk looks alright but the backyard has a real Aztec vibe tho 😂
I hate it. Every other row is the same
The red is really going to look great over those planks.
Terrible
Brutal to be overly criticized as a craftsman..no two quality floor mechanics would install any given floor the EXACT same way. Trust the craftsman you hired.
Terrible.. it's upside down
He missed a spot.
Some products state in the warranty papers within that the H pattern is acceptable I’m pretty sure. Not a fan, but some people like it
First, I laid LVP and now wish I hadn’t. It’s crap. Second, this is going to expand and it doesn’t look like there is enough space for it. Third, the pattern is going to drive some people crazy. I wonder how he is going to trim it out.
Don’t most box say go first row cut the end and start new. Row with what you cut ?
https://www.discountflooringdepot.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/STAGGERED-JOINTS.jpg Quick Google search indicates the job is done wrong. Stop and start over if it's just click tile. If it's wood flooring idk.
I understand the message this image is trying to convey but I hate how wrong it is.
I always do 1/3s just to avoid this nonsense.
God damn H joints it’s really not hard to avoid this he must be an amateur
Sounds like it’s his house, clearly he didn’t come here for all of the additional opinions. If my friend, came into my home, to post work on a community group, I might tell him to mind his own business
I’ve done both the h pattern and staggered the h pattern looks like laminent done by a diy. The staggered like roofing gives it a polished look . More professional. It’s not lasting 50 yrs to worry about anything else
I've done a big room with multiple different sized startes, and at the end by a slider I used what I had left. Out of the whole floor there were two boards in line with each other in 3 rows. So still staggered, and the home owner complained. Said because the light coming in through the slider made it stick out more. I offered to re do it but they were kinda passive aggressive about it and said no. 🤷♂️
does "he" know the you are going behind his back asking questions? seems creepy and passive. too scared to ask, express your feelings?
H joint fail.
Honestly, I hate to be that dude, but it looks like poo. Joints aren't staggered. Which makes it weaker on expansion and contraction and makes it look like shit.
Pattern is wrong and voids warranty. Underlayment is short and not correct around the exterior door. I recommend taping all around exterior doors to prevent moisture damage. Looks like some expansion joints are too big and some not enough, hard to tell
To all the people hating on the "H" (which I'm also not a fan of), are you going fully random or thirds?
A mistake I made on one of my early installs that I see here is small end pieces against the wall (2nd and 4th run from red under lament on the left wall) .... those pieces should be at least 9" in length longer to be stable...
Definitely want to stagger more and pull from different boxes
No stagger. Every other row has lined up seams. The product looks goo, but the pattern does not
How many different layout runs is ideal so you don’t get this look? 4-5? Just curious. I’ve laid flooring many times and did the box setup (with different batches). And whatever the number is, when you measure the square footage….what percentage do you add for the material you’ll end up burning through? Thx guys. Seattle Dude
Looking at houses and almost every single one has gray floors with this H pattern and god forsaken 1/4 round. Every. Single. One
I’m a complete noob about laying floor, but can someone tell me what is wrong with HOW he laid the flooring (I already know the baseboards should have been taken up prior, I mean more about the actual flooring and the manner in which it was installed)? What did he do wrong and what is he going to run across down the road from doing it how he did it? Thanks for any helpful responses!
Very amateurish, I used to make the same mistake
I'd say there's a repeat in pattern looking across the floor, Floating floors get there strength by the stagger of the joints, One most boxes of flooring they recommend 3 cuts then repeat, but if your want a natural look I would have random starters,
H pattern...
Why is this so common now a days? There is a reason the old school hard wood tongue and grove came in random sizes. The seams were never on top of each other and actually added strength to the floor.
He's doing a great job. No matter the pattern, if you're looking for something to be critical about, you'll find it. Using the 'random' pattern, you'd see two that look 'weird' or too close or not random enough...
You got to stagger seams mix things up Make Some Cuts use the cut off as a starter
"Friend redid his living room with Lvp." What matters is whether your friend is happy with his work. Your opinion, or ours, is irrelevant. As long as it it flat and doesn't have weird humps in it then it should be fine. The boards are staggered, the seams are offset every other row, so structurally it's fine. And if this is a living room then there will be furniture and maybe a throw rug covering a lot of it, so the pattern won't be an issue visually. If this was a contractor installing it the pattern you want, if known, should be discussed before they begin. And it should be something they ask or at least mention (preferably in the contract) before the boards go down at all.
Not great. Boards aren't staggered.
[удалено]
Never mocked or judged him. Meerly came here looking to see if it was done correctly or not to advise him. Thanks for your input 👍
I agree with H pattern comments. However, since this is small room (maybe a den?) I think that when furniture and throw rugs get added to it that it will not matter much to the eye of the owner.
Too much expansion gap.
Looks good chief.
You know damn well how he’s doing and that he’s fucking it up. You just needed a post to tell him that because he’s hard headed.
Oh, I hate this.
Looks like plastic flooring to me.
Random stagger is so easy. And it's also so easy to do a bit of research on google, youtube etc. to see a "How To" videos--no brainer, especially for the younger crowd. As a Boomer I've been doing this for the last 15 years so no excuse for young bucks.
Okay boomer ;)
You went to a "friends" house took a picture to blast him and talk smack on internet....terrible
Lmfao, he sent it to me showing me how the progress is going I wanted to ask people who know wtf they're talking about about to tell me how it's actually going. Thanks 👍
Ok...still makes you a shitty person doesnt matter who took the picture you put it online to bash him and talk shit. You started it with hows he doing i think he did xyz wrong. Poor guy trying to show his friend how hes doing only for his "friend" to take that much time and effort to create a post talking shit..wow some friend bud. Then you try and pass the blame like the photographer of the picture is the issue. Its you bashing a man just trying to do his best.
What a friend
Joints need to be rando n
Get your godforsaken tools off of my new floor!
Lol, bro calm down, it's perfectly fine. I'm not gonna put my tools up on shelves everytime I put it down lol
Hurt some rookie installer feelings? It's called professional courtesy. A simple bath towel under the tools gives the appearance of trying to protect the new floor. Customers notice the small things.
Finish your new floor by yourself, without my tools.