Finally got that herringbone pattern to line up after two days of fighting it

Had a client in a new build who wanted a herringbone wood floor in their entryway. The pattern kept drifting off by a quarter inch every few rows, no matter how careful I was with my chalk lines. Spent the first day pulling up boards and rechecking my starting point. On the second morning, I realized the wall I was using as my reference wasn't perfectly straight. I had to snap a new center line from the opposite wall and start over. Anyone else get burned by a wall that looked true but wasn't?

4 comments

4 Comments

beth2762mo ago

Yeah, that "looks straight" wall is a total trap. It'll mess up your whole layout before you even know it. Always find your own true line.

nancyg142mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst. I always snap a center line from the longest wall now, even if another one looks straight. It saves so much headache later on.

king.eric1mo ago

And once you get that center line down, you can measure everything off it and catch any weird wall angles before you even lay your first tile. Saves so much rework later.

diana_kim662mo ago

That's the pro move right there (learned it the hard way, of course). Trusting a wall that just "looks" straight is how you end up with a whole room of regret. Your method is basically a cheat code for sanity.