How To Install a Herringbone Wood Floor | I Like To Make Stuff
How To Install a Herringbone Wood Floor | I Like To Make Stuff
To add a bit of class to our entry way, I laid down some herringbone flooring! Come see how I did it!
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When you buy traditional flooring, they come already cut, usually with a tongue on one side, and a groove on the other. They are also cut to various lengths so that your final floor pattern is random and not purposefully repeated. Herringbone floors are meant to be laid in a pattern so the irregular pieces of flooring have to be modified.
After doing the rough math of our entryway’s square footage, I figured out that I would need over 200 pieces of flooring cut to the same length. I opened some remaining boxes of flooring and used my miter saw to cut the giant pile of pieces. Because of the nature of herringbone floors and the construction of tongue and groove flooring, I wasn’t don’t modifying these pieces yet.
Normally, when you lay tongue and groove flooring, the tongue fits inside of the groove the whole length of the piece as well the sides. In our case I had to cut each piece the same length resulting in only groove remaining one side. Because the pieces would be paid out in 90-degree butt joints, I had to add a groove to the other side.
Think of it like this, one piece of flooring would lead with a tongue and another piece would butt up against the front corner. This had to be a groove or the straight cut from the miter saw would lock the pieces into place. Conversely, behind that 90-degree segment would be the original long grooves. In order to get another row of flooring to join up with those, I had to cut splines that would fit into both grooves. So yes, I had more repetitive cutting to do.
To match the aesthetic of the rest of the floor, I had to add a small micro-bevel to the freshly cut end. I did this by setting up a chamfering bit in my router table and carefully passing each end over the tiny exposed cutter.
With all of the flooring cut and all of the splines ready, I had to start laying the pattern. I cut a simple plywood template to help me get the initial row of 90-degree segments and got to work. I used my flooring nailer to secure the pieces in place and got to work. This process took a while longer than laying the traditional flooring because there were so many small pieces. I also had to keep checking the squareness of my work so that the 90-degree would be consistent throughout.
I covered a majority of the floor with the herringbone flooring but as I approached the door ways, I had to fill in the small gaps with some custom cut pieces. It was really coming together and I was surprised by how nice it looked.
When I set out on the project, I wasn’t quite sure how I would tie this new floor pattern into the rest of traditional flooring. After looking at the entryway itself, I could see the it had pretty clearly defined boundaries. There is a French door leading to the living room and a door way leading to the adjoining room. My wife and I decided that it would look best to just add a border around the herringbone flooring to match the confines of the room. This way, I could match the rest of the flooring seamlessly and give the entryway some definition.
To add this two-board thick border, I had to cut off the pointy bits of herringbone that stuck out on the sides. This solution seemed pretty straight-forward until I had to actually cut the pieces. I would have to use the circular saw for this extremely crucial cut; a tool that is notoriously sloppy. If my cut wasn’t straight the boards wouldn’t fit, if was too wide, there would be an ugly gap. I scribed my line very carefully and used my rip track to cut a perfect line in the floor. Success!
I laid in the border pieces and had to cut off the lower lip of the grooves in some cases to get them to fit. Because tongue and groove requires you build the floor upon itself successively, I couldn’t just drop a piece down into an existing space. So by cutting off the lower lip I could anchor the tongue in place and sit the upper lip of the groove on the next tongue. Of course this wasn’t that secure, so I used some nails to hold those key pieces down to the subfloor.
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How To Install a Herringbone Wood Floor | I Like To Make Stuff
I Like To Make Stuff
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Wow, you have some skills.
Awesome job, I wasn’t disappointed one bit.
They now sell herringbone pattern already pre-cut.
It’s beautiful but a lot of work
what’s the type of the wood?
Wear a mask dude
So is the subfloor wood right?
The flor look great.
this guy is a fucking math genius…. WTF.. how did he know about the centerline etc..
Yo the floor looks nice. I just got a job to do this on someone’s wall😅 so I’m excited to try and do this for a new job project!!
I’m wood flooring installation working i need job
This is beautiful!
Why didn’t you remove the transition then add it back later when working around that area??
Hi Bob, I am going to lay down herringbone flooring in my house and I have a question for you regarding that. I saw that you did not install the extra spline in the sort ends and I had read it somewhere that you need those splines. Can you please let me know how your floor is holding up? Do you think that you should have installed those splines in the short ends? Thanks!
Great help watching your vid I’m about to put floor down so found your tutorial very helpful
Looks great! I plan on doing a herringbone pattern in my foyer soon. How is the pattern holding up to the expansion and contraction of the floor ?
what’s size of the parquet ?
take much time to do this and tools you are good skils worker ,hope you get good payment for this work this days.
Wow, that looks like an enormous pain in the ass. Looks good though.
Hi,
What camera do you use? And where did you buy the 45 degree tool from? Digital one?
Your videos are excellent, detailed and very very helpful! Thank you!
WHere do you show exactly how to use the router and table saw/
I was trepidatious about laying the wood floor in my new house, now this video has made my mind up.
I’m going to get a contractor to do it.
Very groovy.
Awesome stuff mate! Also like your running shoes as I have exactly same ones!!!😀
WOW! This looks incredibly professional and clean! What color of boards did you use? I’d love to use that color in our bathroom!
Grand job.
Класс.
mmmm nope .. im toooo lazy to do all that lol
You remind me of my nephew. Me: “You could just lay it straight,”. Him: “Looks better this way.”
Great and inspirational build! Maybe get some dust extraction or at least a face mask though your lungs will thank you!
Very detailed. Not for a novice DIYer…..but good job.
great video
More needless complexity that keeps me focused, busy, and off the streets.
Heyyyy, nice shirt! I have that one too! Lol. Great vid as always.
Funny try – on a very low DIY level. Within Europe or Asia, such skillfulness is simply inconceivable. E.g. no decent carrier at all and the finish with the frieze and the white quarter sticks was really hilarious. Unbelievable, simply rubbish. But nonetheless, thank you, we laughed a lot watching you dabbling in!
Great video. What kind of blade do you use on the circular saw to cut a straight edge on the hardwood floor? Thanks
If "big brain time" was a video
No good , no mask , no knee pads , plus horrible job
A lot of work put came out great 👌🏾🔥
question, what does he use before installing the floor? a type of cardboard?
Gosh-you are a glutton for punishment! Great job too.
whats the purpose of using an underlayment before laying tiles?
I thought you need to account for expansion woth floating floors? Yours are nailed down, nowhere to expand…
Did you have an expansion issue between front door and opposite doorway?
an incredible video – thank you so much
Outstanding level of work every time I watch you American carpenters I’m in awe 🔥
Great video and a great job – Shame about the extra loud music – we just need to listen to you and your expert advice and help
BIG job, but well executed sir… I hope you are still enjoying it 🙂
Beautifully done. Any old French guys may have their own comments but it I like it. Thanks for sharing.