which way to lay down the laminate? (flooring, photos, door)

[Teebyrd86]

Hello. I am getting laminate flooring (the kind with seperate planks not by the sheet) installed to replace my current buildergrade carpet and vynil flooring. I have a 1000 sq ft condo. The main question I have is which way to run the floor. The guy from the place doing it told me he would run it with the planking comming at you as you walk it but I am not sure which would look better. The laminate will run from my living room, dining room, foyer and kitchen. Its a small space (about 500 in the living and dining room, 300 in the kitchen/foyer). Thank you!

[beachmouse]

What are the dimensions of the rooms? Do you want to make the space look longer and more narrow or wider and less narrow? Say your living room is 12'x17'. If you run the planks parallel to the 17' side, it's going to make the room look longer and more narrow. It you run the planks parallel to the shorter 12' side, it's going to make the space seem more square.

One place I'd do my best to run them parallel to the long side is in hallways. In that case, it may make the hall seem a little narrow from a visual standpoint, but if you go with a whole bunch of short boards there, it looks like you're using leftover scrap material.

[irman]

Originally Posted by beachmouse

One place I'd do my best to run them parallel to the long side is in hallways. In that case, it may make the hall seem a little narrow from a visual standpoint, but if you go with a whole bunch of short boards there, it looks like you're using leftover scrap material.

Unless the hallway is 90 degrees from another where the planks run 90 degrees to the hallway ... Been there done that ... And yes, it looks like scraps being used !
If we would have gone *the other way* in the room adjacent to the hallway, it would have really looked funny.

We actually took pics and *photoshopped* the floor in it, in two directions and noted which way looked better.

[K'ledgeBldr]

With regular site finished or prefinished h'wood you would run perpendicular to the joists. But with laminate, there is no structural advantage- so you can lay it in any direction you want.

So, have you considered on the diagonal?
Doesn't make room look short&wide or long&narrow- just something a little different that people notice.
I had several people request their h'wood for the great room be on a diagonal- it was truly unique and different- quite noticeable.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

So, have you considered on the diagonal?

Oh geez don't give me any crazy ideas! Now I'll be wondering if I want to try diagonal if I try to install my own floors in the future. Just what I need, having to cut umpteen 45-degree angles on the planks...and screwing it up too many times.

[A Nonny Mouse]

I had them install our laminate the long way as you come in the front door. This is one-half of our living room:



I had them run it the same way throughout the house because it happened to work best that way (also because I'm a bit of a freak about symmetry). There are joints between rooms so if one room had a problem we wouldn't need to tear up the flooring in the adjoining room as well.

[Streamer1212]

Photo or drawing, please.

Streamer1212