Where to start laying flooring in a room with irregular walls
Starting a flooring installation from a corner can cause the planks to slant by the time you reach other areas, making it hard to find the right layout direction. Choosing the easiest starting point prevents alignment issues and keeps the installation straight across irregular spaces.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Snapping a straight line a few squares away from the wall instead of starting directly against an uneven wall
- 2Measuring end pieces to avoid narrow slivers at the edges
- 3Following online advice to start from the longest section or hallway
- 4Starting from the exterior wall of the walkout door
- 5Measuring off the longest exterior wall and eyeballing straight lines
- 6Using a laser level with a 90-degree cross to establish a master reference line
- 7Planning around slivers or strategically placing them in low-traffic or low-visibility areas
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“None of my interior walls are square or straight so I can’t easily find the square line.”source ↗
“I’m going to have to compromise somewhere but I want to make sure everything is lined up as best as I can before I start.”source ↗
official-magic-conch · r/Flooring · 2 upvotes
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5Which direction should rectangular floor tiles go?
- 2Which direction should I lay laminate flooring in a cornered layout?
- 3Should I glue down engineered herringbone flooring or float it?
- 2What kind of flooring can you put on a screened-in porch?
- 2Why am I so nervous about installing DIY flooring?
- 2How to fix an H-pattern in installed flooring without tearing it all up