How to install flooring around intricate door trim and molding
Installing patterned flooring around detailed door jambs, casings, and original plinth blocks requires tedious custom notching and alignment for every single board. This intricate fitting leaves no room for shortcuts and makes maintaining continuous patterns like herringbone a struggle.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Cutting custom templates and scribing boards
- 2Notching around the trim instead of undercutting it
- 3Cutting and gluing a butt joint
- 4Cutting a U-piece, cutting the back of the leg to fold it up and maneuver it in place
- 5Cutting a small sliver in-between doors with a knife
- 6Changing the layout row so it doesn't fall on both doors
- 7removing the door trim
- 8using an undercut saw to cut the door jambs
- 9modifying the locking mechanism and gluing the boards
- 10prying the flooring with a flat bar and tapping it into place
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Every board had to be notched around the undercut original Victorian plinth blocks and details, so there was no room for shortcuts.”source ↗
“this is the last row of a 1400 square-foot job. First time DIYer with a back ready to go back to my desk job after this.”source ↗
“I finally reached my hallway and I have a 72 inch plank that needs to go into two different closets that have wrapped around space. Is cutting and gluing a butt joint my only option here?”source ↗
“Getting herring bone under jambs and casings is definetly a struggle.”source ↗
“the real pain was pulling the old nails and reclaiming it.”source ↗
Where this came up
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