The benefit of installing engineered oak flooring in your home is that you can enjoy the beauty of timber while keeping the planks stable. While solid timber planks can swell and shrink in different temperatures, engineered boards won't fluctuate in this way. So you can spread them across your entire home, even in damp and humid rooms like kitchens. When laying floorboards, it can be tricky to know which direction they should face. Here are some tips.
Rectangular Rooms
If you install engineered planks in a rectangular room, lay them parallel with the long walls. Doing so will create a sense of spaciousness as the lines of each board will extend for longer than if they were laid parallel to the short walls. Depending on the room width, setting the planks horizontally can create a choppy effect as each plank seam is shorter and repeated more frequently than if they were laid longways. For example, imagine an extreme example of a long and narrow hallway with floorboards placed horizontally. Though, this layout can help to widen a narrow room and balance its proportions. Your installers can advise on the best option for your particular space.
Square Rooms
If you're installing planks in a square room, you may wonder what the best direction is. You could set the boards to point towards an opening such as a window or French doors. Then, the light will flow along the linear lines creating by the flooring and increase the sense of space. Alternatively, point the planks towards a feature such as a fireplace so your eyes will be drawn in that direction as they follow the lines on the floor.
Multiple Rooms
When laying planks for an entire home, a common approach is to set them perpendicular to or at right angles to the front wall of the building, running them in a vertical direction from the front door to the back door. Then, maintain the same order in all the rooms for a consistent effect.
One reason to break this uniformity is when laying different planks in a room. For instance, say you couldn't match previously laid flooring. In that case, you could deliberately set the new planks in a contrasting direction to distinguish the flooring from the rest of the home. That way, the transition will look crisp and clear. The different flooring will be highlighted and look planned rather than a mismatched mistake.
Regardless of which room you set them in, longer floorboards create a more seamless effect. However, more extended planks are often costlier than shorter ones. Another factor to consider with your floorboards is their width. Wider boards create fewer joins than narrow ones. You could install planks of varying sizes in one room for a rustic feeling, which will give the floor a natural and textured look.