All,
I am installing a hardwood floor w/ a border in a 12′ x 13′ room. The tongue on the T & G boards faces toward the center of the room; hense, the groove at one end of the field fits nicely into the tongue at one end of the border. At the other end I have to cut each field board to fit flush with the ‘tongue-less’ border.
Now for my question:
Is there a sure-fire method for cutting the field board to fit flush with the ‘tongue-less’ border?
This one situation has caused me no little consternation!!
Thanks,
dlb
.
Replies
Since you have apparently installed the border first, it would be easier to install the last cut to the border first and then cut the board prior to that cut last. If you are slightly off on that cut it won't be noticed as much since most people will look at your border first. Pros in most cases will install the field first, cut it with a circular saw to the exact lines, router groove the edges, spline it, and then wrap the border around that spline with glue to minimize any overwood movement later. In any case, you could still router the last cut to the grooved edge of the border and spline(slip tongue) the ends to the border with woodworkers glue. GW
i recently finished my floor, and i used the method prescribed in an old FHB article. i forget the issue, but it was about a new england floor installer/repairer, and what he does to get it right. i came up with my own technique for dealing with borders, as mine are very complicated. i used a new floor, 2 1/4 strip select #2 red oak. it was very inexpensive, and i prefer the character of lower grade wood. many of the boards were short, and in the long runs i was doing i had the choice of where to locate the tongueless joints. in other words wherever i could i made a tongueless joint in the field rather than at the corner. so on the one end your tongue fits into the groove, and at the other end you need a groove to fit a tongue. what i did was to cut both tongue and groove off at the preceding joint, leaving the two boards just the right length to fill the space. and i tryed to stagger these so that on the next course of boards the tongueless joint was covered on either side by boards that were T&G. now i notice your use of the word end, and i hope we are talking about the same thing, if what you are saying is that you have to rip your final course of field boards to get it to fit perfectly at the other SIDE you have installed the floor incorrectly. you should start at the center, and put a spline in the groove, and work your way out to the border in two directions. you have to do carefull layout of where to stop the ENDS of the field boards so that the border will be a uniform distance from the wall on all 4 sides. you are then left with a rectangle that has on each end 1/2 groove where you install a spline, and 1/2 tongue, which you then wrap with border and continue on to wall.