Hardwood Floors October/November 2025

TECH TALK

with

Lenny Hall Endurance Floor Co.

Brett Miller NWFA

Adrian Molitor Molitor Traditional Flooring

“When lacing into a crooked existing wood floor, what steps do you take to ensure the end result is acceptable?”

LENNY HALL

BRETT MILLER

NWFA Installation Guidelines specifically state, “…It may be more aesthetically pleasing, and sometimes necessary, to replicate existing installation conditions when lacing into an existing, improperly installed floor…” Every floor is unique and requires its own process of execution. It is never good to add new flooring to an old floor without considering the importance of aesthetically maintaining the appearance of the floor. This may mean building in gaps to match gaps in the existing floor. It also may mean installing the new wood following the curve of the crooked floor. That said, it is relatively simple to make minor adjustments to the new flooring to straighten out the floor. It is all about tricking the eye. There are a couple of ways to trick the eyes in this scenario: • Use wider planks ripped down to the necessary size. This may require cutting slight tapers in the planks of several runs to hide the curve. There is a limit to how drastic your tapers can be within one run without becoming completely obvious. It may require tapers across several runs to make up for extremely crooked floors. • Leave gaps between boards to straighten the floor out. Then go back and fill them with slivers of matching wood and similar grain.

Depending on several factors, such as the amount of misalignment there is and the distance to run, the degree to which you apply these solutions will vary: • Taper boards to fit and run slivers where you have to intentionally leave separations. • Pull back more original work to lessen the severity of the next steps. • Possibly remove the shorter part and start fresh with a custom set of rows that realign the floor. • Final option, complete removal and start over straight. Obviously, this answer will not cover every situation. If you need more advice, reach out to the NWFA, or a Regional Instructor. We

are a great resource to improve your skillset.

For additional information about lacing, check out the NWFA's Installation Guidelines at NWFA.ORG/TECHNICAL- GUIDELINES/.

WOOD FLOORING INSTALLATION GUIDELINES

Revised © 2019

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