How to Avoid Patterns When Laying Planks of Mixed Width

Laying down wood for a floor or deck is complicated enough with consistently sized planks. To prevent the joints from being noticeable, you have to stagger them in a relatively random layout. Hometime.com recommends keeping at least two or three board joints on different joists between two joints nailed into the same joist. In other words, if one joint is on one joist, the next two or three planks should have their joints nailed to different joists before you place another joint on the first joist. If the wood is in different widths, this becomes even more difficult because the awkward sizing will make you look for the most convenient size to fill a space — and that will be a size combination you’ve used before because humans like convenience. Keep track of how you lay down the wood on paper to ensure you aren’t setting up a pattern.

Things You'll Need

• Graph paper
• Pencil
• Measuring tape

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Sketch out a rough diagram of the floor or deck area where you’re laying down the planks. Make it large enough so you can draw in individual planks and write in basic measurements for each.

   • 2

     Lay down one plank and draw it — roughly — in the diagram. Do not permanently install it yet, as you may have to rearrange planks if you find a pattern forming. Measure its dimensions with a measuring tape and write those on the diagram.

   • 3

     Repeat Step 2 for each plank. Stop and evaluate how the planks look after every few that you install. You may have to cut some down to prevent patterns from forming. As you get further along, look at the graph paper diagram to see if you notice any patterns starting to occur. Permanently install the planks only after you have all of them planned out.