Vinyl planks are totally perfect for creating the perfect look for your home. They are totally distinct from ordinary flooring tiles because they come in a more narrow form, which allows you to create some truly interesting layouts and patterns.
Of course, you’re here because you want to find out how to stagger your vinyl plank flooring, right? This is the perfect place to come!
Prepare to find out how to create the perfect staggered vinyl plank flooring formation, to make your interior space truly shine, as we take you through each step of the journey, so you can get it just right!
Staggering vinyl plank flooring requires carefully measuring the planks and how they will be laid out on the floor, before cutting them and laying them down in the correct pattern. You will need a tape measure, a knife, spacers, a straight edge, and safety gloves!
What Do You Need To Stagger Vinyl Plank Flooring?
There are a few tools you will need to stagger your vinyl plank flooring:
- Tape Measure
- Utility Knife (To create the perfect plank shapes.)
- Spacers
- Straight edge, or T-square
- Safety gloves
These tools will help you to ensure that the planks are laid out perfectly and to help make the process much easier, so it is worth grabbing all of them if you can!
How Do You Stagger Vinyl Plank Flooring?
There are a few steps you will need to take in order to make sure that your vinyl plank flooring is staggered perfectly. Let’s go through each of these carefully!
Step 1. Find Out Your Room Width
In order to find out how many planks you are going to need for your room, you will first need to find out the width of the room!
Take your tape measure and find out the overall width of the space, before then dividing the width of the room by the width of each of your planks.
This is an important step because it will give you a sense of the number of rows of vinyl you will need.
Step 2. Investigate The Final Row
At this point in the process, you’re likely finding yourself wondering about how you will calculate the end rows of your flooring pattern. Luckily, this can be done with a little bit of math!
In order to work out the width of your final row, you will need to take the width of your room and divide that with the width of the planks.
Let’s say you had a floor around 154” in width, and planks around 5” in width. This would result in 30 rows of full planks, but will leave a remainder of 4!
Of course, in an average room, you will only have two final rows, so you will want to take the remainder of 4 and divide it by 2, resulting in 2” wide planks for the end rows!
Step 3. Lay The First Row
Now that you have calculated the number of rows, and how wide the first and last rows will be, set about carefully laying the planks into place.
Make sure to check the length of the row as you go, before fixing the planks into place. You do not want the last planks of the row to be less than 6 inches long, because it can lead to structural instabilities!
To make sure the last plank isn’t too short, simply cut the first plank to be a little shorter, but no less than 6 inches!
Step 4. Start On Row 2!
Now, in order to create the desired staggered pattern, you will want to cut the first plank in half, so that the end of that plank is around 6 to 8 inches below the end of the closest piece in the previous row.
From here, you will want to follow this step for each recurring row.
Step 5. Consider Row 4
Once you reach the 4th row, you can make the most of the piece you cut off earlier to create row 2, and use that half of the plank. It should achieve a similar position to that of row 2!
Now, you can simply follow steps 4 and 5 until you reach the final row. You should find that the final row fits perfectly into place, provided you have laid down the first row perfectly.
Make sure to really take your time as you follow each of these steps to ensure that the staggered pattern is remaining even throughout. An unevenly staggered plank floor can look very strange!
Why Should You Stagger Vinyl Flooring Planks?
While you can absolutely lay down floor planks in a more ordinary pattern, staggering your floor planks can help to create a more defined sense of shape within a space.
The staggering of floor planks creates interesting lines and patterns on the floor that help to make a room actually feel much larger!
As well as this, staggering vinyl floor planks also helps to create a little bit of extra stability, as the planks will hold one another in place more effectively, creating more even flooring, and reducing the risk of the planks coming loose!
To Finish Up
Now that you’ve taken a look through our guide above, you’re likely feeling a little more ready to set out creating your staggered plank flooring.
Make sure to follow each of the steps carefully so that you can achieve the perfect pattern and create truly stable flooring that will last you many years!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do You Have To Stagger Vinyl Plank Flooring?
It is not totally essential to stagger vinyl plank flooring, but it is very beneficial because it can help to add a bit of extra stability to the flooring.
Is There A Wrong Way To Lay Vinyl Plank Flooring?
No. How you lay your vinyl plank flooring simply depends on the look you want to create in the space.
Can Vinyl Plank Go Over Uneven Floor?
Generally, you will want to avoid laying planks over uneven flooring, for the risk of the planks popping out of position.
Luckily, you can simply sand down imperfections on the floor’s surface before you lay down your planks!
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