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Stopped by a old mill conversion in Lowell and the plank layout blew my mind
I was up in Lowell last weekend checking out some of those old factory buildings they turned into apartments. One unit had this wide plank flooring that was all random widths, from about 4 inches up to 10 inches mixed together. The installer didn't stagger the end joints in any pattern I could see, just let them fall wherever they landed. It gave the whole floor this loose, natural feel that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. Has anyone else tried doing a truly random stagger on a job and had the homeowner push back about it looking messy?
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thompson.tyler4mo ago
Did a floor for a guy last year who wanted that exact look. Showed him pictures of historic mills and he was sold once he saw how the random stagger hides mistakes and looks way more natural than a grid. Took some convincing but now he tells everyone it's his favorite thing in the house.
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jason_fisher44mo ago
Yeah that part about "hides mistakes" is what I wanted to mention @thompson.tyler. Not trying to be picky but random stagger doesn't really hide mistakes, it just makes them less obvious. Like if your cuts are off by a quarter inch in a straight layout everyone sees it but with random stagger your eye just doesn't land on it the same way. It's more about tricking the eye than actually covering anything up. I've had customers think they could get away with sloppy work because of that myth and it never ends well. But yeah on the bigger point you're totally right about the natural look being way better than grid.
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