BoomerGirl Diary

Dear Mi-Ling:

I am making improvements to our home. One of the first things we want to do is add hardwood floors to the upstairs hallway. We also want to pull up the carpeting in our family room and install a hardwood floor that will match the wood floor in the entry way.

We are even planning to leave our home for a few days while they are staining and sealing the floors. It appears to be a long and drawn-out process.

My dilemma is based on which direction to lay the planks on the floor. Does it really matter if I lay them horizontally or vertically?

Courtney

Dear Courtney:

My father in-law told me when he was a fire chief years ago, firefighters would use the planks on the floor to find their way out of a fire if they were in a smoked-filled house. Apparently, builders would lay the planks parallel to the walls. This would enable the firefighters to find a wall and a doorway with ease. I thought that was an interesting tidbit of information.

This would be difficult at best in this day and age because we have so many options. I'm afraid firefighters would be lost in a maze with all of the different types of wood flooring and ways to install them that we have available to us today.

As far as deciding which way to position the planks, that's somewhat of a personal preference.

When I installed my floors I positioned the wood planks based on how I wanted the room to feel. If I wanted my room to appear longer, I laid them in a vertical position. If I wanted the room to appear wider I laid them in a horizontal position. I incorporated a walnut border in a horizontal pattern with a vertical floor with two different types of stains for a punch of color.

My advice is to review as many photographs of wood floors as you can. I would also ask the flooring company for advice.

There are a number of flooring options. You can choose a pre-stained wood floor that can be glued down.

The benefit of this type of floor is that it comes already stained, which means you don't have to suffer with the smelly staining process.

You can also lay a glue-down wood floor that can be stained at least three different times. This is a good selling point if your home is ever on the market.

You are only limited by your imagination these days. You can change the entire look and feel of a floor by adding a border or an inlay. Talk to your flooring company about creating your own personal design.