Hi my installer didn't randomize boards and managed to somehow place down in staircase pattern. One section of flooring is all small boards.

I'm asking for replacement of one entire section but installer only wants to replace a couple boards here and there in the kitchen area. .

Here is a post with living room and kitchen .
https://imgur.com/a/IWhFy


Kitchen has the really small boards.


Could the problem be remedied with just on off replacement of few boards and can individual planks be replaced without compromising other planks ?

What should the installer be obligated to do? is this considered unprofessional to lay floors this way ?

The installer claims the pattern is a good thing which I think is BS.

Thanks for any advice.

Its more difficult to randomize the pattern with those really small boards - I don't see too many of those short ones any more these days. General rule of thumb for spacing is twice the width of the board; so if your planks are 5'' wide, your stagger joints should be at least 10'' apart. Much easier to randomize when you have 6-7' to work with.

My guess is this room just happen to get the leftover bundles with more small pieces (maybe it was done last?)

I thought so too but then the remainder of kitchen which was the last is longboards about 3-4 feet . The installer used one box at a time and that box had all tiny boards. I asked the manafacturer and they said the small boards are for ends usually and that you should randomly pick out of 4 boxes at a time.

Other parts of floor have a lot of same sized boards so that to me is indication they didn't randomize enough .

Your installer should have opened and used flooring from three boxes at a time so the floor doesn't have to be finished with a box that had mostly short boards.
It is now recognized over the professional floor installing business that stair stepping patterns should be a thing of the past for a regular strip floor. If using "shorts", then this is another thing, because none of the birds are longer than 18 inches.
It's a lot of work to determine which boards need to be replaced and then take them out, not even taking into account buying another box which may only have short boards to choose from. Unless there is another reason to work on the floor, you may be opening a can of worms. This should be a learning experience for your floor layer, no matter how many years that he has been laying floor, or who he learned from.

The installer agreeed to remove and redo the section with the small boards. He also wants to do a plank replacement on any joint that's less than 6 inches ,

I'm a bit hesitant about the plank replacement coming out right. I told them to do just one in inconspicuous area to see how it comes out .

The installer continues to stand by that a floor should have some kind of pattern and that there is nothing wrong with stair step . It's encouraging to know that this is a thing of the past and any professional installer should know not to do it . He is just trying to cover his mistake.


At the end of the day the contractor hired some guys by the hour I imagine and didn't supervise them nor train them . They even ended up installing a board with a damaged edge leaving a gap in the floor.

Anyway thanks for the feedback.

It does not look like any planks are even longer than 4ft. This makes the install much more difficult for the installer. Some boxes may have more shorts than others, so you can't tell if you got more boxes of shorts when the order landed.

The installer should have mentioned this after opening several boxes at the beginning of the installation. I always frown when someone buys flooring that comes in 4ft boxes, its gonna look busy as compared to 7ft planks.
I would have told you to send it back at the get go.

"8. Distribute lengths, avoiding “H” patterns and other discernible patterns in adjacent runs. Stagger end joints of boards row to row a minimum of 6” for strip flooring, 8”-10” for 3” to 5” plank, and 10” for plank wider than 5”. (See Figures 8-1 and 8-2.)"

Thats what national wood flooring tells to do to all the installer , if you are not getting that , talk to the installer