I read on here that installers should avoid “H” joints, where two joints occur separated by only one course of flooring, and I agree with that statement. What puzzles me is the talk of avoiding a “stair step” pattern, or “lightning bolts,” or what we call a “stagger.” Just so we’re all talking about the same thing: that’s when you start your first four courses with boards that are each smaller than the last one, so that you end up with a pattern that looks like a staircase. Looking down at the floor, the ‘starters’ look like this:

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And each of the joints are at least three times the width of the flooring. Here, we do a lot of 2" strip, so the joints are at least 6" apart in that picture above.
But they could be a foot or two feet, in a big room with big planks.

I’ve worked with a lot of companies around here, and only one of them ever had a problem with me laying out this pattern, every four courses. It makes racking and nailing on T&G a lot simpler; you can use equal lengths for your next four boards in the rack, and then four more equal lengths, and so on. And when your end wall worker is cutting the end pieces, you can keep nailing on the upper rows while they’re dropping the cut boards into the lower ones.

I talked to the National Wood Flooring Association. They didn’t seem keen on the idea, but said it was acceptable as long as it wasn’t too apparent.
They said it was more important to avoid "H" patterns.

I’ve never had a customer or contractor complain about this, and they can clearly see it when we’re actually laying the floor. After it’s sanded and refinished, the pattern disappears, as far as I’m concerned.

Is there a general consensus on this among the installers on here, one way or the other?

Not sure how it disappears but less noticeable on 2 in strip than a wide plank. You got to overlap that end joint back and forward to stop that. I wouldn't want it in my house.

I'm a DIYer with better than average skills and above average knowledge of construction in general having grown up with it, and with family still involved. I recently installed close to 1000 sq ft of 3, 4, and 5" wide planks. This was the first time for me.

Racking it took the most time and it was a lot of extra work to insure a random layout and avoid the common mistakes, especially the stair stepping. Where I do have some, it isn't uniform and doesn't go across several rows. That said, I've seen commercial jobs with plenty of "H's" and lots of stair steps. It seems the installers didn't give a sh*t, while the project manager didn't know any better and apparently, neither did the client.

Unfortunately most commercial jobs are extremely rushed and often it's an installer that has very little experience installing a wood floor.

It isn't a big deal as long as each step is a different distance. I think it looks like crap if every row steps back the same say every 4 inches or every six and so on. I will step mine back but one maybe 4 inches then the next one 10 inches but not all the same distance stagger. I would think it would take longer to try and find ones that step back evenly. I just open a few bundles on the floor and grab totally at random.

I understand everyone has to learn but it's a bad reflection on the 'teacher' if he lets the 'student' do it the wrong way. Rushed or not, that it gets signed off on and accepted just opens the door for more of the same. Funny thing is that I notice wood floor installations a lot more critically now that I've done my own.



I agree. I think it's impractical and probably next to impossible to eliminate steps altogether. I tried not to have more than three rows with adjacent steps and then made sure they weren't a uniform distance from one another.

My goal, when installing a wood floor, is for there to be no pattern at all. Totally random. If it's 2-1/4" strip; no joints within 6" of the next (spaced further if wider material). No "H"'s.
I go on other people's jobs and stair step patterns are painfully obvious to me. I can't stand it.

It's the main reason I hate working with engineered material, especially when there is only one length, and doubly especially when there is a hard point I need to start off of (and want to lock into) like a hearth border.
I do it, but I hate it.

Thanks for all the replies. Bottom line is that if I had my own house, I'd install it that way; I've seen it done all through my career, and it doesn't bother me. Given the strong feelings that some of you have about it, I would ask any future company I work for their preference on it. Like I said, I've never been criticized for using it, and I've worked for companies on high-end jobs.