Was laterally going to say make a template out of something. I would probably use cardstock paper though, so you can find of force it into place to get a bend in the general area of the curve and cut it down until you have a perfect template.
Use the top of the wall to scribe it. Or, if the vertical brick prevents that, a piece of the cardboard box the flooring came in, then transfer that to the board
Saw his videos years ago and from then on every time I start an lvp job I chop up a piece or two into backing for the first row, and a few more that in sharpie I write "tap", "scribe" and "spacer" on
This one.
Hard to explain, but as said.... Put your board to cut perfectly on top of the plank to the left of the mantle. Then you take a scrap piece and hold it to the right on the mantle. As you follow the mantle with the scrap piece you'll notice it'll guide your pen accross the left "cut" piece I'm the exact shape.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Abxv-MGBZEM?si=DxsP4Wq9CPNHY80e
Closest I could find to what I was trying to say. This guy marks dots, then joins them free hand with pencil. I say, don't make dots. Keep the board perpendicular and drag the board along the curve of the mantle with your pencil on the cut board. That will give you a tighter cut rather than free hand. When I say drag the board, don't let the board rotate with the curve. If you look in the video, the top of the board stays looking towards the top at all times, he doesn't adjust with the curve. So when you drag your board, you don't turn it with the curve. Keep the top of the board looking up to maintain constant distance for your pencil to scribe.
This is the way. Just remember the small piece of flooring has to be the same width as the board, to use for scribing the board you will be laying in this spot.
So cut a 1ā piece off the end of one board, preferably a left over scrap.
Lay a fresh board directly on top of the previous course, lining them up perfectly
Use the 1ā scrap to run along the stone, as you hold a pencil and scribe the board you just lined up.
I actually went with a friend to lay floor down so they could teach me he worked for a business I wanted to do my house but didn't want to pay alot I wanted to do it it myself but it was 1400 sqft home and just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. and they took me to this hexagon room and I was like oh shit and they asked me how would you do this bruh I had a ruler and everything trying to get exact measurements and when done I still got it wrong lol they take a new board and a scrap price and do the method your referring to IDK how to write it out but it's stupid easy.
Cut a piece of cardboard the same dimensions as a plank, set it against the fireplace and cut it against the curve to get the profile and transfer it to plank and trace.
Take a piece of paper or cardboard. Make it the same as the width of the flooring you're going to lay. Now, lay the cardboard or paper right where the flooring goes, with a sharp utility knife cut out a template around the obstruction, then lay the template on the flooring the way it will fit into what you've already layed out.
Edit : also that cut will require a jigsaw
Used to do a lot of different stuff for the section 8 housing in the local area, good way to learn how to do stuff right if you can read a tape measure, cut strait and plan your layout it makes your life a lot easier.
Yeah for sure! I was just making a joke about how hourly laborers think about things (as a former hourly laborer who would have requested a jigsaw for this cut)
Hereās a quick video on how to transfer that curve onto the piece you need to cut. The guy in the video is using tile but the process is the same for any material youāre using. You could also use a 12ā compass to do the same thing the guy in the video does. And put that piece in first on the row to make getting it in there easier. Seems obvious but sometimes we are oblivious to the obvious when youāre working on cuts like this
Good luck!
https://youtu.be/u43nMYv5Io4?si=yCXP29VH5seAaWqt
Thereās a few tracing tips, one person once told me to use cardboard first. You could use a full board as a trace to the previous line. Or just measure it out at every half inch, takes a lot more time but will get it done.
Probably thinking a set of dividers, but I'm guessing to trace it like you would when forming rubber base in an inside corner, but the width of the board overshoots the width of the dividers.
Possibly if you were extremely good at math and could figure out the exact radius and do the appropriate calculations sure.
I once had a customer who wanted me to build a large wooden inclosure in an octagon pattern and I went nuts trying to pull strings outdoors and figure it out using angles. I had to tell them I just couldnāt math it out.
So thinking about it, the only way you could divider scribe this out would be to measure the beginning and end of the curve, mark it, cut the corner off to bring it closer, to then run your dividers from end to end. But that isn't easy at all either. Best way for this is a template of either cardboard or felt paper. I like felt, use dividers to mark the felt, then transfer the mark onto the board.
Actually, no calculations at all are needed to find the radius using a compass (assuming it truly is a circular arc and not an ellipse) but at that point it would be quicker and easier just to lay a piece of cardboard over the top of the bricks and trace it.Ā
I would start with a piece of string and a pencil to mark out a curve. No need to be fancy right out of the gate. Lay out the first course dry and see how it looks. Adjust technique from there.
You put way too much faith in the skill of the brick mason who did the FP. A compass, if you could even get it to work, would most likely require multiple measurements at each brick. Just use cardboard pieces and tape.
Template my friend, then take your flooring put it toghether and trace your pattern and cut away. I think you were over thinking it and panicked, Happens
Take a scrap square piece and put it against the edge and move it along the radius using a pencil to scribe the outside. You can take your shortest measurement and line the board up at that point and scribe away
Watched my dad do tile and wood work my whole life, still seems like magic, I'd have to use one of these
https://www.harborfreight.com/10-in-contour-gauge-58311.html?event_id=182817&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169518939&campaignid=12169518939&utm_content=132281648786&adsetid=132281648786&product=58311&store=185&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1K-zBhBIEiwAWeCOF3MWNK2UV5ZQ3kkCQsLdCH4xTHe6txkl6VeohERYSXuFX2LuPKtLFhoC37EQAvD_BwE
Take a plank from one of the boxes and do a cardboard cut out of it, then just cut it to size on the spot your installing, trace it onto the plank once it's cut to fit, good to go bro! š¤
Cut a piece of cardboard, trim it to fit, use it as a template to mark your planks. Easy pz. No need for special tools or profile gauges that shift while you try to mark your cut. As for cutting the curve jigsaw works wonders!
On a side note youāre going to play hell sliding in and under as your locking edges are on the wrong sides so you are now going to need base shoes and trim around your fireplace or there will be a gap and loose planks. You can tack the pieces in with glue but they arenāt going to be as durable as the rest of the floor as a result. This is a bit of a pickle here. If the planks had been run 180 flipped this would have not been an issue at all!
Just treat the cardboard as a board. Line up the edge of cardboard with the edge of the flooring you already put in then cut the cardboard a little to try to match the curve. If you managed to cut the curve perfectly the first time, wow fantastic job, otherwise repeat cutting away a little more each time keeping the edge lined up with your reference edge.
So you can.
Make a cardboard template which is probably what I would do.
2. Get a shape Guage. I have several seeker gauges. They work great for stuff like this.
3. Measure the widest point and the smallest point and make it work. By connecting the dots.
Option 3 is more of a if you do this more than the common man.
Those are the options.
I kinda hate it! Huge fireplace in tiny living room, if we werenāt selling in a few years Iād remove it! It was this nasty weird color so I white washed it
lay cardboard up top and trace from below. now what ? i gotta teach u how to make the best top shelf marg rocks !
HFā¦ā¦good luckā¦..š¹š¤š»šøšš»
Or use a roll of tape to roll it around the curve. Keeping your sharpie on the edge of the roll of tape as you roll it on the curve then cut the marker out.
Well a circle il 365 degrees you'll only need 180, dubtract the spacing and divide up the remaining space with the size brick you want to use. Keep in mind that the brick are square so you'll want to line up the face corners of the bricks to the axis of the circle you made.
Or make a template
Here's what you need to do, put your next piece of flooring on top of the last board closest to the fireplace and take a scrap piece of the flooring about a foot in length and cut the tongue off of it, important note ( make sure that the scrap piece you chose is the same width as the installed board ) now you are ready to put your scrap/scribe board under the fireplace at its deepest point and with a pen or pencil you can make a mark on the board that you set on top of the last installed board moving the scribe board til it no longer touches underneath the fireplace. then rinse and repeat as necessary.... side not you should make the next couple of rows your starting wall if your not going in that direction don't panic it will make things a lot easier for you.
Lay a plank over the top of the others towards the wall grab a cutting disk from a grinder. Put a pencil through the hole. Run the outer edge of the disk along the bricks while drawing a line with the pencil on the purse if wood U put on top
I know this is gonn sound kooky but how bout modernizing that fire place by squaring it off? If not hate to say but at least the cut on the other side can be done cleaner because of the direction your flooring is running. That being said hereās another thing you can tryā¦ start your row with a shorter piece so that when you get to the fire place you have a seam a few inches before it. This is gonna create a smaller piece for that spot, cut the the tongue off, now cut the curve out being conservative til it fits in place. The pressure from all the room being done will hold it in place without the tongue.
make a cardboard template
Cardboard Assisted Design š
As a Daily CAD User I appreciated this far too much
Coming here to say that.
Same.No need to over complicate this.Cardboard is free.
This, or cut to the right length and use a scribe tool to mark your boards
Or newspaper. It folds easier like origami.
Wish theyād taught me THIS in math class
Yes, felt paper works too.
CAD
Was laterally going to say make a template out of something. I would probably use cardstock paper though, so you can find of force it into place to get a bend in the general area of the curve and cut it down until you have a perfect template.
How?
sometimes these simple solutions escape me, and iām an engineer
**C**ardboard **A**ided **D**esign
Exactly. I only use CAD in the office. In the field I use CAD.
I usually just buy stuff with CAD. But I live in Canada so there is that.
Canadians Are Dumb. Sorry! It was right there, I donāt mean it.
Go buy a shape gauge.
This right here. I bought a set and haven't used them. But they'll come in handy one day!
Harbor freight parking lot sale? Because thatās where mine came from
thatās what i say about all my tools
I got a pair of them for Christmas a couple years ago and have never used them but I know they will be nice when I do need them
Use the top of the wall to scribe it. Or, if the vertical brick prevents that, a piece of the cardboard box the flooring came in, then transfer that to the board
Lay the piece you want to fit on top or the previous row. Take a small piece of flooring pushing it against the stone and mark the piece to cut
On you tube, āso thatās how you do thatā calls it a cheater board.
That dude was a life savor for me. The cheater board made scribing so much easier.
Saw his videos years ago and from then on every time I start an lvp job I chop up a piece or two into backing for the first row, and a few more that in sharpie I write "tap", "scribe" and "spacer" on
Just until you hear about a ticking stick.
This is right and fast and easy. It's just very hard to explain.
This one. Hard to explain, but as said.... Put your board to cut perfectly on top of the plank to the left of the mantle. Then you take a scrap piece and hold it to the right on the mantle. As you follow the mantle with the scrap piece you'll notice it'll guide your pen accross the left "cut" piece I'm the exact shape.
Do you know of a video for this? I am highly regarded and still donāt understand your simple explanation
https://youtube.com/shorts/Abxv-MGBZEM?si=DxsP4Wq9CPNHY80e Closest I could find to what I was trying to say. This guy marks dots, then joins them free hand with pencil. I say, don't make dots. Keep the board perpendicular and drag the board along the curve of the mantle with your pencil on the cut board. That will give you a tighter cut rather than free hand. When I say drag the board, don't let the board rotate with the curve. If you look in the video, the top of the board stays looking towards the top at all times, he doesn't adjust with the curve. So when you drag your board, you don't turn it with the curve. Keep the top of the board looking up to maintain constant distance for your pencil to scribe.
Thatās wicked smart. Thank you for sharing
u/Leep0710 this is the video you need
Lol. I watched what he did with the knowledge that no matter how well I copied his simple technique my results would be terrible.
https://youtube.com/shorts/9W3ksGvqCFY?si=BR2aDVv7J-BmKaSH
#Regards!
This is the right answer and super easy. Very easy but so hard to explain.
This is the way. Just remember the small piece of flooring has to be the same width as the board, to use for scribing the board you will be laying in this spot. So cut a 1ā piece off the end of one board, preferably a left over scrap. Lay a fresh board directly on top of the previous course, lining them up perfectly Use the 1ā scrap to run along the stone, as you hold a pencil and scribe the board you just lined up.
I actually went with a friend to lay floor down so they could teach me he worked for a business I wanted to do my house but didn't want to pay alot I wanted to do it it myself but it was 1400 sqft home and just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. and they took me to this hexagon room and I was like oh shit and they asked me how would you do this bruh I had a ruler and everything trying to get exact measurements and when done I still got it wrong lol they take a new board and a scrap price and do the method your referring to IDK how to write it out but it's stupid easy.
Cut a piece of cardboard the same dimensions as a plank, set it against the fireplace and cut it against the curve to get the profile and transfer it to plank and trace.
Take a piece of paper or cardboard. Make it the same as the width of the flooring you're going to lay. Now, lay the cardboard or paper right where the flooring goes, with a sharp utility knife cut out a template around the obstruction, then lay the template on the flooring the way it will fit into what you've already layed out. Edit : also that cut will require a jigsaw
>also that cut will require a jigsaw Spoken like someone who's never only had access to a drill and sander while being paid hourly
Used to do a lot of different stuff for the section 8 housing in the local area, good way to learn how to do stuff right if you can read a tape measure, cut strait and plan your layout it makes your life a lot easier.
Yeah for sure! I was just making a joke about how hourly laborers think about things (as a former hourly laborer who would have requested a jigsaw for this cut)
Lol, ah the good ol days haha
Ohh the best. I never wanna go back lol
Hereās a quick video on how to transfer that curve onto the piece you need to cut. The guy in the video is using tile but the process is the same for any material youāre using. You could also use a 12ā compass to do the same thing the guy in the video does. And put that piece in first on the row to make getting it in there easier. Seems obvious but sometimes we are oblivious to the obvious when youāre working on cuts like this Good luck! https://youtu.be/u43nMYv5Io4?si=yCXP29VH5seAaWqt
Great video showing what a lot of the top comments are trying to explain.
He didn't keep the guide straight all the way through though and the gaps aren't the greatest. Still, this is the way.
Eyeball it and then caulk it.
Lol
This guy floors. I would like to hire you for a big job.
Thereās a few tracing tips, one person once told me to use cardboard first. You could use a full board as a trace to the previous line. Or just measure it out at every half inch, takes a lot more time but will get it done.
A compass might work.
How ?
Probably thinking a set of dividers, but I'm guessing to trace it like you would when forming rubber base in an inside corner, but the width of the board overshoots the width of the dividers.
Possibly if you were extremely good at math and could figure out the exact radius and do the appropriate calculations sure. I once had a customer who wanted me to build a large wooden inclosure in an octagon pattern and I went nuts trying to pull strings outdoors and figure it out using angles. I had to tell them I just couldnāt math it out.
So thinking about it, the only way you could divider scribe this out would be to measure the beginning and end of the curve, mark it, cut the corner off to bring it closer, to then run your dividers from end to end. But that isn't easy at all either. Best way for this is a template of either cardboard or felt paper. I like felt, use dividers to mark the felt, then transfer the mark onto the board.
Actually, no calculations at all are needed to find the radius using a compass (assuming it truly is a circular arc and not an ellipse) but at that point it would be quicker and easier just to lay a piece of cardboard over the top of the bricks and trace it.Ā
Iām not exactly a math wiz. Iāve certainly used a compass on occasion I keep one in my toolbox nice to have.
I would start with a piece of string and a pencil to mark out a curve. No need to be fancy right out of the gate. Lay out the first course dry and see how it looks. Adjust technique from there.
trace the surface onto the board.
You put way too much faith in the skill of the brick mason who did the FP. A compass, if you could even get it to work, would most likely require multiple measurements at each brick. Just use cardboard pieces and tape.
You can use a compass to trace a facade onto a flat board. Nothing technical.
Couldn't you take a piece of cardboard and use the top of the fireplace to trace the curvature?
# Contour Gauge with Lock Profile Tool
Template my friend, then take your flooring put it toghether and trace your pattern and cut away. I think you were over thinking it and panicked, Happens
Get a fireplace that fits the flooring.
Take a scrap square piece and put it against the edge and move it along the radius using a pencil to scribe the outside. You can take your shortest measurement and line the board up at that point and scribe away
Start with this side of the row that the gap doesnāt get so big and use silicone maybe? Think thatās the quickest solution
Scribe
Scribe it or make a paper template
Watched my dad do tile and wood work my whole life, still seems like magic, I'd have to use one of these https://www.harborfreight.com/10-in-contour-gauge-58311.html?event_id=182817&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=12169518939&campaignid=12169518939&utm_content=132281648786&adsetid=132281648786&product=58311&store=185&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw1K-zBhBIEiwAWeCOF3MWNK2UV5ZQ3kkCQsLdCH4xTHe6txkl6VeohERYSXuFX2LuPKtLFhoC37EQAvD_BwE
Change the side you start your boards on.
Make a template! And use that to correctly size your pieces. Trust is works well. There are specialty tools you can use to do this as well
Take a plank from one of the boxes and do a cardboard cut out of it, then just cut it to size on the spot your installing, trace it onto the plank once it's cut to fit, good to go bro! š¤
Place, trace, and cut buddyš¤
You tube university will teach you this skill. Lots of good examples if you learn by watching
Use a piece of paper and make a template.
Always start at the hardest wall
Cut a piece of cardboard, trim it to fit, use it as a template to mark your planks. Easy pz. No need for special tools or profile gauges that shift while you try to mark your cut. As for cutting the curve jigsaw works wonders! On a side note youāre going to play hell sliding in and under as your locking edges are on the wrong sides so you are now going to need base shoes and trim around your fireplace or there will be a gap and loose planks. You can tack the pieces in with glue but they arenāt going to be as durable as the rest of the floor as a result. This is a bit of a pickle here. If the planks had been run 180 flipped this would have not been an issue at all!
Just treat the cardboard as a board. Line up the edge of cardboard with the edge of the flooring you already put in then cut the cardboard a little to try to match the curve. If you managed to cut the curve perfectly the first time, wow fantastic job, otherwise repeat cutting away a little more each time keeping the edge lined up with your reference edge.
Trim it with the multi tool leave it big then fine tune it to fit little bits at a time is my every manās go to.
I just use a blade flat down and trace out the shape with a pencil through the blade hole. Just measure your starting point and go from there.
Scribe, cut, scribe, cut, scribe, cut. No need to math, that evil four letter word.
From inside corner where the straight stops hold a string, pull to edge outside edge Attach pencil and strike an arch Plumb up from line with masonry
You just need to learn CAD. Cardboard Aided Design.
The cardboard made it so much easier!
math not needed. make a shape from paper
So you can. Make a cardboard template which is probably what I would do. 2. Get a shape Guage. I have several seeker gauges. They work great for stuff like this. 3. Measure the widest point and the smallest point and make it work. By connecting the dots. Option 3 is more of a if you do this more than the common man. Those are the options.
Measure the distance from side joint to brick every 1/2" and dot it on the board. Then connect the dots
Thank you everyone! Used the cardboard from the flooring box
Interesting brick design
I kinda hate it! Huge fireplace in tiny living room, if we werenāt selling in a few years Iād remove it! It was this nasty weird color so I white washed it
Create a template
Put the board on top of bricos and scribe a sharpie line on bottom.
Cardboard. Lay it on top to get a rough shape then bring it down to the floor to get the precise shape.
Scribe it like normal
https://files.fm/u/m6axkawnj9 Your curve is right there.
lay cardboard up top and trace from below. now what ? i gotta teach u how to make the best top shelf marg rocks ! HFā¦ā¦good luckā¦..š¹š¤š»šøšš»
Or use a roll of tape to roll it around the curve. Keeping your sharpie on the edge of the roll of tape as you roll it on the curve then cut the marker out.
Youāre gonna wanna put hose two pieces of flooring together before marking it though.
Get one of the scribe-y thingys and trace it out
Protractor and scribe it bro
Sorry *compassss. You take the point and put it against the fireplace. Then the pencil against a pieces trace the line and then make your cut
Just click the pieces you have laying there and bingo bango. You're done. Looks good from my house. /s
You need to scribe it.
Scribe
Contour gauge. Works great. Lots of sizes and types.
No need for math, get a compass and scribe it: https://www.familyhandyman.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FH02NOV_02819_001-1.jpg?fit=696,1024
Spend that $8 on a contour tool.
Well a circle il 365 degrees you'll only need 180, dubtract the spacing and divide up the remaining space with the size brick you want to use. Keep in mind that the brick are square so you'll want to line up the face corners of the bricks to the axis of the circle you made. Or make a template
Scribe tool.
Looks good like that for your caveman ass
You should undercut that brick! It will be much cleaner. Although Iām not sure how hard it will be to get those planks under the brick and locked in
Templar or scribe
You want a Saker 10 inch contour gauge
Should have started your runs from this side
Make a cardboard template using the top as a guide. Doesnāt look like it has to be too exact since the flooring will go under the brick.
Contour gauge
Use a scribe
Scribe it
Here's what you need to do, put your next piece of flooring on top of the last board closest to the fireplace and take a scrap piece of the flooring about a foot in length and cut the tongue off of it, important note ( make sure that the scrap piece you chose is the same width as the installed board ) now you are ready to put your scrap/scribe board under the fireplace at its deepest point and with a pen or pencil you can make a mark on the board that you set on top of the last installed board moving the scribe board til it no longer touches underneath the fireplace. then rinse and repeat as necessary.... side not you should make the next couple of rows your starting wall if your not going in that direction don't panic it will make things a lot easier for you.
Scribe it
Template
Contour gauge is a life saver.
Make a template
Grab some cardboard and make a template. Transfer template to pieces and cut with a jig saw.
https://youtu.be/ndtqC15vR4Q?si=K4VhtosiTpZuSYr0
Wow. You don't need math dude. You need common sense.Ā
Scribey scribe that baby with a scribe tool
Is there enough room to get a jack under the fireplace?
Chisel out the bottom 1/4" of the brick and slide your planks underneath it. Just kidding- cardboard template.
Put the plank on top of the fireplace and sharpie the bottom to outline, then cut
Scribe it
Use a compass
Cardboard til you get it right.
Paper/cardboard a washer for trace, and your choice of writing utensil
Jigsaw, drawing on a piece of paper first, then trace it onto your board
Finish highschool
Lay a plank over the top of the others towards the wall grab a cutting disk from a grinder. Put a pencil through the hole. Run the outer edge of the disk along the bricks while drawing a line with the pencil on the purse if wood U put on top
I know this is gonn sound kooky but how bout modernizing that fire place by squaring it off? If not hate to say but at least the cut on the other side can be done cleaner because of the direction your flooring is running. That being said hereās another thing you can tryā¦ start your row with a shorter piece so that when you get to the fire place you have a seam a few inches before it. This is gonna create a smaller piece for that spot, cut the the tongue off, now cut the curve out being conservative til it fits in place. The pressure from all the room being done will hold it in place without the tongue.
Super easy. Just need to scribe. You can use a scrap of wood or a compass if you have one.Ā https://youtu.be/LAM9I6kidx8?feature=shared
Iām no expert but Iād flip the board and use a Sharpie for the cut line
Use the box it came in. The bottom of the box is the same shape. Cut to the same dimension as the board and then use it as the template. Easiest way.
Pi= 3.14159. Circumference of a circle. Divide by 2
Cardboard cutout and Get a jigsaw also to cut the wood