Medford Wood Flooring lays herringbone wood floor patterns, chevron and wide plank hardwood for homes in Medford, MA, serving surrounding cities including Somerville, Malden, Winchester, Arlington and Everett. These are the floors people choose when they want the floor itself to be a feature, and they reward careful layout more than any other kind of installation.
A pattern floor is unforgiving. If the center line is off, the subfloor is uneven or the first rows drift, every block that follows carries the mistake across the room. With more than 20 years of wood floor work behind us, we spend the time up front measuring, flattening and dry-laying, so the pattern lands square to the walls and centered where the eye expects it.
Wide plank floors ask for a different kind of care. They show off more of the grain in each board, but they also move more with the seasons, so species, cut, moisture content and fastening all matter more than they do with narrow strip.
Herringbone and Chevron: How the Patterns Differ
Herringbone
Herringbone is made of rectangular blocks set at right angles to one another, so the end of one block meets the side of the next and forms a zigzag. The blocks come in left and right pieces with the tongue on opposite sides, and they are installed in alternating rows.
The classic look uses short oak blocks, but longer and wider blocks give a more modern feel. Because the pattern breaks the room into small pieces, it hides minor color variation between boards and suits both older houses and new ones.
Chevron
Chevron looks similar at a glance, but each block’s ends are cut on an angle so the points meet in a straight, continuous line down the room. The result is a crisper, more directional pattern that draws the eye along its length.
Because the ends are angled, chevron blocks are usually bought precut rather than made on site, and the angle has to match exactly from block to block. It is less forgiving than herringbone of a subfloor that is out of flat.
Borders and Feature Areas
Not every pattern floor has to cover a whole room. A herringbone field framed by a border of straight boards can mark an entry, a dining area or the center of a living room while the rest of the house stays straight-laid.
Borders also solve a practical problem in older houses where walls are rarely square. The border absorbs the difference, so the pattern inside it can run perfectly true even when the room itself is not.
Laying a Pattern Floor Properly
Subfloor Flatness Comes First
A pattern floor has joints running in several directions, so any hump or dip in the subfloor shows up as blocks sitting higher or lower than their neighbors. We check the subfloor with a long straightedge, fasten loose boards, and grind high spots or fill low ones before a single block goes down.
In older houses with board subfloors, that often means adding a layer of plywood. It raises the floor slightly, which we plan for at doors and transitions, but it gives the pattern a flat, solid base.
Layout and the Center Line
The center line decides where the pattern’s points fall, and it is usually set on the main sight line of the room, such as the middle of a hallway or the line from the front door. We snap the line, dry-lay the first rows and check them from where you will actually see the floor.
Once the first rows are fixed, the rest of the pattern follows. Getting them right takes time, but it is the only way to end up with a floor that looks centered and square instead of drifting toward one wall.
Site-Finished or Prefinished Blocks
Unfinished blocks are installed and then sanded flat and finished in place, which gives a seamless surface and allows any stain color. Sanding a pattern needs extra care because the grain runs in two directions, so the final passes use an orbital sander.
Prefinished blocks save the sanding and finishing days and suit an occupied home, but small height differences between blocks cannot be sanded out. We recommend one or the other based on the subfloor and your schedule.
Wide Plank Floors in White Oak and Hickory
White Oak, Rift and Quartersawn
White oak is the most common choice for wide plank floors, prized for its tight grain and the way it takes natural, gray and brown finishes. Plainsawn white oak shows the classic cathedral grain pattern, while rift and quartersawn boards show straight, linear grain.
Rift and quartersawn boards are also more stable, because of the way they are cut from the log, so they cup and gap less in wide widths. They cost more, but for a wide plank floor that has to stay flat through a heating season they are often worth it.
Hickory
Hickory is one of the hardest domestic species on the Janka hardness scale, which makes it a good choice for busy households with pets and children. It has strong contrast between light and dark boards, which gives a rustic, varied look.
That variation is part of the appeal, but it means a hickory floor never looks uniform. We lay out boards from several boxes so light and dark pieces are spread evenly across the room rather than clustered.
Engineered Wide Plank for Stability
The wider a solid board is, the more it expands and shrinks across its width. Engineered wide plank puts a real white oak or hickory wear layer over a cross-layered core, which keeps much of the look while moving far less.
For the widest planks, for rooms over concrete or radiant heat, and for lower levels, engineered construction is usually the safer choice. We choose products with a wear layer thick enough to be sanded and refinished later.
- 20+ Years in Wood Flooring
- Stairs Priced by the Tread
- Moisture Readings Before Repairs