Drawing a straight line on a floor

Pino79

Hi All,

I have to draw a straight line on a floor before I put tiles. The problem is that the width at one end of the room is 290 cm while at the other end of the room is 295 cm, so I assume that the walls are not straight. If I was to measure the centre of the narrower wall and the centre of the wider wall and then join these two points I would not get a straight line.
I would be grateful if you could advice on how to draw a straight line in my situation where the walls are not perfectly squared.

Thanks

Doozergirl

Make the line you choose visibly straight from the doorway of the room. Parallel to it.

EssexExile

Drawing the straight line is easy, use a chalk line. Where to put it is the decision. Best to finish with large parts of tile at the edges rather than thin slivers then the difference in width across the room won't be so obvious.

Norman_Castle

Do you mean a centre line rather than a straight line? Presumably a start line for tiling. Draw a centre line then consider adjusting it across the room either to fit the tiles or for aesthetic reasons. Very few room are square

wealdroam

Pino79 wrote: »

If I was to measure the centre of the narrower wall and the centre of the wider wall and then join these two points I would not get a straight line.

Of course you would.
The shortest distance between any two points is always a straight line.

d0nkeyk0ng

Pino79 wrote: »

Hi All,

I have to draw a straight line on a floor before I put tiles.

I find a ruler helps.

Pino79 wrote: »

If I was to measure the centre of the narrower wall and the centre of the wider wall and then join these two points I would not get a straight line.

You would get a straight line but it won't be parallel to either side, which is what you're interested in. As others have stated, work parallel to the doorway and you'll be left with a small wedge which you can fill with triangular pieces of tile, like this:

http://imgur.com/a/QlAIs

(not mine, just a pic I grabbed off the internet).

Mr.Generous

If its a kitchen or bathroom think about which parts will be most visible, If it runs out of square (so you see last row of tiles getting progressively bigger) I always choose the least noticeable place, behind the door, the far wall etc. You notice much more on smaller tiles or cut tiles - if your last row starts off at 60mm and ends at 80mm your going to spot it a lot quicker than if it was 360mm to 380mm if you get me, so choosing where to start is important. As said most rooms are not square even in new builds, its more noticeable to you because your doing the work.

getmore4less

Measure the diagonals where they cross will be the nominal centre.

Then as others have said adjust to get cut tiles looking right.

To come of perpendicular to any wall use a right angled triangle.

prowla

You could use a laser (I have a spirit level with one built in).
As for placing the tiles, you could simply lay out a row and shuffle them along to see where they fit best; you don't want to find you've just got to put a sliver of one in at one end.