How to Cut Flooring Around Curved Walls

by Chris Deziel Google
Cutting a floor to fit a curved wall is easier with a template.


Cutting flooring to match a curve can be painstaking, and the signature of an expert floor installer is evident in transitions to curved and irregular surfaces, especially if they aren't covered by baseboard. Many installers scribe curves with a compass, which accurately measures the curve and draws it on the flooring board. If you're cutting flooring into a large curve, however, you can save time and get comparable results by making a paper template and using it to draw the entire curve on all the boards that will butt into it at once.


Make a template from newsprint or masking paper for curves that span several flooring boards. Use a piece of paper that is long enough to span the curve and wide enough to intersect the straight walls on either side of it.


Lay out the paper so the front edge is perpendicular to the flooring direction and fold the side and back up along the wall. Press the paper down and against the wall while you cut out the shape of the curve with a sharp knife. Discard the half of the paper that you aren't going to use so you won't confuse it with the half that you are using.


Assemble enough flooring boards to span the entire curve by fitting them together face up with their ends flush. Use boards of different lengths so that you'll maintain a staggered pattern when you install them in the floor.


Place the template on the boards with the front edge perpendicular to the direction they run and draw the curve on their faces with a pencil. Save wood by drawing the curve as close to the ends of the boards as possible. Cut each board with a jigsaw along the line that you drew.


Start installing the flooring at the curved wall. Butt the board you cut for the beginning of the curve against the wall, nail it in place, then install the rest of the course. Return to the wall, install the next cut board, and then the rest of that course. Continue in this way until you install all the cut boards.


Use a compass to draw the curve when it spans only one or two boards. Insert a sharp pencil, open the compass about 2 inches and tighten the central nut securely.


Butt the board you're going to cut as closely as you can to the curve. Hold the compass upright with the needle-end against the curve and the pencil touching the board. Run the needle-end along the curve while the pencil draws the shape on the board.


Cut along the shape with a jigsaw and check the fit. Modify the cut as needed with the saw.

Things You Will Need

  • Newsprint
  • Masking paper
  • Utility knife
  • Pencil
  • Jigsaw
  • Compass


  • It's always easier to fit boards into a curve if you start laying them from the side of the room with the curve rather than from the opposite side.
  • If your cutting technique isn't perfect and you leave gaps, and if you can't use baseboard, cover the gaps with an acrylic latex caulk that has the same color as the flooring.

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