My wife and I are getting ready to install 5" wide engineered T&G hardwood on the stairs up to the second floor of our house and the second floor itself, except the bathrooms. As you can see in the attached layout, the second floor is long and skinny, 60’ long x 18’ wide. (We are using engineered wood to match the engineered wood floor on the first floor, which was installed by the previous owner.)
https://i.imgur.com/79D6m8Q.jpg?1The second floor subfloor is plywood over 2x10 joists, which run in the short direction. The subfloor has some issues and will need to be repaired. (I can feel problems in all of the bedrooms through the carpet.) The current stairs don’t have a stair skirt; they are carpet over construction lumber.
We cannot move out of the house to install the floors, so we need to install the floor in phases. We’d like to start with the Loft & Hallway(?) so we can move into the Loft while installing the flooring in each bedroom.
For layout, I planned to measure and mark the center of hallway at multiple locations and snap a chalk line (REFERENCE CENTERLINE) to the best fit centerline of the Hallway, and from that line, strike new line for the starter row (START LINE OPTION 1 or START LINE OPTION 2(?)).
Questions & concerns
1. Long distance gap: The distance from the Master to the Loft Just under 60’ – how much gap do I need at each end? My understanding is that most issues with expansion are in the short direction (grain swelling) of the wood, not the long direction, and that engineered floors have fewer issues overall.
Long distance gap is negligible....the space under the baseboard or shoe molding will be sufficient2. Subfloor: Do I need to take all carpet out at same time or is it acceptable to do in sections as I move along with installation? (May be the real question is what are the risks if I don’t pull out all of the carpet at once because I know that the subfloor has issues?)
Don't normally have to pull all the carpet at once, but what are the subfloor issues?3. Starter Row & stairs: Should I set the starter row a 0.5” from WALL A at START LINE OPTION 1 or should I work backward from the stair landing for the starter row so that to transition into the stairs is with whole planks (START LINE OPTION 2)? (If I work from the stairs back, I assume that I would need to reverse the floor with a spline.)
Use the stair landing tread as your adjustment point....may have to rip down the landing tread.....not less than 3 1/2" wide....will also need to bullnose it.4. Layout lines: I only have two layout lines planned (REFERENCE CENTER LINE and START LINE OPTION 1 or START LINE OPTION 2). Do I need any more lines? Also, since I need to do this in phases, any good ways to keep the centerline or other reference lines (such as a nail at each end of the line so I can re-snap it)?
5. Hallway width: The other challenge is that the hallway is 36-3/4" to 37-1/4" wide (measured drywall to drywall). 7 rows flooring is 34-1/8” wide (visible), which is just a little be less than the width of the hallway, and I’m concerned that a narrow strip on one side of the hallway could look bad.
6. Starting point: When starting the first row, do I need to start the first board in one of the rooms at the end (Master or Loft) or anywhere in the middle?
Start at one end and work your way down the hall. Will you flow into rooms or have thresholds at room doors?7. Stair Skirt: I need to add a stair skirt to the stairs. Should I add it before installing the flooring and stair nosing or after?
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