I have a stone fireplace and I undercut it for my hardwood. I'm not there yet but I'm not envisioning a way to install up to the fireplace without face nailing the border around the fireplace. Am I missing something?

Small face nails through the soft grain will practically disappear when filled with wood patch made for your specie of hardwood. They will hold the single strip for the 'frame" next to the stone. Use sub-floor adhesive or construction adhesive under the strip.

Thanks Pete. By "strip," are you referring to the three pieces of hardwood that frame the fireplace?

Usually a frame is only one board wide. The traditional border will end on both sides of the fireplace at the frame. You could border the fireplace. I've seen borders around the fireplace that were half covered by an area rug. Borders hi-light the shape of the room.

If you're undercutting the fireplace why not just run the flooring under it? Usually framing the fireplace is done if you don't want to undercut it. It's personal preference. If you undercut and slip the flooring under you won't have to do any face nailing.

My fireplace is undercut. There will be a one board frame around it. One edge of the board goes under the stone. Not sure how I would secure these boards without face nailing? I could use glue and a few brad nails to hold in in place perhaps until the glue dried? How else would I secure those boards without face nailing? Thanks!

Can you post a picture of the layout? You could use glue...small face nail or wait until the glue dries. Or nail through the border board tongues that face into the room. If the groove edges of the boards face into the room you could reverse the orientation. If reversing throws the whole orientation off you could use spline/slip tongues to reverse directions. Reversing directions with spline/slip tongues is a common practice and although it sounds complicated is quite easy to do.

I've got pics but don't know how to post a pic on this forum?

Couldn't get a photo to work, but these links should work


https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipO ... GX9WeEsAIf

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipO ... wdK_2GeJqk

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM ... thfm-ZcKju

I got this error message from Google when I tried to look at the pictures
404. That’s an error.

The requested URL was not found on this server. That’s all we know.

One more time and I give up

https://photos.app.goo.gl/9iA99twwiHmyhJmM8

https://photos.app.goo.gl/4bovc6qfsaw95jQm7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hBxiC3QD1uBN1ioU6

Pictures came up.
Depending on how many rows you will need to run from where you are now to the front of the hearth and a bit beneath it you may have to rip the last row to fit under the hearth. Depending on the final width this may cause a problem with the picture frame.....specifically the miter cuts at the corners. Plus you have to take into account the jog at the back of the hearth.
At this point I would draw some guidelines on the subfloor to see if your desired picture frame layout will work without having to rip boards to narrower widths.
If this doesn't work I would keep running toward the hearth, rip the last row's width and slide it way under the hearth, install up to this last row and pull the last row out from under the hearth to meet the second to last row. Glue or face nail the row. Slide the boards under the hearth as you proceed toward the back of the hearth and notch as necessary.
Do some internet searches to get an idea what non-picture framing looks like....it's a clean look.

So you're suggesting no frame at all? Hadn't considered that option.

It's personal preference. It makes sense to picture frame if you can't undercut a hearth. Otherwise you end up with trying to butt end cuts against the hearth that look neat.....kinda what board ends look like that don't go under a baseboard or shoe molding. With picture framing things usually work out best if you start with the picture frame and install from there.
To see if you like the no picture frame layout lay some boards around the hearth and see if you like the look. If not, mark out the picture frame layout around the hearth and see if the cuts work.
I like no picture frame and having undercut the hearth you've got the pia part of the job done.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. You've been outstanding!