I had typed a nice message.. then the page crashed.

This is our first time installing floors; Bruce, Oak gunstock... I know, I know. We screwed up, and started on the outside, working in.

Please checkout the picture.
In the 2 bedrooms & master bedroom, hardwood has already been laid east-west.
The nosing hasn't been installed, but will be soon.
Is there anyway to install the flooring (opposite direction) in the landing and spareroom, without using T-moulding?

http://imgur.com/S6IbY61

T-molding is a relatively new item in the flooring industry, mainly used to facilitate an expansion gap for floating floors.
Assuming that you rate using acclimated flooring in the bedrooms, you can either chisel off the tongue and use a correct glue to glue your flooring to the sub-floor perpendicular to your existing flooring or get a router bit that makes a groove to make completely matched flooring when you change direction at doorways. Either way, you will need to cut some boards to length so they will need to have the V-groove made up on the job with a block plane, with matching stain and seal on the fresh cut at one doorway or the other.
An expansion gap will not be needed in the hall between the doorways, or at the nosings.

Agreed, I will have to cut the boards to size, and then cut a 'groove' on a table saw/router. (and cut the bottom of the groove off so it can actually connect to the tongue).

My fear is that the boards running between the master bedroom & bedroom 2, as well as the boards running from the nosing & bedroom 1, will not meet flush with each other.

Building from the exterior wall out and snapping a straight line as directed, I'm confident that my room was square.... but now that I'm essentially connecting the 2 bedrooms and the master, I'm not sure if they will line up square.

a) What the best way to determine how they will actually line up?

b) If it's not totally square, do you just cut the board running into bedroom 1 or bedroom 2 at an angle, before inserting the groove, etc...

c) Having no prior experience in hardwood flooring, would you suggest that cutting each board at an angle, inserting a groove, etc, is actually more work then it's worth, if T moulding is available. (I'm not a fan of T moulding... but I also don't have tons and tons of disposable time to play with. Sadly I have to weight the cost/benefit).

edit...
d) the nosing at the top of stairs, and on the return toward the bedroom haven't been installed yet..... assuming it's not drastically off, would it make sense to shift that nosing slightly to compensate for any angle change needed? or is it better to have the angle adjustment at the bedroom door thresholds?

Thanks for the feedback.

a. Layout out a right triangle to check for square or measure the span at both ends.
b. Yes, cut the required angle.
c. It's a small amount of work with the right tools....router table and slot cutting bit and will look better than T molding. Not more work than it's worth.
d. If it's the stair nosing you are referring to then it should be square to the stairs.

If you're wondering what it looks like with angle cuts I can show you pictures.

Also, installing perpendicularly between 2 rooms is not too hard....will require some fine cuts and additional trips to the miter saw......you will be doing what is referred to as net fitting.

All that you need to do is doable. Don't feel overwhelmed and you will be proud of the results.

Thanks for the information!
I would love to see some pictures of how it looks when cut at the angle.

Now... to toss another curve ball. Because of our lack of forethought, in bedroom 1, we started with a full board against the back wall, and actually ended with a full board on the inside of the threshold. Too easy.

Unfortunately, because of the protruding (and not square) wall in bedroom #2, we had to start with a ripped board (about 1/2 a board), which when we came to the threshold of bedroom 2, we have to rip a board, otherwise bedroom 1 and bedroom 2 will have the perpendicular boards from the hallway starting at different points in the threshold, and it looks weird.

What are your thoughts on having a 1/2-3/4 of a board instead of a full board, in the threshold of a doorway, where it meets a perpendicular run into the hall?
...part of the reason we were considering T moulding is because my wife feels that the T moulding will not have your eye focus on the smaller board at the change in direction.

The floor joint should be under the door. It's best to have a box of a different width.

What is the width of the flooring that you are using?

Go with a full width board if at all possible. Bruce makes Gunstock in two widths as I recall. A box of a different width will help with less waste.

Hi all,

The boards are 3.25"

Getting another box at this point won't help. I've completed too much of the floor already.
A full board in the threshold won't be possible, it has to be cut to size if it's going to match the other bedroom door beside it... otherwise, the perpendicular boards from the hallway won't match between the bedrooms where they have to meet under the door..... if I leave bedroom 2 with a full board in the threshold, the perpendicular run will not land under the door.

As a 2nd part of this question; what are your thoughts on cutting the boards flat in the threshold (as you would toward the wall), but butting it right against the other flat / ripped board? (No tongue or groove)?

Thanks a ton!

Just to make sure.... Bedroom 1 doorway board ends in the middle of the doorway. Bedroom 2 doorway board extends past the middle of the doorway and into the hall.
1. In order to get the Bedroom 2 doorway board to end in the middle, as Bedroom 1 doorway board does, you could remove several rows in Bedroom 2 and rip each row to slightly narrow them....this would allow the last board to end in the middle of the doorway. If you spread the adjustment over several interspersed rows it would be barely noticeable.
OR
2. Full board in threshold. Do both Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2.
OR
3. T molding in both Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2.

Not sure what the intent of the second question is but I would be hesitant to butt boards without tongue and groove. The boards would not be locked together and subject to squeaking when walked on. Doorway is a high traffic area.

Hi folks,

I snapped a few pictures, because I don't think my MS Paint skills are doing the challenge justice.

Bedroom 1:
http://imgur.com/a/2H1CF

Bedroom 2, currently:
http://imgur.com/a/ggPgC

Bedroom 2 with ripped vs fullboard:
http://imgur.com/a/BPHzp

Both rooms:
http://imgur.com/Tu4YSHc


You'll see in the picture that compares the ripped vs full-board in the threshold that the tongue is cut off. When butting a piece of perpendicular hardwood to a ripped piece, do I have to cut a new tongue & groove, or could it be possible to PL / glue the piece together?

As to the last poster, bedroom 1 ends directly on the inside of the doorway. I'm okay with this.
But Bedroom 2 ends too far behind the doorway into the room, OR too far into the doorway.

#1. I don't think removing a number of rows, ripping, and re-grooving is a feasible job for me.
#2. Take a look at the picture, a full board wouldn't line up properly under the door, and it would be noticeable in the hallway (which if it was JUST that room, I could live with, but you see that it's not the same because bedroom 1 is right next to it.
#3. looking at options to avoid t-strips... just not sure how I can accomplish it

If you do cut the board to make it just the right width, with no edge match, you can use some strong glue to hold the ends of the perpendicular boards in place. The board that you have ripped to size can be fastened like any other board, even though it has no tongue. You should be fastening the ends of all the boards within 3 inches of each end.

I would have the room-to-hall (direction change) joint line up with the door stop so that when the door is closed that joint would not be visible. The idea is with the door closed if you are inside the bedroom you would not see the hallway boards and if you are in the hall you would not see the bedroom boards. Based on your pictures the floor boards have a bevel that is barely noticeable when you have a good grain match. If you pick boards that will give you good grain match ripping them to fit in order to end at the door stop may work for you. Initially, you may stand in the hall and shift your head back and forth looking at the Bedroom 1 and Bedroom 2 doorways (like watching a tennis match) but over time you won't give them a second thought. If possible, I would re-groove/spline (slip tongue) the ripped boards.....again this is a high traffic area.

Hey all,
Just closing off the loop that I took your advice, and it seemed to go well (so far so good).
I ripped a board of similar grain/colour, resplined it, then fit it into the door way to match the bedroom beside it.
After cutting the peependicular boards to size, I cut the bottom grove off, fit that into place. It was painstaking but I think it looks much better than had I gone with T moulding!

That said, in the home stretch of this project, my wife has reevaluated and decided that the spare bedroom should now also run perpendicular to the hallway floor.

Not a big deal to change direction. BUT the hallway floor current ends with a full - width board on the inside of thredoorstop. Less than 1" more and it would have been center of the door jamb

My question now is.... if I don't want the headache of ripping a small board, fitting to size, grooving and resplining, is it better to have a full board finish outside the door, or just inside?

.....or do I just keep that room going the same direction as the hallway.
While I avoid the issue above, the direction of that room won't be the same as the other bedrooms.
(Room is pretty much a smaller square room, so not really long in any direction)

http://m.imgur.com/S6IbY61

Thanks again guys!