Hello! I'm about to install about 3000 sf of solid Brazilian Walnut hardwood and I have a difficult question for the upstairs level of my home.

The home is mid century, with floating stairs and an exposed landing. The stairs are all floating, 2" thick slabs of solid oak. The landing is edged with the same 2" thick oak, which goes four inches deep onto the landing, where it meets flush with the plywood subfloor. It's carpeted now. Links to photos below:

https://goo.gl/photos/RHkxQ2HYD4rgHupg6
https://goo.gl/photos/nEYy9SFjzUj6h8f68

Ripping out the oak on the landing won't help. It adds continuity to the stairs, and it sits flush with the subfloor I will need to nail the flooring into. There is also a wrought iron railing screwed into it. Life would really SUCK I had to take the railing out, because I would have to cut it to accommodate and I really have no idea how I would do that.

Hoping some friendly flooring geniuses can decipher this for me. Does anyone have any idea how I can tackle this problem?

OK, so it looks like I've stumped the panel!

I was stumped as well, so I decided to rip up the carpet and subfloor to see what I was dealing with. And voila! I have 1/2" plywood subfloor with 1" furring strips beneath. Then there is a layer of roofing paper, and another layer of plywood.

https://goo.gl/photos/mtmtK3iFPhx3qB7h8
https://goo.gl/photos/jnSGBNRaLP3F1JbY9

So the good news is, there is room to play with. The bad news is, it looks like I will have to rip out the entire top subfloor and furring strips and replace it with 3/4" plywood. That will get me flush with the landing piece that's already there. At 1000 sq ft, it will definitely add cost and considerable labor to the job, so I wanted to ask the board here to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything.

I will be nailing in tongue and groove Brazilian Walnut from Hurst Hardwood.

Such sage advice. Thanks everyone.

Well I was working. LOL

Why not just take out one layer of ply and nail to that? Then it will be close to flush with the railing? Or yes, pull the railing and raise it?

That's the hard part. The railing is all wrought iron & welded together as one piece. To raise the flooring would cause myriad problems. Regardless, the oddly thick furring strip floor affords me the ability to get the height perfect. It's just going to be a labor intensive pain in the you-know-what.

Thanks for the response.