Hi everyone, first time posting here although I have spent hours reading through various threads. I am getting ready for my first hardwood flooring install, some 900+ sq ft throughout the entrance way, hallway, living area, and into the kitchen.

The flooring is prefinished 3/4" northern ash, in a 3",4", and 5" plank pattern. The flooring from a local mill (Frame Hardwoods) and the wood is also locally sourced. This is going to be a nail down installation over CDX 3/4" plywood and I was planning to use cleats.

My layout is pretty straight forward with the planks running perpendicular to the 2x10" floor joists. I do have a couple of challenges as the flooring runs into the kitchen area thru two doorways from the great room. The great room has a raised semi circular fireplace hearth and I have undercut the fireplace hearth and the perpendicular walls. All base molding has been removed.

I am uploading a picture of my floor plan below. I like to get some feedback on my layout and where I plan to begin laying. I'll post further descriptions and my questions/concerns afterwards in a second post below this one. I am sure I'll have more questions as this thread gets going. Thanks everyone in advance for any help and advice you can offer.

Referring to the floor plan drawing above, (not to scale) you can sort of see a red line I drew in along my longest wall. This is 17 ft out from the back outside wall of the great room, not counting the set back to the atrium doors on either side of the fireplace.

I plan use that as my reference point and measure out from there along each side of the front entrance area and then make my starting point just inside the front doorway.

The entrance area is 7 1/2" wide. The threshold is just high enough for the flooring to snugly slide under. There is a slight set back from the wall to the doorway threshold. If I rip a piece to fit the set back and then start with a 5" strip, I end up with end up with almost even cuts down each side of the hallway. I also end up with nearly a full 3" strip down the long wall towards the laundry by shifting my field forward inside the front door. This seems to be the best compromise. From that row, I build into the utility closet hall/closet and on into the kitchen and across the floor into the great room. A big concern is the match up at the doorway from the kitchen into the great room.

From that first row along the inside great room wall, I am 14' 1 1/2" to the front of the fireplace hearth. I'll be starting a new row of 3" strips at 14'. I will have to figure how to make my cuts to fit the curve and where to piece, etc. I'm thinking piecing in the middle, sliding into place from either side?

The next row, which is 4", won't extend across the front on the hearth. There is a high spot not quite to the middle of the right side doorway that slopes close to 1/2" by the time you get to the hearth. Undercutting the hearth, the saw followed the floor and the flooring fits nicely under the undercut. But again, this area is lower than the high spot. The floor there is flat but not level if that makes any sense. The flooring will bow slightly as it follows the sub floor to the hearth. Any thoughts, suggestions, problems foreseen, cautions, or otherwise, greatly appreciated.