Hello all.

I have read many of the posts on this site, so most of my questions have already been answered. But I do have a couple of issues I would like to get some opinions on. I have attached a basic drawing showing the layout of the floor plan.

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff31 ... layout.jpg

Home is a split foyer design.
Will be putting down prefinished ¾” x 3 ¼” solid maple.
Living Room, Dining Room, Hall, Stairs and entryway will be getting wood.
Joists run north and south. Wood will be running east/west, down the hall.


My 2 main issues are:

1. I want to make sure I don’t have any transition pieces where the dining room and living room meet the hall. I just want a smooth floor all the way across. So where would the best place be to start the layout for this floor plan?

2. How do I go about making sure the top stair nosing lines up correctly with the wood floor going down the hall? I am really confused on this issue. Do I just run the floor down the hall and then come back later and rip down the stair nose to fit the space?

I hope I have included all the necessary information for my questions to be answered.

Thanks.
Bill M.

You will need loose tongues or splines to achieve your goals. I would begin your layout from your stair-nose transition piece. Dry fitting your work will help you gain understanding of how this transition will be properly achieved. With the transition in the proper place how many rows of wood will be laid until the next row can be blind nailed down the hall with clearance for the nailer from the hall wall?

You will chalk a line that is measured off of the proximal wall to the stairs, that is the correct distance for the first row to be blind nailed with clearance. If you then face nail or screw a sacrificial board that will act as a backer to the blind nailed boards. You will then blind nail 3 -4 rows into the hall before removing the backer boards, reversing the layout by using the loose tongue or splines so the now the layout is male in both directions.

Since the starting point is measured off of where the transition to the stairnose fits perfectly. It will fit with only possibly minor effort.

One thing to make sure of if you start off at the stair nose, is that the top of the stairs is SQUARE with the rest of the house/hallway. Otherwise you'll get dizzy walking down the hallway hehe.

Check out some of the recent threads I started, I have a very similar situation/layout...the guys here provided me with tons of great info.

The amount you will measure off of the wall is the correct measurement for the stairnose to meet the lay of material. Thereby ensuring your visual reference point "squareness" down the hall, and ensuring your ease of fitting the stairnose. As you work back to fitting the stairnose you might have to sand or make a minor adjustment to the top stair leading edge to accommodate the stairnose piece.

Thanks for the help guys. I'm wondering if I should considering bringing in a pro for this. I would hate to screw up 4 grand in wood.