We are building a new home and are going to put hardwod floors in much of it. I have attached a picture of the floor layout and the floor joist direction is from the front of the house to the back. The great room and entry will be 3/4" site finished Red Oak 3 1/4" width. The hallway between the bedrooms and both bedrooms will be 3/4" site finished Maple 4" width. The floor joists are on 16" centers, they are Silent Floor I-Joists and the subfloor will be glued and screwed down, 3/4" Tongue and Groove Gold Premium OSB. Felt paper will be laid under hardwood. Floor will be nailed down.

I plan on starting on the outside wall of the Great Room and working toward the entry. In the Master bedroom I would start at the outside wall and move toward the door. What should I do in the hallway? It is 8' x 4 1/2'. I don't really want the ladder look, but it is short and might not be noticeable. Where should I start in the Guest bedroom? Are my starting places good? How should I transition in the entry from Oak to Maple where the halway meets?

Thanks for any help as I begin this process.
Keith

You really need to start in the great room let that flow into the hall and reverse the direction and go back into the master. you never will get the floor to line up if you start in two diffrent rooms and try to meet them in the middle.

Ya Kevin, I was thinking the same thing, but on re-reading the post, I realized that the poster was switching to maple of a different size for the bedrooms, so probably not as big an issue. However, it still would be a good idea to do as you suggest, and reverse the direction as the floor traverses the hall.

So if I start in the great room and do that and the entry way, switch directions in the hallway when I go to maple wood. The hallway would be running parallel to the floor joists, would that be ok?

Then when I get to the bedrooms, should I switch back to perpendicular to the floor joists?

Do you think it would look better to put the red oak in the hallway also?

Hmmm, I assumed that that side hall WOULD be oak since it is open to the great room.
BTW, why are you switching to a different wood anyway? Aesthetics? Cost? Availability?

Wife wants Maple, I want Red Oak..... Do you think it would look better to just put the maple in the bedrooms? And if so, should I still change direction of the Oak when I hit the hallway to avoid the ladder?

Definitely Oak in the hall. And no, it wont look like a ladder since most of that hall runs into the great room. As will your vision sightline.

Then I will just put the maple in the bedrooms only and put oak in the great room, entry and small hallway with no direction changes.
Thanks a lot guys!
Keith

Now that the directions and all are figured out, I have a question about the edge of the staircase. If it matters, on the picture it shows the stairs backwards...meaning that the place you walk down first is by the front of the house not near the greatroom.

My question is about the edge around the stairs that is parallel to the great room. It is an open staircase that will just have a railing and I will use the rounded edge (stair nose?) to finish it. Should I calculate it up and trim my first board where I am starting in the greatroom so that I end with a full width board going into the stair nose?

Thanks,
Keith

Tough call, but you wouldn't want to rely on calculatons so that you end up with a full board at the nosing. Take your measurements and see approximately how it would work out (a full board would look best, but doesnt absolutely have to be, but you wouldn't want a 1/2 inch rip, for instance). You could then rip your starter as close as possible, lay the floor, then make any minor adjustment needed when you install the nosing. This of course is assuming that the nosing isnt already installed.

Nothing is installed at this point. They are just now putting the roof on the house. I have a few weeks. Just trying to get my plan of attack all done.

I am going to do my measuring tomorrow and figure out how to start the first board. Tomorrow and the next day I will finish up the tiling, put down the felt paper, and rack the wood.

Having some problems with the moisture meter....started a separate post for that if anybody cares to take a look.

Sorry but I have a few more questions on this project. To summarize my game plan.

I will start in the great room on the exterior wall and work towards the entry sliding over into the small hallway. This will be Red Oak 3/4" unfinished. when I slide over into the hallway I can picture moving toward the guest bedroom normally.....but when I head the 5' or so into the master bedroom I will need to use a spline and reverse directions backfilling into the bedroom doorway.

1. Is this correct? If so, can somebody provide a link to a place where I can purchase a small amount of spline?

2. Bedroom doorways.....Since I am transitioning to Maple in both of the bedrooms, when I get the Red Oak to the doorway what is proper protocol? Should I rip it midway in the door way and switch materials there?

2. Bedrooms. My original plan was to begin laying the bedroom from the exterior wall and meeting at the doors. Is this still the best plan? If so, I am assuming that I would simply rip the last board at the doorway to make it fit? How does a person handle the joint where the ripped maple and ripped red oak meet? Or what is the best way to proceed with the bedrooms?

Sorry for all of the questions, just trying to get it figured out before I rack it so that I have it layed out the correct directions. I am off for 2 weeks and would like to get it all installed.

Thanks,

I remember watching this thread, and just kinda taking it in . I guess now is the time for me to throw a fly in the ointment

Normally I would start from the back wall of the Great Rm, normally. Now this is just me, everyone has their own layout ideas. Since your changing species in the 2 bedrooms...I would want to see a balance of the same board widths in both doorways,( a nice size width), ending under each door when shut, and transitioning to the Maple. I would layout with that in mind, and install my 1st section, at the stairway, through the hall. Yes, you would need to spline and change direction through the Great Rm, but shouldn't be a big deal. This way you can also take into account what width falls out at the front door. It's just a matter of chalking lines to start at this location.

I would also start both rooms with the maple, using full planks in the doorways, and work my way to the back walls.

Spline is available at a local Hardwood flooring distributor, or a Dealer,( probably one that specializes in Hardwood.

I actually looked into that today and think it will work great! Thanks. I have purchased 5" stair nosing so I put that where it will go and layed the oak out toward the front door. It was almost exact with a full board at the front door, I can cut off 1/2" for an expansion joint and cover that with the quarter round.

When I layed this out into the hallway, I ended with a full board (3 1/2" oak) at each doorway. If I start with a full board (4") of Maple, there will be a 5/8" expansion joint at the wall of the front bedroom ending with a full board.

The master bedroom will be 1 1/4" minus expansion joint at the wall if I ended with a full board. What would you suggest here. I measured our trim and I believe that the base and the quarter round are both 1/2" so that would still leave 1/4". Not sure how to handle this.

One other question is this. On the 5" stair nose: Where they meet at the right angle should I cut both at a 45? How should this be put down? Glued? Face Nailed? Both?

Thanks for the help. I got the 2 bedrooms all racked out today and they look great. Going to do the great room tomorrow.


Kei