Great site... lots of good information...

So...

Ive go a 3 bedroom 3 level townhome... The Carpet must go...

My plan is to install solid hardwood on the upper 2 levels and a floating engineered hardwood on the slab.

I have a couple of friends who recently went the hardwood rout... One had Mirage exclusive installed on the top floor and main level (total cost 15 grand... she bought the materials through the installer) The other doesnt know WHAT flooring he had installed (and IMHO his floor looks like junk), but it only cost 6 grand for the main level, and it was installed by a "Professional Flooring Installer". Another is planning a DIY project to install his floors but went to Lumber Liquidators to get his flooring, and now has a pile of CACA (unusable, poor quality flooring) sitting in his house!

I plan to take a different route.... research first, then Do it myself...

Since Ive NEVER installed flooring before, I plan to start by doing the TOP level of the house first... starting with one of the smaller bedrooms. The way I see it... if I make mistakes here (which Im sure I will) A) Its a small bedroom that will end up being some kids room, or an office so its not nearly as important to get it perfect, like the Main Level is. B) I can "Practice" using a relatively low cost project... the smaller bedrooms are only 10 x 11, so the material cost should be relatively cheap. C) By the time I do all the upstairs, I will have at least SOME experience in flooring when I go to do the main level (about 550 sq ft)

Im thinking total cost should wind up being in the 8K range for the 2 upper levels, and another 3K for the basement.

Somebody talk me out of it...

It is best to start at the bottom and work your way up, especially if stairs are involved.

Why???

oopic,

Floorguy is right, if you're planning on doing the stairs, you need to start at the bottom.

However, I understand your plight, and desire to start your project in a less noticable area. You will make mistakes, and learn from your mistakes, so your bedroom idea is a prudent one.

One thing you could do start in the bedroom, and use a t-molding at the door to the hallway. If you're lucky enough that the joists run perpendicular to the doorway opening (so you're laying the floor parallel to the doorway opening), you could just lay the floor in the bedroom up to the door. You'd get your experience, and could then start from them first floor and work your way up. Once you finish the stairs to the top floor, then you can continue on from the bedroom.

Just a word of couple words of advice from someone who was in your situation a couple months ago. It will probably take a lot longer than you think, especially for the stairs. I thought I could churn out maybe a 150 sq ft a day (I know the pros will laugh at that lame amount), but I couldn't even do that. I would sweat over what some would say is minor details (Like many others, I'm something of a perfectionist for DIY projects).

Given the amount of flooring you'll put down, you want to buy your tools, renting won't make fiscal sense.

It helps to have a helper, even if it's just to fetch the tool you just left downstairs. I had my wife (usually a bad idea, I know - but it worked out pretty well).

For me, it was worth the hassle of doing it. I get the satifaction of creating something, plus I saved enough to be able to buy a really sweet big screen TV.

OK have to ask why would you need to start on the bottom level first? Seems to me that it wouldnt make a hill of beans. I know if you plan on doing the treads and risers I can follow, otherwise it seems kinda like 6 ways to half a dozen?

Kevin - if you're not planning on doing the stairs in hardwood, then you're right, it doesn't matter. It would just seem a bit strange to me to have a hardwood floor, leading to carpeted stairs, which lead to another hardwood floor.

Since some messages were lost due to the hacker, I'll repost the link to installing hardwood on stairs - http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwoodinstaller/stairs.htm. These instructions (install riser on top of new tread, and then stairnose/tread on top of new riser), you'll get good, clean stairs. Trying to do it the opposite (down the stairs), seems like it would be a lot more difficult to get tight seams.

I think that if you really wanted to start at the top floor, if you had a scrap piece of stairnose (maybe put down with a couple small nails so it's easy to pull up) then you could use temporarily to fit the boards that butt up to the stairnose (don't forget to account for the width of the new riser that's going on). Then lay your floor up to the scrap stairnose (or starting from the stairnose, depending upon your orientation), and then when you finally install the stairs, you could put in the real stairnose piece.

I suppose you could also pre-fit the stairnose, and then mark the floor, and butt the floor up to the line, but I don't think you'll get as tight a fit as having the actual stairnose there.

Im still trying to figure it out too... I read the article on stairs on this website but Im not seeing the connection.

I did notice that the installer shown in the article started doing the stairs from the bottom... maybe that has something to do with it?

I mean... what if I only wanted to ONLY do my top level at this point, then do the main level and staircase at some future point? Cant be done?

Oh... I get it now... you have to start with the stairs because the width of the stairs will change when you do the staircase and so the nose on the upper landing will no longer fit correctly...

Gotcha... I think.

But doesnt that just mean I need to do the Stairs leading to the upper level before I do the upper level and not neccesarily the whole main level first?

You are correct...

You can do the stairs first, just make sure that when you start, the first riser from the lower level, it's 3/4 inch off the subfloor (or however thick your flooring is). Then when you're ready to do the lower level, you can slide the flooring under the riser.

Then again, you could start the first riser from the subfloor, then butt the flooring up to the riser (leaving an expansion gap), then you'll have to use some shoe molding to cover the gap. Which is why the first method is more desirable. No molding needed, and nice, tight fittings.

Yep, it is the riser that is the trim molding, unless you want an ugly shoe molding going across the first riser.

AH... I get it...

But....

Why not just fit the 1st riser on the stairs going up to the top level so that its easily removable? Then when I go to do the main level I remove the 1st riser install the main level floor, then cut/reinstall the riser?

This staircase is accessible from underneath so I might be able to use a different approach to attaching the 1st riser like using screws that are screwed in to the riser from the back of the stair/etc.

You could use this method if you are installing solid treads over the old stair structure. However, if you're using stairnose and flooring planks, then you'll notice that the stairnose has a lip that goes over the front of the riser.

If you remove the riser after installing the stairnose, then install the floor, there's no way that you'll be ablet to get that riser to go back on under the lip of the stairnose.