Hello everyone,
Doing my own flooring install and my plan is to start in the center of hallway and use a split tongue. I've attached floor plan to see your thoughts and would appreciate all advice given. Material is 3/4 unfinished white oak that has width of 8 inches. Well......can't seem to attach a photo. If I determine a center line for hallway, can I just measure back to a wall off that line to prevent from using a split tongue? I'm worried about a weak spot in a high traffic area by using that spline.

A spline will allow fastening on both sides of the plank. If you are worried, you may glue the spline in place before you nail, or staple that edge. You can always nail through the tongue on the end of each plank. Pre-drilling will keep the edge from splitting if you are using nails. Blunt tipped casing 8d nails are the best nails to use to prevent splitting when using nails to fasten the floor down.

Ok thanks. My next question, I went yesterday to grab some stair nosing and splines, and a guy at this flooring store is telling me this floor will absolutely cup since boards are 8 inches wide. These boards came from builddirect, and are actually from a mill out of Tennessee. I planned on just nailing, is gluing recommended also? Just said to nail according to manufacturer. Also, on the rows against wallsome I planned on just face finish nailing. Are finish nails gonna be strong enough to prevent these wide boards from cupping? Should I hand nail something stronger ?

The best way to prevent cupping is to keep the relative humidity in the house within a specific range year round.....generally 40%-50% or 45%-50%. Your flooring manufacturer should provide this info. If you're installing on a first floor above a basement or crawl space these areas should have their humidity controlled also.

What you use to fasten the floor down does not affect whether it will cup. If the flooring expands with an increase of moisture content of the flooring, the pressure between boards will cause cupping as the boards expand with nowhere to go except against the neighbor. Fasteners hold the floor down and when the floor is acclimated to the conditions present in your house, there should not be enough pressure between the boards when you get a temporary increase of humidity from different seasons of the year to cause significant cupping. Better check the moisture content of your flooring and find whether it is close to the predicted average moisture content of your area.

Since it's new construction I have a dehumidifier running in basement (unfinished). My moisture meter shows subfloor (advantec) at 5-7%, and that's at what I think is a decent use of pressure. Obviously the harder I press the content rises some. The hardwood planks I have only gotten a couple of boards to read 5%. The lowest reading starts at 5, so I'm predicting they are around 4-5%. Flooring bundles have been cribbed up off subfloor with 2x4's for 3 weeks, and I flipped bundles over every several days. Hopefully I'm ready