Hello All,

Great forum. I have lots of questions, and have been searching back in the archives for answers. If there is a page for answered dumb questions, please send me there. Otherwise, here goes:

Plan: I bought 4 in wide, 3/4 prefinished red oak flooring (Bruce). The underlayment is 3/4 T&G plywood over a crawlspace. Will remove old carpeting/padding and check for flatness of floors. Flooring will be in the environement for ~1 week prior to laying (will check with meter to ensure wood and flooring within 2% moisture of each other). Heat is on, will buy hygrometer this week to check relative humidity is 40-60%. Plan on laying perpendicular to joists, 1/2 inch expansion space against all walls.

1. I was told to face nail the first 3 rows, then tongue nail. Is this considered "plank" material? Do I need to glue/face nail? Do I really need to try to nail into joists? I cant see a 2 inch nail getting much purchase on a joist after going through a 3/4 board, 3/4 plywood, all at an angle.

2. Moisture Barrier. 15lb felt or rosin? Overlap edges? By how much? If felt, doesnt the tar leave a residual smell? Staple down? If I'm gluing down, skip the barrier?

3. Where to start the first line? Check out a pic of the rooms. There are 4 rooms total, all have open entryways (no doors) to each other.

http://www.jandr.org/brian/bob/?p=viewi ... %20web.jpg



4. Should there be transition pieces between rooms, or can I just run all the pieces from one room right into the next?

5. Since this is esentially a big circle (Foyer > Living > Dining > Kitchen > back to Foyer) am I likely to not match when the circle meets the other end? Maybe this is where a transition piece can come into play, like at both kitchen entryways. Maybe keep the foyer, living and dining rooms one big contiguos space since there are large entryways into each other?

6. I have not installed the new kitchen cabinets yet. Should I wait on the flooring? SHould I tear out the old, put in new floor including under the cabinets to keep the toe-kick height OK, then install new cabinets?

WHew, all that and I havent even cut the first board! Thanks for all the help! I was sent over here from the guys at John Bridge Tile Forum.

--Brian[url][/url]

Darn, the pic didnt show up in the body. The link works fine, however. How do I get the pic to show up?

--Brian

Any thoughts, anybody?

Thanks,

--Brian

1. I would only top nail the first row then blind nail through the tounges on the next one and then you should have enough clearance for the nailer with that 4 inch. Hitting the joist is fine but I wouldnt go out of my way.
2.Because you are over a crawl 15# felt is what I would use. You need some type of moisture retarder over a crawl space. overlap the seams about 4". I wouldnt worry about any smell from the felt unless the floor is going to be heated.
3.I would start in the middle of the kitchen spline it and work in both directions. So to start I would nail a few scrap pieces of lumber down to the subfloor to establish a starting point. After you have a few rows down you just pull the scrap pieces up pop in your spline and work the other direction. I use the plywood seams to help refrence alot when i have this type layout, it doesnt hurt to stop and check for squareness once you come through those doors and recheck after you have three or four rows down in the adjoining room. 4" plank will let you know pretty quick if it starts to get out of kilter the end joints will start to gap.

Ditto what Kev said. In addition, many manufacturers and NOFMA and the NWFA recommend/require the installation of a moisture/vapor barrier on the ground in the crawl space. Even if it is dry now, it is cheap insurance. Many floors have been ruined from moisture vapor emminating from the earth into the subfloors and hardwood flooring.

Thanks for the great responses. Just a few more since I will be laying next weekend.

1. Do you guys staple the felt paper in place? Do you lay them out one sheet at a time so as to not walk on the felt and perhaps transfer tar to the new floor?

2. What about the kitchen cabinets. Run the floor all the way, or wait until the new cabs are in place.

Thanks for the wonderful help!

--Brian

1)I staple it in a few spots to keep it in place. I use a hammer tacker. I'll lay out enough felt to cover that day. Seems to pucker up if you leave it over night. You shouldn't have any problems with the asphalt transfering to the floor. If you do get a few spots, it will clean up easily.
2) Either/Or. Pros and cons for each way. Easier to install floor without cabs in the way BUT you use a little more wood and some feel that setting the cabinets is more difficult with the floor in place as you need to be careful of not damaging the floors.

Woody, I call that a wraparound installation. Where ever you start, run the flooring through one of the cased opens. I use some straight 1x3'x screwed down to the joist for my starting line. You won't need to face nail that first row. Like they said go 3-4 rows before you take up the 1x3's.

When you spline it would be a good idea to use a scrap piece of flooring beside your nailer to keep the spline fitted correctly so it does not nose down when you blind nail it. You can also use a little yellow wood glue along with the blind nailing.

When you start the direction change ,stop, and make several measurements out into the other rooms where you can pop a control line through the next cased open or pass through. It does not matter what that measurement is as long as you keep it consistent along the entire run. Check that control line measurement every few rows as yo go.

When you start to enter those two new rooms the most important measurement will be the two inside corners just as you go in. Those two corners will be on that pass through or cased open wall you are working up to. Those boards are usually ripped and can easily tail off by a 1/4" or more. Just keep all the control line measurements the same and you should be fine when you hit that pass through. I may have some pictures that demonstrate this.

Excellent, thanks for the explanations guys, its starting to make sense.

Yes, Jerry, any pics would be very welcome just to make sure I am getting it.

--Brian

It is best to put the cabinets in first, set up on cleats so the floor won't get damaged. I found some photos of a back-up board and wrap-a-round control line

I will send you the url.