Spent the past two weekends ripping out the carpet and laying 3/8" ACX plywood underlayment, and I've got a good sense of accomplishment going already to boost my confidence, so I'm itching to get started laying the actual hardwood Before I get started, I'd like to get some input from those more experienced on where I should draw my starting line and begin laying. My theory is that this is one of those things where experienced eyes looking at the specific layout and situation is much better than just guessing or going with the oft-quoted "start on the longest wall, preferably exterior because it's the straightest".

Here's the layout (ignore the "parquet" written in the hallway at the bottom... it's been ripped out):


My two ideas for a starting line are numbered 1 and 2. Boards will be laid running top to bottom in the picture, and the #1 wall is an exterior. I'm planning on a continuous run from the main area into the hallway at the bottom (next to the kitchen) without any transitions. While I'm not laying hardwood in the kitchen right now, I plan on doing it in the next few months (once the wedding is over ); for now I'll just stop in the open doorway into the kitchen and put a temporary transition piece in.

The #3 line (blue) is where I plan to change directions so the flooring is running perpendicular to the rest of the layout, longways down the hallway to the left (also continuous, with no transition strip). The flooring is end-matched, so I'll just put a full-width board running vertically across the doorway opening into the hallway, and lock the tongue (facing into the hallway) into the grooves on the ends of the boards in the hallway (or vice versa, if I end up laying such that I have a groove facing into the hallway instead of a tongue, although I can't imagine a reason why that would happen).

So, what's the expert opinion? Many thanks in advance... no way I could've gotten this far without this site!

Starting at #1 obviously prevents you from having to use splines, which is a benefit, but not all that critical. More critical is how straight your walls are and how well they break (line up) with the stairs.

In a similar project where I covered stairs into a hallway and then into bedrooms, I started with the stairs and worked my way up. At the top, I found (as I expected) that the stairs were not exactly straight with the walls in the hall. The difference was slight, but enough that I had to compromise the straightness of my starting row just enough that I ended up with slightly more gapping at the ends of long planks than I really wanted. Filler did the trick, and thank God there isn't any squeaking. There are no visual signs of misalignment anywhere, so I achieved my goal. Simply put, you want your boards to visually be in line with the top/bottom of stairs and the walls, too.

Starting from #1 means that you will have to be very careful how the wood breaks at #2 and #3; you will have to measure very carefully. Starting at #2 means that you will worry less about the break, but you will need a good working knowledge of reversing directions and how to install a spline correctly (not to mention the need to get the starting row straight across the hallway and alcove, which is a challenge). I can't emphasize this enough, because if you don't install the spline boards right, being in a high traffic area as shown on your drawing, you will end up with serious squeaking problems.

Thanks for the input A couple of thoughts...

Could you clarify what you mean by, "the need to get the starting row straight across the hallway and alcove, which is a challenge" ? I guess I'm confused by which "hallway" you're talking about, and what you're terming the "alcove".

Also, regarding the use of splines... since I'm going to eventually continue the hardwood into the kitchen, starting at #1 would probably still require a short spline to change direction and go "backwards" into the kitchen from the hallway next to it, wouldn't it? Granted, it'd only be a couple of feet needing to be splined as opposed to all of line #2 if I started there.

When I get home tonight I'm going to snap a chalk line along the full length of #2, parallel to the #1 wall (by measuring out from both ends of the #1 wall all the way over to #2), and then measure in a few places along the chalk line the distance to the wall separating the hallway and kitchen, to see how parallel that wall is to the #1 wall. My thought is that the "break" of the hardwood along that hallway/kitchen-separating wall is going to be a whole lot more visible (the main entry is at the bottom) than the break along #1 since #1 will likely have furniture up against a good portion of it. So, if the hallway/kitchen wall is way off from parallel with the #1 wall, I'm going to be better off snapping a new #2 parallel to the hallway/kitchen wall so the break there is nice and square, and when I get to #1 if it's off a little bit it won't be quite as visible. Sound reasoning, or am I clueless?

Getting the starting strip (strip or plank) straight is the most critical event of the floor-laying project. Anytime you are laying a strip across open space without a wall to guide you (or rather, to provide blocking support to keep the board from moving at all while you nail), be very careful! Slight angle variations will show up as gaps all the way across the floor. Here are some simple steps to diminish this risk.

Mark your starting line across the floor and install your starting strip along the wall. Nailing it straight and secure will provide a guide to run your starting strip across the open space.

Dry-lay several rows tightly against the starting strip across the open space. Even ten rows are not too many. Install the rows starting well into the starting strip along the wall that you want line up with. For line #2, this would be the wall along the outside of the kitchen. Make sure that the strips/planks you use are long and straight. Overlap them well to "extend the straightness" along the wall out into the room.

Glue the spline in place in your starter strip and let it dry. Then drive finish nails straight into the floor both against the last dry-layed row and along the starter strip just to hold the strips in place; space the nails so they don't interfere with your nailer. Nail your starter strip to the floor on the spline side first. Pull the finish nails and move the boards to the other side of the strip and dry lay, repeating the finish nailing process just to provide support as you nail the open starter strip from the other side. Your weight on the flooring, along with the finish nails, will help keep the starter strip from moving while you nail.

A professional flooring installer will no doubt laugh at all of this "unnecessary" precaution, but for the DIYer, it is a safe procedure for ensuring that your starter strip across open spaces remains "true".

Whew... I'm having a hard time visualizing/following. Would you mind clarifying the few bolded questions below?



As I understand you now, I would snap the #2 line (measure from the #1 wall, or from the wall between the entry hallway and kitchen with the kitchen doorway in the middle?) the full length of the floorplan, then lay the first row against the hallway/kitchen wall (tongue facing right or left?), lining up with the snapped line, stopping where the floorplan opens up out of the hallway. Then dry-lay several rows on the left side (looking at the image) of the installed starting row (i.e. filling across the hallway), extending the rows up and out into the open space towards the stairs. Then brace the dry-laid rows on the left side with finish nails, extend the already installed starting row by engaging the t&g with the right-side of the dry-layed rows in the open space, and then more finish nails on the right side of the extended starting row (so I'd have 11 rows between the finish nails on either side)? Then use the stapler to attach the starting row in the open space, pull the finish nails and dry-laid rows, re-dry-lay them on the right side of the extended starting row, re-finish-nail on both sides, and staple the other side of the starting row?

Or am I completely lost? Forgive me...

Just took some measurements and pulled a chalk line, and found that the #1 wall and the wall dividing the kitchen and hallway (along the bottom half of the #2 line) are almost perfectly parallel (the kitchen/hallway wall goes off by only 1/4" over the entire 14.5 ft length). Also, the ends of the stairs are also perfectly parallel to the #1 wall.

So, do I start on the #1 wall (which means the only place I have to worry about a spline is coming through the doorway into the kitchen from the hallway), or am I still better off starting with #2 to minimize the risk of things not breaking well across the stairs and #3?

EDIT: Should mention that I'm installing 1/2" engineered, so splines will almost certainly have to be self-made. I tried a test-fit of some scrap 1/4" plywood into the groove of the flooring and it's just barely too thick for the groove. Then I thought maybe some 7/32" ply (just shy of 1/4) would work, then realized that the 1/4" ply is probably already 7/32", just was labeled 1/4" at the store. Any ideas on that?

The groove thickness on most 1/2 inch products is slightly less than 3/16th inch. Given that you only need a few feet of this spline, you COULD just cut it from the 1/4 inch you have, or use some scrap solid wood using your table saw.
it is important that the blade opening in the table saw be snug to the blade to avoid splintering, kick-back, and other general mishaps involved in cutting small stock. To acheive this: position the fence where you need it, lower the saw blade below the surface of the table, securely fasten a piece of smooth hard product (masonite, for instance), butted up to the fence and spanning both the front of the blade and the rear. Turn on the saw, and slowly raise the blade til it has cut through the surface of the masonite and is up about a 1/4 inch higher than it needs to be to cut your plines. You now have a safe table saw setup to cut smaller pieces without them blowing apart on you. The best material for the spines would of course be solid wood rather than plywood.

I ended up taking a short piece of the flooring over to Lowe's and trying various pieces of thin plywood, and found that Lowe's had 2'x2' sheets of "5.2mm Birch Luan" for less than $3 that were the *perfect* thickness for the groove in the hardwood. I found them back in the "hobby wood" section, not in the main lumber area where all the standard 4'x8' sheets of plywood and OSB are.

You mean like when my piece of stairnosing I was trimming down got sucked down into the saw?

Excellent advice there Dennis.

Back when Fingerblock was popular.... That stuff could mess you up quick. We used to run about 4 layers of masking tape accross the saw over the plate, and bring the blade up through it.
Ofcoarse fingerblock...We also ran tape over the face of the parquet, to keep it together while cutting. That stuff could do a variety of scary numbers to you