Purchased a new home. I'm getting ready to add the same type of flooring that's currently down in my foyer. However I need to run it in opposite direction (tongue and groove side flip flop).

The foyer has 2 1/4" red oak already in it. Where the foyer meets the living room (which is currently carpet) they installed a plank perpendicular. This acts as a transition piece to the carpet and helps separate the room. The length of this plank is a little over 6 feet (32 planks).

For this to work the border plank groove side fit into all the tongue sides of the foyer planks. They then cutoff the tongue side of the border plank so the carpet could fit snug against the border plank.

So this bring me to today. By reversing the direction of the planks I plan to put down in the living room, the tongue of the new planks would meet up against tongue that was cutoff of the border plank. My thinking is I could cut a groove in the border plank so effectively it would be grooves on both sides. The only problem I see with this method is then there is no way to secure the border plank to the subfloor. I've looked online but haven't seen any reliable experiences of someone blindnailing through the groove side. Is this possible to do and have it be secure?

Or maybe I'm overcomplicating things. Would that one border plank really be a problem if it's not secured to the floor? It will be held down by the tongues on both sides of perpendicular planks. I obviously wouldn't want it to squeak. And I don't want to face nail the border plank.

Cut a groove in the border plank. Install a spline/slip tongue in this groove...glue it into the groove and nail through this spline/slip tongue into the sub floor. To make sure this spline/slip tongue stays parallel to the subfloor take a couple of pieces of new flooring and put their grooves onto the new tongue and pull them tight to the border plank. Then install your new floor boards starting with the groove onto the boarder plank's new tongue and continue across the room.

Was I correct in assuming that the new flooring will be installed parallel to the border plank? If not..if the new flooring will be perpendicular to the border plank you can still add a spline/slip tongue to it and install the groove ends of the new flooring over the border plank's new tongue.

Like Jimmiem said , you can route the transition board ,spline and staple . If only want a groove and no tongue , another option is to cut out the transition board and install a new one that has two grooves . And then you would secure it using only good flooring adhesive like Sika or bostich. Either of these approaches will work depending on what layout you want exactly .

No, the new flooring will run parallel to the foyer, not the border plank.

"Retonguing" the border plank will not work. Since I'm flipping the direction of the flooring planks if I retongue the border plank it will be tongue to tongue.

Let me upload a pic to show you guys what I'm talking about.

First pic is the foyer flooring with you can see the perpendicular border piece on the end. The tongue sides are the left of the plank when looking at the pic overhead. Meaning, the groove sides of the plank are closer to the gray rug covering the step.

http://uploads.im/6Nzha.jpg


The below pic is with the border plank removed. As you can see the planks remaining are the tongue side so the border plank goes on the groove side.



http://uploads.im/u79nz.jpg

The catch is since I'm flipping the planks 180 degrees, the tongue and groove will be on opposite sides. So the tongue on the border plank will match up against a tongue on the new planks I lay.

As I suggested I could remove the tongue on the border plank and cut in a groove using the table saw. But then there is no tonuge or anywhere to blind nail. That is unless it's accepted practice to blind nail through the bottom part of a groove?

So the border plank will stay? You could leave it out but that would involve weaving the new floor boards in with the existing in order to eliminate a straight line between the new and old floors.
2 options. 1. Re-tongue the border board and remove the tongues from the new boards that will abutt the boarder board and groove their ends.
or 2. Groove the boarder board and let the tongues from the boards on both sides secure it. The boarder board won't go anywhere and won't move up and down unless the tongue and groove milling aren't good. You could put some staples on the ends of old floor boards for good measure and staple the new boards as close as possible to the boarder board. Staples are more likely to cause tongue splits so if you really want to be cautious you could use trim head screws through the tongues that are holding the boarder board.
Assuming the boarder board will remain in place be careful to make sure that the joint lines of the boards on either side of the border board line up.

Yes, the border plank will stay. If it's removed, yes I would have to go in and redo some of the boards that remain so there isn't a straight line. That's too much work. I'm fine with the border plank as it looks like a natural way to separate the room too.

I considered option 1. That would involve cutting grooves into 32 planks. And would involve having to cut them standing up on their ends on the table saw. I've never done it but my father tells me he has a stand to do this but says it's a lot of work. Especially for 32 planks.

Option 2 is where I was/am leaning. I'll groove the border plank (so it's grooved on both sides) and when I nail down the flooring planks if I'm a couple inches from the end the pressure from the nail in the floor plank should be enough to hold down the border plank (and not have to worry about creaks or anything).

I bought cleated nails rather than going the staples route. I'm going into 19/32 T&G plywood (joists spaced 12" apart). I'm worried driving flooring nails with the gun on the ends could risk breaking a tongue (as you warned) on the end of a board that's already down. If that happens I'm up poops creek without a paddle. But your trim nail suggestion is an interesting idea. Perhaps a slight variation to that I could predrill a hole to accept 2" 6d finishing nails for blind nailing the ends. That seems like it would be just as effective and I already have those nails. Then slide the border plank on. Then when I go to nail down the planks on the other side of the border plank be about 2" from the end.

That'll work. Cutting boards standing on end can be tricky on a table saw, especially if the boards are long.....a lot easier on a router table. If you use finish nails instead of trim head screws you can use a nail with it's head cut off for predrilling. After adding a flooring cleat within 2 inches of a new board's end you could predrill and add a trim head screw or finish nail about 1 inch from the end for additional hold down. Again, don't forget to have the new board joints line up with the old board joints on the other side of the boarder board......doesn't look too good if they don't align. Post pictures.

Yes, that's the whole reason why I'm flip flopping the new planks I'm laying down. I want to start on the wall where the new floor will butt up against the border plank so I can make sure those planks are parallel. If I opted to install the new planks in the same direction I'd have to start in the dining room and work my way toward foyer with the border plank. That's around a 20 foot distance. Much too long of a distance to feel confident about them lining up.

Good plan. Well thought out!!!!