Well thanks to everyones advice my measurements are done and the 15lb asphalt paper is laid. I just discovered one last hiccup before laying my first piece of hardwood! My shoe molding is 7/16 wide, which means that would be the width of my expansion space between the base molding and the edge of my hardwood. I am installing 3/4X3 1/4 Kempas hardwood. I REALLY do not want to take off the base molding as I just painted, and I am afraid that will be impossible to make line up as perfect as it is now. Will this expansion gap be sufficient? I have had the hardwood in the house for 3 weeks acclimating. Appreciate the help! Will be holding off on the first piece until I hear back from the experts (so much for taking today off from work!!!).

Chris

I just figured out that my new expansion space will be approx 3/8 of an inch. Is this sufficient? I called a hardwood store and the said anything over 1/4 was ok, but I am nervous as this was a lot of money for me. Thank you all, and happy holidays.

Chris

Probably so but it depends on the total width you are going. If it's a wide run... say over 20' I would start in the center and work both ways. I prefer that method anyway.

It is a run of 31 feet, but includes two rooms. There is an opening of about 4 feet between the rooms. I hope thi sis ok for the 3/8 expansion space as I am about to top nail the first piece?!?!?

I have been acclimating the wood in the boxes for 3 weeks. Is it ok that they are in the boxes? I had 34 boxes so I couldnt really open that many due to space.

I don't take wood out of boxes either, but I check it with a moisture meter.

Put a scrap board up next to the base and using a razor knife score the base board several times. Then chisel the bottom off to gain more expansion.

I rarely see expansion space taken up, yet the flooring is buckled out in the middle. When it does buckle next to a wall, there usually was never more then a ¼" to begin with.

If your worried, like jerry suggests, but use an electric undercut saw.

Jerry or Floorguy,

Thank you both for your contributions! I worked all weekend and my back is killing me! I give credit to anyone who does this for a living. I only got about 4 feet of flooring down! VERY time consuming.

I just noticed a problem that I will face. I am running my flooring from my living room into the main entry hall. There is a one foot wall that seperates the two rooms. So I ran the hardwood all the way to the one foot mark in my living room, then all the way to the wall of the entry hall. So now I will have to spline the floor and finish the last 10 inches or so (yes I ended up 3 boards plus a 3/4 space!!!! What bad luck!) of hardwood back to my front door/front of the house. So I figure it will be 3 boards plus a ripped tiny board (I glue this correct?). My problem lies in that I cannot get either my pneumatic nailer, nor my finish nailer, in the space between the wall and the splined board. I prefer not to face nail all 3 boards RIGHT at the opening of my front door. Any suggestions?!

I truly appreciate it everyone! I hope to have this done so I can enjoy my holiday!!!

You should be able to use a finish nailer to blind nail one or two rows, but I'll take your word for it. You could glue down those boards with some PL polyurethane adhesive sold in large and standard sized caulk tubes. If you have a brad nailer that works well to help hold the boards until the glue sets... otherwise use a series of wedge shims behind the last row.