Hey, all, I am new to the forum and will be doing my first hardwood flooring installation in 3 weeks. I am putting down 1500 sq ft of 1/2 in engineered hardwood floors nailed down across 2 different levels with the help of both my parents and in-laws who have both installed hardwood floors in the past. I know that generally you want to start on a long straight wall measured square to the opposite wall; however, I am looking for a little more info as to doing multiple rooms without transitions.

The stair nosing is my main point of question. Both levels will have a stair nosing transition to travel downstairs. Because of this, I am not sure where to start the floors. Here are the not to scale sketches of my floors. The lines on the paper indicate the floor joists, so ideally, I would be running perpendicular to that. The stars indicate where my parents were suggesting we start the floors for simplicity's sake; however, I am unsure that this will provide the best finish. Any input on the job is appreciated.

[img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50828840233_d542a0e07c_k.jpg[/img][img]

[img][img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50829675792_393a228d66_k.jpg[/img][/img]

Also, the larger of the 2 openings on the main floor labeled "stairs" is the one getting the stair nosing. The smaller opening labeled "stairs" is where the upstairs stairs land at the bottom.

I would start in the middle of the house in front of or on one side of the stairs, Two people could work in both directions at once. If you start in the middle of the house parallel to an outside wall the floor will be parallel to both outside walls.
You would need to have spline where the direction changes.