OK, I have scoured your site for a few days, and have gathered a lot of info. I wanted to summarize a situation and see if it jives with the research. My wife and I are buying a house (40 yr old) in the New England area. The first floor has red oak in good condition (refinished 6 yrs ago). The second floor is carpeted, which we will pull up and would like to put down hardwood. Most likely we will also want red oak, though we are not looking to match perfectly as you can't see the floors together. We have looked at a Mohawk 3/4" red oak and are getting the price from someone who works at a dealer. Now, the original idea was to purchase, pull carpet, evaluate and fix the subfloor as needed and then place down the hradwood in the first week before moving in. I gather that I underestimated the timeframe and will need to let the wood acclimate for an undetermined period of time before installing. Should I get a meter and measure the moisture content before starting the install? The season right now up here would seem ideal, 65 deg. during the day, no humidity, mild heat at night, etc. I am not overly worried about the installation process, as I am a seasoned DIY, having done a floating floor in my old house. I plan on using a pneumatic nailer/stapler and laying across the long axis of the house, starting at the top of the stairs in the hallway and working into the 3 bedrooms. I understand the usage of splines to reverse the working direction, but where are they available? Also, do you always use a 1/4 round molding or should I take off the existing base and re-attach after the floor is down? Just trying to consider everything before starting. Any input is appreciated.

You need a pin type moisture meter, along with a thermal hygrometer, and to go download the wood moisture content/humidity conversion chart, which I think is available at www.nofma.org.

I recently did my floor. I cut my own splines on my table saw, but I didn't need that much. If you need a lot, you would probably need to find a supplier. I would assume the place that provides your flooring would have them.

1/4 round is optional, I didn't use it, although it is in the house I built 5 years ago. Seems to be personal preference.

Ron