I am installing a Prefinished floating hardwood floor in my foyer area. The foyer area also has the staircase to go to the top floor. There is a banister with spindles, and the end piece of the banister mounts to the floor. Should I undercut this and install under? Or do I just cut the wood around it leaving the expansion gap and try to mitre quarter round on the edges? I took
pictures, but I am not sure how to add them.

http://i.imgur.com/9zW5Klt.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/lNET9BJ.jpg

No problem on the first pic, as the stringer is attached to the wall. Getting a standard jamb saw in there is the hardest part. They do make one style that would take care of that in a snap.



The second pic? I would undercut it maybe 1/2 inch all the way around and make darned sure there's plenty of expansion on the opposite walls. How is it attached? That could change things up a bit. Have a wider camera shot?

I'm thinking what Ken said. I would undercut the banister but I use a fein saw to penetrate the depth that i want and then I use a chisel that is the same width as the flooring to get into the side of the banister where your carpet is so that the floor tucks inside nicely. But remember what Ken said about leaving room for expansion wherever you can

Thanks Paul. I keep forgetting about those multi purpose tools. Problem is I've just been away from job sites for too long! It didn't help when I moved to the land where time stands still..IE North Ga mountains.

Thanks for all the advice guys, here is how I ended up doing it, let me know if you think I did it relatively correctly.

[img][Imgur](http://i.imgur.com/3smNaQA.jpg)[/img]

If I didn't do it well, let me know, I can take the honesty and it isn't too late to go back and fix it.

The pic is a bit far away and it looks like the banister got chunked out a little bit where you cut .And it looks like there is more of a gap between your undercut and flooring than needs to be .But other than that , it's pretty good. Back in the day before we had advanced tools, we did that entirely with hand tools. I'd give you a 7.5 out of 10 which I think is pretty good

Cut some wood slivers and slide them in. Stain to match. Good wood filler if you can't cut a sliver thin enough. Do you think anybody other than you is going to notice?