Been a lurker here for a while and the time has come when im looking for some advise.

I'm going the the whole (90%) house with wood floors.


1st floor: approx 840sqft (living, bed 1, bed 2, Office and Hallway)
Plywood sub floor, I'm looking at using solid Acacia 3/4 x 4 3/4 and nailing it down (removing the baseboard and putting new on so no quarter round). The floor joists are running from top to bottom as you look at the picture below so ill be running the flooring lengthwise from left to right. I have a top step onto the hallway which will have stair nosing.

Where should i start ?
Where (id rather not though) should i have a T strip and expansion joint ?


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Basement: Approx 730sqft

Concrete sub floor, looking at using 9/16 x 7 1/2 engineered tongue and groove and floating it.

Again, looking at best place to start from and again would rather not have a T molding expansion joint unless i have to. I'm again wanting to run the flooring lengthwise left to right and will be taking the baseboard off and putting new on.



Any ideas/info greatly appreciated.

You can undercut the sheetrock to give a better expansion gap. You will need an expansion gap of ½ inch for a 20 foot floor, for a floating floor at both walls. Your baseboard will cover the shrinkage factor, but it most likely will need expansion space unless you are high altitude. Since you can lay the floor away from the tongue or use a spline to reverse direction, I say to start on the longest straight wall. Engineered flooring can be laid all the same direction without a spline, you can make one if you want, though. Working away from obstacles is another way to go. Going through doorways is the most time consuming, so finishing this problem off first will make it easier in the long run. A T molding at the door of the bathroom may work, If you already bought one, but leaving a gap to the tile of one-half the width of the grout and filling the gap with a plastic foam to within a quarter-inch of the surface, like ½ inch foam backer rod, would be recommended so the sanded caulking, to match the grout color, can cure as it is should.
I think the t-molding looks hokey, but solves problems sometime.
Your riser at the top step will be out of code, not safe, unless you address the steps, too. I would recommend gluing the engineered flooring to the steps to keep the integrity. You may find a nosing for the steps to match the thickness of the engineered, made with solid wood.

Thanks for the excellent info. Yeah i took a couple of the baseboards off and it looks like the drywall is easily cut-able with a multi tool. I was planning on leaving as much expansion gap as possible for the solid wood upstairs, looks like i should be able to get 3/4" all the way around.

On the upstairs, do you think the long run down the living room, through the hall and into the 2nd bedroom will be ok with just 3/4" expansion gaps at each end of the long run ?

Its a split level house so you see both sets of steps as you walk in. I was planning on doing all the stair treads with the solid hardwood that I'm using upstairs, so the basement would just be the engineered wood on the floor, not the steps. I can buy stair nose in the acacia wood but plan on leaving the risers and either painting the existing risers white (depending on what they look like after removing the carpet) or making a thin 1/4 thick softwood riser and gluing it to the existing riser.I will be cutting the rounded edge off the existing steps before putting the new riser on and the new stair nose.

I had planned on starting along the hallway (green line on pic below) one of my main concerns was making sure that i end up getting get the stair nose the right place from my start line as I'm really unable to rip that length ways, i guess this is just careful measuring ?



Where would you suggest i turn the direction of the upstairs ?

Thanks again

Double check the manufacturer's installation instructions concerning expansion gaps....generally you shouldn't need much, if anything at all at the end of rows as wood expands across its width and a minuscule amount, if any along its length. Also, you mentioned that you're not unable to rip boards lengthwise. If this is the case, you may have a potential problem when you get to the last rows as you try to adjust everything to the start line and stair nose. Probably a good idea to spend some (a lot) time and work through all measurements so that you wind up with the least amount of cutting and no unanticipated surprises. Also, as Pete A. mentioned, pay close attention to the stair riser heights so that they are code compliant and have no safety issues.

Thanks again for the info,i AM able to rip boards on my table saw, however, i wont be able to rip the stair nosing piece as i doubt I'll be able to put the factory groove in the one side!

thanks again

It's fairly easy to add a grove to a flooring board. It can be done on a table saw. It can also be done with a router and slot cutting bit.
Also, if you do rip down the stair nosing board don't make it too narrow....3 1/2" is the rule of thumb minimum width.....it's a high stress area.

Cool, thanks. I'll probably measure the best i can so I'll hope to be within 1/4 when i get to the stair nose.

I noticed the stair nosings are so damn expensive, has anyone made there own, i wouldn't have though it would have been too difficult, i guess its just staining the wood edge once you've put a "nose" on it to match the rest of the wood ? id probably have to double up on the nose edge too. Probably cheaper to buy them in the time it would take me!

If you are planning to have solid hardwood floor in the kitchen, I recommend running the flooring parallel to the kitchen sink cabinet, or make a three or five board border to keep possible moisture problems from migrating down the boards from capillary action. Dishwashers and sink plumbing have been known to leak.

If you glue the nosings to the sub-floor, a T&G is not that important.
I know a stair contractor who makes his own nosings using ¾ stock and then gluing a 5/16 inch strip to the bottom of the ¾ inch stock. For exotic wood you hardly notice it. When putting a round-over after gluing everything he uses a half-inch round over bit, they come with a quarter-inch shank as well as half-inch.
Most domestic floors have hosings made up already for 5/16, ½, and ¾ inch
thick flooring. Order your pre-finished nosing for the engineered flooring at the same time you order the flooring.

I make my own.
IF you have the right tools it's not hard to do. If you don't have the tools then you'll have to buy them. Where do you live?

I'm in Northern VA, i have tools, only thing i don't have is a router which is my next purchase at some point.

Thanks, i have ceramic tile on the kitchen floor which is NOT being replaced:) great info on the nosings, thanks

Now you have a good reason to buy a router. Part of what you will save by making your own stair nosing will help pay for the router. There is a very good forum called Router Forums....lots of knowledgeable and helpful people there. As far as time is concerned, if you can make your own stair nosing in the exact width that you need you won't have to spend a lot of time trying to adjust the rest of the flooring to fit to the store bought nosing dimension. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks for the info on the router forum, I'll head over there now.
You're right about the time and making my own, I'd also be a lot prouder every time i see them too knowing I'd actually made them!

I saw your post on Router Forum. You'll get lots of replies. The popular midsize routers (2 1/4 hp) will work for you. I've got a DeWalt 3 base kit. Bosch is top notch as well as Porter Cable. They do make bull-nose router bits that will make the nosing profile in one pass. A more versatile bit option are round-over bits which will require 2 passes....this is what I use. Tables run the gamut price wise. If you make your own you'll have exactly what you want. A table can be as simple as a piece of plywood to which the router is attached. For your initial stair nosing project this would do the trick if you don't want to rush into buying a table. You could clamp the plywood to a work bench or if you have a Workmate you could use it to support the plywood. You could also do the nosing without a table but a table would be more convenient and the preferable way to go. Again, just my 2 cents.
Also, if you get the router you can also use it to cut the groove in your nosing piece. A slot cutting bit would be good for this application....easy to do and very accurate. And, if for any reason you have to re-groove the end of a floor board the router and slot cutter would be easier and safer than trying to make this cut on a table saw....this application may be necessary if you need to cut a board that has been damaged and the end re-grooved.

Again, thanks for the info, much appreciated and just what i was looking for:)