Hi Folks.

I am about to start a flooring project and am having trouble deciding where to start the first row. After scouring this forum and others, the consensus appears to be I should begin along the long hallway which feeds several rooms and runs the lenght of the house (line B on plan). My concern is that if I do this I may end up with a partial board at the focal point of the "Great Room" which is a large (12 foot wide) fireplace/bookcase unit. Would it be better to start at this pont (line A on plan) and the then reverse directions and work back into the hallway? I guess I always have the option of placing a transition board between the Great Room and the hallway to provide separation, but I know it always looks better to have one continuous flow. Just curious if someone else has come across this or has a helpful opinion. Hopefully the attached drawing works & will make things a bit more clear.



Cheers & thanks a bunch!

Dave

Well there are so many right ways to do this install that you are sure to get many suggestions here.
Here is mine:
First, that is not where I would start the floor physically. I may use that wall as my "straight" line but I would project Line "B" through the doorway of the bedroom, measure off that line back to the "north" wall of the "west" bedroom. That would avoid a turn-around across the width of that room which happens to be in a heavy traffic area. In the "east" bedroom you would still have no recourse but to have that turn-around, unless (and I like this) you change the direction of the floor in the doorway so the floor is running the length of the room. Of course your joist structure and/or sub-foor must be able to accomodate this directional change.
You would still have to reverse the flow of the floor in the centre bedroom of course, but this is a much smaller span.
You will still need to reverse the install through the great room in front of the FP/bookcase, but this is unavoidable with this layout.
Now, having said all THAT, here is my answer to your question:
If you are laying a 2 1/4 inch floor for example, and can acquire a few pieces of wider material, say 3 inch or 4 inch for example, when you get near to the face of the FP, make an appropriately wide frame around it mitreing the ends and returning the frame to the wall (like a three sided picture frame). Rip the frame to the proper width so that the last floor board is full width.
You can actually lay up to your last full board, ripping the tongue off it, then drop in the frame and fill in either end of the space beyond the
bookcases.

Hallway, cus all interior walls are not so straight and you really want tis area to look best since you cannot hide defiency's in hallways so well where there will be no furniture.

Dennis,

Thanks very much for your informative reply. A couple of really good ideas there that I never would have thought of!

Cheers,

Dave