flooringlaminate-floor
I want to lay laminate flooring throughout my apartment as one big continuous floor. Normally you start laying a row against a wall and then create a new row and click it into the previous row. This click mechanism only works correctly in one direction. The following (simple) image shows the situation (the yellow represents a wall)
How do I lay the planks in the area marked as A since the "click system" doesn't work in that direction?
I have just recently tackled the same problem with my own hallway. The solution I did was as follows. I cut a piece so that it would fit the door opening and a little more, so that it will go under the door frame. I have cut this piece so that on one side there is still the laminate "click" side, while the other is naturally cut off (this is piece 2 in the drawing). This way you can attach another laminate piece to this one. Next, I cut a narrow piece of laminate (piece 1) that can click on to piece 2. Finally, I have cut piece 3 so that it will butt against piece 2. Since there is no "click" side there, there is a small gap (if you can cut it accurately enough without leaving a gap, the better). This gap I have filled with wood glue mixed with sawdust from cutting the laminate boards. For my particular laminate it is a very close match to the color of the laminate, plus is it quite a small section (for me it was around an inch). From standing height it is barely noticeable, and can be improving by careful sanding. If you have something better as the filler, than by all means use it.
You can switch between pieces 1 and 3 (in terms of which one will have the "click" side, depending on the rest of you hallway laminate orientation.
For the assembly, piece 2 (or the one it will gone with) should have the "click" partially removed, so that it can be slid from the opposite room, under the door frame and into place, with the a line of glue holding the two pieces together. Then piece 1 can be clicked to place, and piece 3 clicked and glued.
Edit: here are some pictures. First, the glued part. In the picture it looks much worse than in real life (also ignore the lack of skirting board). The glue goes all around the piece since there were some gaps in all directions and as I said, it is barely noticeable from standing height:
Here the opposite side of the doorway, where the piece is clicked. Note that the central part (piece 2) goes well under the door frame:
And finally the entire door frame. Excuse the blurry shot, but I hope it is enough to give you an idea of my installation:
Edit 2: Following the OP's comment, I have an idea about how to put piece 2 in place if you can't slide it from the opposite room. This requires you to not have finished placing the boards in the hallway. You'll need to place some temporary boards up to the door in question, then measure and cut piece 2. Remove the temporary boards and slide piece 2 from the hallway. Then you can continue laying the boards as usual. To connect piece 2 with the real board before it, you still have to slide it out a little (out of the hallway, into the next room), lay the board and slide piece 2 back in. Sounds complicated, but I can't think of another approach.
I'd like to write an answer on the overall methodology on how to pick where to align a floor, but I don't have the chops for that. But in your case, I do have a suggestion.
One of the principles of flooring installation is that it's more important to look straight than to actually be straight. For example, you have that architectural detail separating the two rooms. I think it would look more odd if the flooring did not line up with that detail than if you had a wedge shaped piece against a wall. Snap a chalk line down the middle, measure from that line to within a few inches of the starting wall, and snap a second line parallel to the first. Align your first piece with the second line. Then every couple of rows, measure to make sure you are still parallel with the first chalk line.
An alternative would be to snap the first chalk like as I described above and start from the middle of the room(s) and work your way out. Depending on the type of tongue and groove and nailing method, this may not be possible.
Best Answer
While I disagree with your orientation, this isn't really that hard as long as you're using a floating floor.
Start by running a line of boards across all three rooms, and orient them so they are as perpendicular as possible to all the walls. (Alternatively snap a chalk line to represent the left edge of that single line of boards.
Now in each room, measure from the left edge (or chalk line) of the board to the left hand wall. Divide that distance by the width of your boards. The remainder is the width of your starter boards in each room. Rip your boards to fit.
Start laying the boards out in the room with the most distance to the left of the line. When you get to your opening, stop - lay the boards out in the next room until they come up to the opening. Run your line of boards from the first room into the 2nd room.
Now since its a floating floor, shift the floor in the new room to align with the board sticking into the room. Click the connecting board into place, and you now have a continuously aligned run.
Repeat for room 3.