I will soon be ready to start laying hardwood in a bedroom – outlined below. The boards will run parallel to the walls with the doors (joists run perpendicular to those walls). The hallway outside the "door to hall" (and adjoining room) will have the same hardwood installed later this year. I feel I should start on either the wall with the bathroom door or at the door to the hallway. Should I start on the wall with the bathroom door and reverse direction to work the little square back to the hallway door? I know there is a chance that they aren't completely parallel – but the area with the door to the hall isn't lit very well, so an "adjustment" wouldn't be as noticeable. Should I rip a piece to use as a threshold there or just use the whole board (if I can) since more hardwood will be installed later?
Best Answer
Hardwood floors either have click-lock grooves or basic tongue and groove, but they all share that same basic idea. That means they can only be laid in one direction. The only place you can really start is going to be the top-left corner of your picture, and then move left to right and down towards the bottom.
If you start at the bottom, you can only move up, and that will cause you to have a transition strip of some sort in the doorway to the hall when you continue the flooring later.
When you stop in the doorway, rip a board to act as a "cap" for the edge of the last whole board. If you don't cap it off, the edge will get damaged because it's thinner because of the tongue and groove. When you're ready to continue, remove the ripped board to reveal a nice, protected groove to work with.