I've a rectangular dining room with two doors on the long wall, one
very near the short wall, and the other about 8ft in from the other
short wall. Both lead out to rooms already having oak floors. Between
the doors is the back of a fireplace, so you can't run a chalk line all
the way across the room close to that wall. So if I start along the
8ft wall and match the wood in that doorway, then go across the entire
room as soon as those boards clear the back of the fireplace, I'd have
to go back toward that wall, and end at the doorway. Or would it be
better to start the job in pieces, going out from that wall on one side
of the fireplace, and then the other side of the fireplace until the
boards on both sides clear it, and go all the way across at that point?
Or is there yet another way?

(Now that I thnk of it, the problem would be the same for tile, too.)

wrote in message
oups.com...
I've a rectangular dining room with two doors on the long wall, one
very near the short wall, and the other about 8ft in from the other
short wall. Both lead out to rooms already having oak floors. Between
the doors is the back of a fireplace, so you can't run a chalk line all
the way across the room close to that wall. So if I start along the
8ft wall and match the wood in that doorway, then go across the entire
room as soon as those boards clear the back of the fireplace, I'd have
to go back toward that wall, and end at the doorway. Or would it be
better to start the job in pieces, going out from that wall on one side
of the fireplace, and then the other side of the fireplace until the
boards on both sides clear it, and go all the way across at that point?
Or is there yet another way?

(Now that I thnk of it, the problem would be the same for tile, too.)


I'm trying to visualize this so pardon me if I'm totally misunderstanding!
I would snap a string line just beyond the fireplace that extends the entire
length of the long wall and accomodates your width of boards. For example,
let's say the fireplace projects 3 ft beyond the wall and you're using 5"
wide boards. I'd snap the string line right at the 40" mark from the wall
to just clear the fireplace and put my starter strip there. This would
allow for full width boards all the way to the long wall (with the
fireplace) although you'd have to rip 1" off the strip that runs up next to
the fireplace. The other thing to consider is once you get to the other
side, what sort of width will you need. If you end up with a 1" strip, you
probably should rethink your starter strip location. There are a bunch of
variations of what you can do and I suggest taking a pencil and paper and
laying out the options. You ultimately would like to have even width
boards across the entire room but if this is not possible (usually the case)
then split the difference on each end of the room just to keep them even.
I know I probably didn't explain this very well so ask more questions if
needed.
Cheers,
cc

James "Cubby" Culbertson wrote:

wrote in message
oups.com...

I've a rectangular dining room with two doors on the long wall, one
very near the short wall, and the other about 8ft in from the other
short wall. Both lead out to rooms already having oak floors. Between
the doors is the back of a fireplace, so you can't run a chalk line all
the way across the room close to that wall. So if I start along the
8ft wall and match the wood in that doorway, then go across the entire
room as soon as those boards clear the back of the fireplace, I'd have
to go back toward that wall, and end at the doorway. Or would it be
better to start the job in pieces, going out from that wall on one side
of the fireplace, and then the other side of the fireplace until the
boards on both sides clear it, and go all the way across at that point?
Or is there yet another way?

(Now that I thnk of it, the problem would be the same for tile, too.)



I'm trying to visualize this so pardon me if I'm totally misunderstanding!
I would snap a string line just beyond the fireplace that extends the entire
length of the long wall and accomodates your width of boards. For example,
let's say the fireplace projects 3 ft beyond the wall and you're using 5"
wide boards. I'd snap the string line right at the 40" mark from the wall
to just clear the fireplace and put my starter strip there. This would
allow for full width boards all the way to the long wall (with the
fireplace) although you'd have to rip 1" off the strip that runs up next to
the fireplace. The other thing to consider is once you get to the other
side, what sort of width will you need. If you end up with a 1" strip, you
probably should rethink your starter strip location. There are a bunch of
variations of what you can do and I suggest taking a pencil and paper and
laying out the options. You ultimately would like to have even width
boards across the entire room but if this is not possible (usually the case)
then split the difference on each end of the room just to keep them even.
I know I probably didn't explain this very well so ask more questions if
needed.
Cheers,
cc


Can lay a set of boards across the room to guage how they will end up,
like laying out tile without the cement. Adjust the chalk line when you
find out what cuts will end up on each side.

Your explanation was fine. Now the starter strip as you described does
not have one edge along a wall, but is more in the middle of the room.
Any problem with starting from both sides of a starter strip? (All the
"wood books" insist you start along a wall) With the setup you've
described, I guess I could toenail this strip in rather than face nail
it as with up-against-the-wall starter strips, no?.

That seems to be a wise thing to do first. Thanks.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Your explanation was fine. Now the starter strip as you described does
not have one edge along a wall, but is more in the middle of the room.
Any problem with starting from both sides of a starter strip? (All the
"wood books" insist you start along a wall) With the setup you've
described, I guess I could toenail this strip in rather than face nail
it as with up-against-the-wall starter strips, no?.

I'd snap a line as taut as humanly possible, starting in the center like
that. Hard to eyeball a straight line between end-to-end boards. I'd also
screw a couple short pieces temporarily to the subfloor to brace behind the
starter course, before whacking it with the nailer. Once a couple rows are
in, you can remove the blocks, and start going the other direction. Most
people buy or make a strip to put two rows groove-to-groove when doing this,
since you generally can only nail on the tongue side.

aem sends....

wrote in message
oups.com...
Your explanation was fine. Now the starter strip as you described does
not have one edge along a wall, but is more in the middle of the room.
Any problem with starting from both sides of a starter strip? (All the
"wood books" insist you start along a wall) With the setup you've
described, I guess I could toenail this strip in rather than face nail
it as with up-against-the-wall starter strips, no?.


It's ideal to have a starter stip up against a wall but at the end of the
day, that's not always the best way to go. You could use a strip towards
the center of the room and simply nail down through the top (not the tongue)
and build away from it. Then, once you reach the other wall, remove this
strip (it was a sacrificial strip) and lay down heading the other direction.
In fact, you don't even need a full strip....you could snap a string line
and put down cut pieces of your floor every foot or so so as to give
something to leverage against for that first real row that you do. Make
sense? I just finished gluing down a room at my house and fortunately, the
walls were pretty even and such so I just came off one of the walls.
Ultimately, you want to have even sides and if that means starting further
out from the wall than normal, than fine. You may have to pitch one row
out as a sacrificial row. Let us know if you have any other questions!
Cheers,
cc