I'm planning to install tongue and groove hardwood flooring in my living room, dining room, kithcen, hallway, and powder room. The longest unbroken length of floor runs from the front bay of the house (living room) all the way through the dining room and kitchen to the back door - about 60 feet. There are archways connecting most rooms with a couple smaller doorways as well. Another consideration is that the house is very old so very little is square.
I'm trying to figure out two things: how to make sure the boards look straight from the front of the house to the back, and which run to start with. The first thing that comes to mind to making the runs straight is to make a chaulk line from the bay to the back door then orienting all runs to that line.
Regarding which run to start with my understanding is that I would start against some wall, groove side out. If I do this and build out until the runs are far enough out from the wall that I can pass through an archway to the adjoining room, how can I then attach planks in that adjoining room to fill the floor space up to the wall on the same side of the house I originally started on (in the first room)? How would I nail these planks since I wouldn't have access to the grooves for those 20 or so runs to the wall?
I'm guessing this is a common issue to deal with when installing in more than one room connected along the same line as the floor runs.
Edit:
Which comes first — hardwood floors or baseboard trim?
We are building a new home and have been struggling whether to put the hardwood floor or baseboard trim first. At first, the builder wanted to put the baseboard first, then the hardwood. He explained that any gaps due to expansion wouldn’t be seen unless you were over the baseboard looking down, whereas if you installed the hardwood first, you would be able to see expansion from across the room.
Then he advised us that the best, but more expensive way, would be to scribe the floor to the baseboard. We agreed and he said he would install the baseboard about 1/2″ above the floor so the hardwood could be scribed to fit.
Problem is, when we met with the flooring people the baseboard was not up 1/2″, but flush to the floor.
What would be the best way to proceed?