Hardwood flooring in many rooms

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

Oh that is an accident waiting to happen in so many ways. Hit that the wrong way on your foot, hit that at night when half asleep and so forth. Why in the world would something like that high be needed?? Why not a small speed bump type saddle.

[MstrCarpenter]

You can install the rooms and/or hall in any order you desire. if you start each room on the hallway wall they should be close enough that if a small taper is necessary it would be undetectable when spread over two or more boards. At least one of the courses either side of that wall will have to be narrower or you'll need a small filler.  If you decide to use thresholds, I would suggest leaving a space in the flooring, add 3/8" plywood filler, and cut a rabbet and bevel on each edge of the threshold so it's only up 3/8" above the floor. This allows the fields to expand and contract without showing a gap that frequently appears at doorways, helps to prevent a cracked threshold, and makes changing directions easy. That 3/8", plus another 3/8" space, might provide enough clearance for an area rug too.

[Snipe Hunter]

I would also start in the hallway and any room with a doorway facing the length of the hallway. Groove side against the hall wall. Intall off the tongue side first and do those rooms. Then cut a spline (like mentioned above), glue in the spline and finish off the install on the spline side. Beware of raised thresholds for hardwood floors. The gap under your doors is probably your return air. Maintain that gap. The isn't much to cut on the bottom of a hollow core.

[rschissler]

I would also start in the hallway and any room with a doorway facing the length of the hallway. Groove side against the hall wall. Intall off the tongue side first and do those rooms. Then cut a spline (like mentioned above), glue in the spline and finish off the install on the spline side. Beware of raised thresholds for hardwood floors. The gap under your doors is probably your return air. Maintain that gap. The isn't much to cut on the bottom of a hollow core.

I like the idea of using a cut piece of the hardwood flooring as a threshold, at the same height of the hardwood floor.  With 3/4" hardwood, and felt I assume underneath, the height will be very close to the old carpet.

[Charger68]

You can install the rooms and/or hall in any order you desire. if you start each room on the hallway wall they should be close enough that if a small taper is necessary it would be undetectable when spread over two or more boards. At least one of the courses either side of that wall will have to be narrower or you'll need a small filler.  If you decide to use thresholds, I would suggest leaving a space in the flooring, add 3/8" plywood filler, and cut a rabbet and bevel on each edge of the threshold so it's only up 3/8" above the floor. This allows the fields to expand and contract without showing a gap that frequently appears at doorways, helps to prevent a cracked threshold, and makes changing directions easy. That 3/8", plus another 3/8" space, might provide enough clearance for an area rug too.

Thanks, I understand how you recommend doing the thresholds.  It seems that this way would solve several problems for me.  It would allow me to do one room at a time and take a break in between without leaving too much of a mess at the doorway, it would hide any gaps between the two rooms, and it would raise the floor 3/8 inch to help close the gap below the door without creating a tripping hazard.  Would you just glue the threshold and plywood filler down or face nail too?

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

My house that I grew up in, when my Dad had dormers installed with bedrooms and other rooms, he had professional people come in and install flooring. They did the entire floor as one continuous pattern going from the front of the home to the back which was the longest points. No need for saddles or transition points.  Had them sanded and finished by pros also. Can tell you it was a huge job and one my Dad did not want to do. They did a great job and lasted for well over 50 years and then some. Sold that house about 10 years ago now. Unless you are doing these floating floors with laminate then I highly recommend pros do it and you will survive the small inconvience and save your sanity. Have your kids help carry stuff or I am sure there is plenty of other things like powerwash the house, paint the house or mow the lawn. 

My home is a ranch and the entire first floor has wood floors and it too is one continuous pattern but the length is down the hallway and all rooms are patterned off that and again no need for transition pieces. Now there is carpet in the main room and that has small saddles that transition to the wood floor. I have been working on the house for awhile and have refinished 3 rooms because I wanted to stain the floors. I have 2 more rooms to go and I will hire this out because I have gotten older and just can not do all that bending over and heavy work. Have plenty of other things I can do to pass time being retired now. 

Some jobs are best left to the pros and they get in and out in a quicker time than you can do it. Worth every penny, trust me. But good luck. Sounds like you are determined to upset the entire home for weeks. Let us know how it goes and if your kids remained interested.

[Halfathumb]

I'd like to install solid hardwood flooring in the second floor of my house.  It has carpet now. There are four bedrooms joined by a hallway.  The thought of installing the flooring as one continuous layout may not be the best choice given the fact that it may take me a while to get it done and I expect some complaints from my better half.  Instead I am considering doing it room by room with transition strips between each room and the hallway.  That way I can get each room done without having every room torn up at the same time.  I believe that the preferred way of installing the floor is to have it run seamlessly between rooms with no transition strips.  But it would make it much more manageable for me to do it room by room.  Any opinions on the pros and cons here?

I like Clockman's suggestion. What the heck, it's your money.
 I just got done putting down vinyl flooring (lot's of pets) in my hallway, LR , MBR & office. It was a chore (Piano in the LR) and stuff in the MBR. With the piano we moved it on the wheels to 1 end, started on the flooring about 1/2 way, then 2 of us raised each leg enough to put it on the new flooring and went from there. Did the same thing in the MBR with stuff. I'm retired so don't have a tight schedule to get it done (just LOML's looks)

[Cooler]

I assumed it was made from 3/4" stock.  I made mine on the table saw from 6" wide 3/4" stock.  Home Depot and Lowes also sell these in 36" lengths, but not that design.

I'm not sure what the function of the shallow grooves on the bottom, but I added them to my thresholds too. 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/37-in-x-4-625-i...lsrc=aw.ds

Lowes has thresholds in both red oak and marble (stone).  Maple may make a better choice and you simply set a tall fence on the table saw and cut the taper.  The taper eliminates the tripping hazard. 

If you are removing carpet there may be too much open space at the bottom.  In my eyes it looks like a mistake. 

This is the best picture I could find for the problem:

[Bob10]

This is a nice looking threshold.  No light coming in under this door.  It gives it a nice finished look.  Can I ask how high it is?  And how how can you go before it might be a tripping hazard?

You could always use a lower threshold and replace the doors I don't imagine you more than 8 off of the hallway.  Then again that is just a guess.

[JTTHECLOCKMAN]

You can always put door sweeps on the bottom of them. Come in brass that would dress them up and serve a purpose.