Install hardwood through a doorway

Q: How do you install hardwood through a doorway? Do you start to nail on the groove side to fill in the back half after your first plank goes through the doorway?

A: Bit short on details… You don’t tell me in which direction the floor is running in relation to the doorway, or if this is actually, for some reason, your starter row. Sometimes, when installing, you might have to change the direction in which the planks run. In such a case you would have the first 2 rows being groove to groove, rather than tongue and groove interlock. In that case, I use adhesive for both rows of plank. on the one row I will nail into the bottom of the groove and insert and glue a spline into the groove to serve as a tongue. I then tap in the other row into the spline and nail as usual into the tongue on that row. When coming up to doorways some people like the floor to run straight through so as to have a continuous flow from one room to the next. However, it can be a good idea to use header boards at right angle to the floor installed in the doorway. This will separate one room from another by this break in flow. The advantage of this would be that at some point, if one room shows more wear in the finish than the adjoining room, you can buff and coat the one and not have it impact the other room.