I am replacing carpeting in my loft with solid hardwood floors. The process seems easy enough, but I have one part that I'm not sure how to handle. On one side of the room their is stair case and a banister which allows you to look down at the 1st floor. I am going to want my new flooring to come right up to this with any gaps so that it appears as if they were installed together.

What is the proper way to connect these?

It's doubtful that you will be able to get all your cuts tight enough so that there are no gaps, plus there will be future movement anyway. That leaves:

1. Taking up the railing base, notching it out so that the flooring will fit under the notch and then reinstalling the rail base so that the notch overlaps the floor.

2. Taking up the rail base, installing the floor, reinstalling the rail base on top of the floor and trimming the exposed edge underneath the stair-side of the rail base.

3. Keep the rail base in place, run your new floor up to it and add a shoe mold or other trim to cover any gaps.

Remove the rail base, install the floor to the edge and trim. Get a good, clean cut at the floor to top of stair transition and reinstall the balusters directly into the floor.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jaybee,

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm uploading two more views of what I have going on as well.

Are there any other methods that people have done successfully? My thought was to do something like this.

Option 1 - Cut a groove (not sure with what) into the existing wood so that the new floor can connect right into it.

Option 2 - Find out what techniques are used in the following pictures (randomly found on google).
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.c...g-showroom300pix.jpg

http://www.hardwoodinstaller.c.../end-block-floor.jpg

Your option #1 is similar to my option #1 only that I am assuming the groove is a rabbit that is 3/4" high so that the flooring can go underneath. (Note: Hard to tell from your pictures the dimensions of the existing baseplate of the rail system. If it's only 3/4" tall then this idea will not work)

You wouldn't put a groove in the existing wood for several reasons. It would only work if you started your floor from this existing trim. But, if you started from there, you would have the tongue out, not in. If you started from the far side of the room and worked your way across, there is no way that the flooring would work out to exactly fit tight against the existing plate without ripping it.

The inlays that you have pictures of are nailed in without the use of a full tongue and groove. Usually the long edge is still T&G but the ends are cut flush. Cuts must be very precisely cut - whenever I do this I measure to cut directly on each piece and forget using an inaccurate tape. Sometimes smaller pieces need to be face nailed or glued in place. This process will work in your case but will just require some very precise cutting.

If I'm understanding your #1 correctly, than the floor would not be flush. Instead i would have a lip where the new floor and the baseplate meet.

After reading your 1st post I started considering removing the baseplate altogether and running the floor right to the edge. Problem I see here is that it appears that the spindles are actually nailed into the banister, so I'm not sure how I could remove them without damaging the spindles and/or the banister.

The new floors are exactly 3/4", and when i lay it on the subfloor it is flush with the baseplate.

OK, so you have 3/4" floors and a 3/4' baseplate. Since that baseplate already has a rounded edge to it, then there is no way you are going to get a seamless look of running the floor up to it.

That means that the 'best' way will be to take the baluster system apart, remove the baseplate, run the floor all the way and reinstall the railing system in that area.

Notice I said 'best' not 'easiest'.

The only other thing I can think of would be to leave a small gap between the edge of the flooring and the baseplate, then cover it with a T-astrical type trim piece. But I think this would look a little strange at the top of the stairs.

I just had hardwood stairs installed and hardwoods added to the second floor hallway. The top piece at my house was grooved to mate with the flooring. Everything was sanded smooth and there is no noticeable transition between the stair nosing and the field of the hallway flooring. You can see that the piece of wood that the banister pickets mount is up from the original nosing they had installed originally, the floor is flush with it on the other side. This is not a tripping hazard since you can't walk through the banister and saved having to redo the banister. If I were doing it from scratch the step down probably wouldn't be there.

The flooring installer had a router bit he could add a groove to a piece of flooring when he needed one after making a cut. They didn't need to do this often but I think they used it while weaving the new floor into the old on the first floor.