It is best to go with the manufacturers recommendation for installation or void warranties. As for the stair nosing, your contractor or wood crew should be able to manufacture a wood stair nosing that sits flush with the flooring product. It is possible to construct, as we do it all the time for our customers.

Neglected to address one question. If the plank ends against the stair riser, your base molding going around the room would cover this end cut. Either board type molding or simple shoe molding.

I do not think any of this answers the question pertaining to the top of the stairs in the lower part of the floor plan. Just in case you are curious about A117.1 here is the chapter with stairs.

http://legacycodes.iccsafe.org/app/book/content/PDF/ICC%20Standards/ICC%20A117.1-2009/PDFs/Chapter%205%20-%20General%20Site.pdf

And here is the whole standard.

http://legacycodes.iccsafe.org/app/book/content/PDF/ICC%20Standards/ICC%20A117.1-2009/PDFs/Chapter%205%20-%20General%20Site.pdf

.

Regardless of which way you run the planks, the edges need covered if you install it as a "floating" floor. This is because the floor will move as it expands and contracts through varying floor temperatures. Butting the flooring into a flush nosing would allow dirt to get into the crack and under the flooring. Most flooring will also curl up at the edges if left loose. If you use the alternative, and more labor intensive "glue down" method on the entire floor, you would have a better chance of good results with a flush (on the top side) nosing that butts into the Cortec, regardless of which way the planks run. It sounds like your contractor is hoping to plan out the layout so that the custom nosing would allow a standard tounge edge to slide under or "click" into it. On the Cortec website, they show a "flush stair nose" that may do that, as opposed to the "stair cap". I have not looked into it enough to know for sure.

http://www.usfloorsllc.com/product-category/coretec-plus/5-plank/

.

Excellent comments, Fred. Unfortunately I do not know enough about the specifics of this particular floor either. This is where a certified installer, trained with this product, would be worth their weight in gold.

Out on the floor today with a customer about this product, the stair nosing is meant to be flush with the flooring. It does not over lap like a traditional laminate stair nosing.

Thank you for your comments. We couldn't beat the price, by far, than to order the Coretec online through a distributor who is having a sale ending today, and I don't know if I could get a certified installer locally, without buying through them. I'll check.
The flush stair nose looks like it does serve the purpose, as the ends of the planks have a tab that will fit under the nose. However, that would mean I'd have to have all the planks start at the stairs, unless I did go parallel to the top of them. If all the short ends of the planks started at the stairs, I wouldn't be able to cut them to offset the ends down the hall. That wont work. I will definitely call USFloors and make sure my contractor installs it exactly according to their recommendations.

Regards,

Ooooh. OK, cross-posted. Do you know if it can align the way I'm showing, without having all the planks ending up the same length? In other words, can a cut edge sit under the nosing, and yet still end up flush?

The nosing will butt next to the planks, no over lap. All of the installs we have completed, the planks run parallel to the nosing. As far as butt ends or cuts butting up to the nosing, contact US Floors direct for a definite answer.

So like the red arrow in my picture, which is how the contractor suggested doing it, right?
Most of the natural light comes in my house through the sliding doors and large window in the dining and living rooms (top of the photo). If the planks go cross-wise, won't that look wrong?

Yes to contractor suggestion.
I don't think the floor will look funny running in the other direction even with natural light hitting it from windows or sliding door.

Did you ever resolve this issue? I have the same dilemma. Basically need to run the planks perpendicular to the coretec flush stair nose transition but not sure how this will look when finished.

Hi kamattcasa,

We haven't actually installed the flooring yet (the reno is going very, verrry slowly). But we did make the call to go parallel to the top of the stairs instead of perpendicular, when we get to it.
We would have much rather go the other way, but we found out our floor joists run front to back (up and down - green arrow - in the picture in the OP) and both the contractor and the flooring supplier highly recommended running the flooring perpendicular to the joists. They convinced me.

So I will not end up running into the problem of butting up the ends of the planks. Maybe you could call US Floors?

You need to run the planks perpendicular to the floor joists. Otherwise you could result in cupping I know it's not real wood but you should always run planks perpendicular to the joists in the floor. Unless of course you're installing on concrete.

I bought coretec and flush stair nose and in the same predicament. Furthering the issue, the flush stair nose is actually thicker than the flooring, so I’ll somehow have to grind the edge of the subfloor to make them level.

I am having a similar issue and it's driving me nuts. I hope someone can help me. I just had coretec floors installed with the tiles running perpendicular to a stairnose. Since stairnose can only be installed flush if the tiles ran the other way, they installed a flush stairnose piece as an overlap. Now we have 1/8th inch of the stairnose sitting above the tiles, and it seems like a tripping hazard. Our contractor insists it is not a tripping hazard. I requested to atleast have that edge beveled and they claim the beveled-edge overlap stairnose would stick out higher than the flush stair nose that has been installed as an overlap, and that is not a safety issue because they have installed it this way for years. Does anyone know if this really true?

Rather than "he said" "she said", might recommend you reach out to Cortec tech support. Previous entry noted flush stair nose IS thicker than the floor tiles. What does Cortec recommend in their installation guidelines? Any lippage seems like a minimal tripping hazard, annoying weekly cleaning issue, long term enhanced wear and tear location.

If you didn't have an overlap, you would see the cut edges of the planks, so you need that overlap. Did your contractor install the Coretec stair nose, use standard hardwood stair nose, or create one from scratch? I would think if it were hardwood they could bevel it or run a router across the edge, but they may have a good reason that it can't be done, but I've definitely seen standard hardwood stair noses with a beveled overlap and understand why you would want it.

Google "oak stair nose overlap" for some photos.

That said, what do your DOOR thresholds look like? Mine have an overlap, and even my disabled husband has no trouble with the lips to our doorway thresholds.

Good luck! 3 years later I still love my Coretec floors.