Good evening. I saw another post about butting a full floating floor up against a railing base and it wasn't clear whether this is a good idea or not based on need for expansion. I have the same question but using either solid hardwood or engineered. Below is the railing. The floor joists run perpendicular to the railing so the planks would be laid parallel to the railing base. The base sticks out from the sheetrock about 1" and is 3/4" thick but is actually raised about 1/2" off the OSB subfloor (2nd pic). This would make 3/4" hardwood sit about 1/2" lower than the railing base.
PICS:
http://coloradodesigns.com/graphics/railing1.jpg
http://coloradodesigns.com/graphics/railing1.jpg

This room is 18' wide, 20' long. How would you all do this and make it look good while leaving room for expansion?

Thanks.

Sorry, I can not see all the details in your picture because the carpet is still in place. If you can start next to the rail, the nosing will cover your expansion gap, like the base board. The nosing is what the shoe sits on that holds the balusters in place. There is fillet that goes between the balusters in the notch that was plowed out for the balusters to sit in. If your nosing is only so thick you may have to place the flooring directly against it. If it will be above the height of the flooring undercutting would be the answer.
You could under cut the base board and the nosing with an oscillating saw with the blade sliding along the top of the flooring, under cutting about an inch, then chiseling off the thin rip that is left. It's slow going, but a way that you can use what you have that is already built. I use a super saw that has a circular saw blade that runs parallel to the floor, then break off the thin rip with a chisel.

Thanks for the response Pete. I copied and pasted my link and forgot to change the second one... it should be:
http://coloradodesigns.com/graphics/railing2.jpg

Ahh, so what I'm calling the base is called the nosing... the piece I'm measuring in the picture "railing2.jpg", correct? It's 3/4" thick. So I should undercut that ~1/4-3/8" with an oscillating multitool (I can lay the blade on top of a scrap plank+few sheets of underlayment). Then when installing flooring, position that first plank so it's slid ~1/4" underneath the nose so we don't see the edge and that will allow for some expansion/contraction. I think I got it.

The nosing is usually made from one inch thick stock, then rabbited so it sits on the 3/4 inch section. It typically projects an inch and a quarter to one and a half inches away from the floor where it sits.
If your flooring is less than the 3/4 inch thickness of the edge of the nosing, this will cover an expansion gap when it is undercut.
Usually I do not have any expansion gap next to a nosing. If the flooring really expands it will push the nosing away from the floor.