I am going to install 3.25 inch prefinished hardwood flooring. I have some good resources on telling my what I need to do but one thing I think I'm missing is ensuring that my starting line is straight because I beleive the wall(s) are not.

So I guess that's 3 questions;

1. What's the best way to determine if the wall is straight?
2. If the starting wall is not straight, what do I do?
3. If the ending wall is not straight, what do I do?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Square or straight? Scribe to fit un straight walls. Cheat it for out of square walls.

Chalk a 3 " line down one wall , and another down the other wall forming a L
Now mark one at 3 ft , the other at 4 ft .. measure mark 3 to mark 4 , you should be at 5 ft .. if so you are square .. if not adjust the line to get the 5 ft .. Now you can chalk a line from one of those and start the room where you want .. If you have a stairnose to the basement , make your you are not going to have to cut some of it off ..

: PS hope this helps ..

Move the walls! Just kidding! We need some levity around here occasionaly.

GOOD ONE // There has been a few that i wanted to move in my time ..

Someone said if you have a basement steps make sure you don't have to cut off your bullnose. So is it important to measure that out when you start?
I have another question everyone says to run the hardwood 90 degress to the floor joist. I have 3 rooms I am doing and a hallway iif I do that my hallway will have the boards running across the hall. Will that look bad?