Our existing subfloor is 1" x 8" planks. Before starting the install, I replaced a couple of decaying boards and then made sure all the nails were pounded in all the way. Then I laid down 15-lb felt paper. I found different answers online about whether to overlap adjacent pieces and whether or not to staple it down, but I overlapped by 3-4" and stapled.
I had the issue of how to transition from the existing wood to the new wood. Ideally, you would interlace the boards, so adjacent boards don't end right next to each other, but that wasn't an option without tearing out boards. So I did as Lumber Liquidators suggested and put one row of flooring perpendicular to the existing floor to serve as a transition strip (visible in photo above). I installed the strip with the tongue facing the new flooring, which was really the only option. Before installing the strip, I had to take a circular saw and cut the existing floor so all pieces ended evenly (a few pieces previously extended a few inches more than the rest). It was not easy to get this straight, but I did what I could using a chalk line.
Before installing, to back up a bit, I brought the wood into the kitchen for a few days to allow it to assume room temperature and room humidity. I separated the boards into piles based on size. This helped break up the different bundles I bought, and allow for easy board selection during installation. I also picked out boards that were less than perfect. I used most of these against the west wall, where they will be covered with cabinets.
I began at the west wall by using a chalk line to measure out a line about 1/2" from the wall (this is the expansion gap) I laid out 3 rows of flooring, cutting the ends of the last pieces to make them fit, leaving about 1/2" for expansion along the south wall (this gap will be covered by baseboards). These rows had to be face-nailed by hand (nailed through the top through pre-drilled holes). I had to work around the water pipes for the sink here by making notches in the side of a short piece of wood at both ends.
I started out trying to do the job with a manual floor nailer that I rented, but I found that the nails wouldn't quite go all the way in. I had to set them by hand, which was slow and occasionally led to bent nails. The nails were more or less unremoveable once placed, unless you take up the board and pound them out from underneath. When necessary, I would generally twist and bend a partially-driven nail to break it off if it had more than 1/2" sticking out.
I then rented a pneumatic nailer, which uses an air compressor to assist the mallet in driving the nail. This one gave me the same problem. I switched to a larger air compressor, thinking that might solve the problem, but it didn't. I thought maybe my floor was too hard, but another return to the rental place to try a different pneumatic nailer proved successful. It wasn't me, after all, it was the tools. With that taken care of, I could proceed. By this time, I had laid out about half the floor, so I just had to go back and nail the rows that were ready to go. I made marks on the east and west walls where the floor joists were, and tried to nail into them when possible, while still maintaining 8-10" nail spacing.
Another obstacle to work around was the vent. We decided to put in a wooden vent that lies flush with the floor, so I had to make it fit by cutting some small pieces (the gap you see below was filled in later).
When I got within about 5 rows of the end, I was no longer able to use the nailer, because there was no room to swing the hammer. I tongue nailed a few rows by hand, but had to face-nail the last two. I had several long boards left at this point (40-50 inches), and I realized this portion of the project would have been easier with shorter boards. Tongue-nailing serves to help push a board flush against the previous row, something that is important with longer boards, because they can be harder to get a close fit with. A large board will overlap several shorter boards, and if these pieces are slightly misaligned, it will affect the fit of the long boards. Tongue-nailing with the nailer usually overcomes this difficulty, but face-nailing does not. So use up your long boards before you get to the end.
My last row ended about 1/2" from the east wall. This was perfect - close enough to be covered by the baseboard, without requiring me to rip (cut longitudinally) the last row. To finish, I had to do the area under the door, ending with stair nosing where the floor steps down into the entry way. I had to file away at the bottom of the door jamb in order to fit pieces under it. To get the stair nosing tight against the next row, I had to file away at the lip underneath so the piece extended further in from the edge (thus slightly reducing the overhang. Here is the installed product:
One more note: when you put your drill down after pre-drilling holes for face-nailing, lay it down instead of standing it up. If you do the latter, and you knock the drill over, it will fall forward and break the bit. I found this out twice.
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