I'm planning to install 3 1/4" by 3/4" hardwood on the second floor. There is a 90 degree spiral stair case leading to the second floor.

I have two questions:
- should I set the direction of the floor based on the top of the stairs and start from there as opposed to starting along a wall as per normal (ie. should I use a slip tounge in the stair nosing and build out from there or try to work from the wall to the top of the stairs so there is a full width strip ending at the top of the stairs ... which would be a bit tricky)

- The nosing around the stairwell is grooved. When working around the side of the stairwell where the rows of wood flooring are perpendicular to the nosing how should I fasten the flooring? Since the nosing is grooved, should I lay to layout flooring pieces so I always have an end-tounge to fit into the groove, should I cross cut the floor strips to length and not worry about fitting into the groove, should I cross cut the flooring to length and face nail?

Any thoughts would be appreciated

 

One point of clarification: the stairwell opening is not square, part of it will be diagonal to the direction of the flooring so I will mitre those ends ... do these ends need to be fitted into the groove, face nailed, or just butted up against the nosing and left at that.