Personally, I would lay it in the direction you want in the bigger area, and keep that same direction everywhere. If you choose to change direction, you do not need "a trim strip or something to cover the transition" unless you have a terrible installer. I have changed direction in rooms vs hallways. You need to specially cut a groove in the first piece, or cut a special tongue piece to fit the 2 grooves together, depending on the direction you are installing. You just need to make the ends of one piece fit into the side of the next piece, and it takes a bit of conscious joinery. If your installer is some joe with no carpentry skills, he might just leave a gap and cover it with a speed bump. Don't let that guy install your floors. As for the direction of the joists, this was true back in the day, when you wouldn't have subfloor, or your subfloor would be in planks, so you'd have to be sure to run the planks in the opposite direction of whatever was underneath them. Is there a reason to keep doing that nowadays, when most people have 4x8 sheets of plywood as their subfloor?

The Mohawk Santa Barbara product is made in China so I bet it is not NOFMA certified. As far as the "on sale" status of the product I am not sure. I am not a wood expert by any means but I know delamination is really bad and I wouldn't put in a product that is doing that. For any questions about the product look it up online and get the specifics on Santa Barbara. Here is a link that might be useful: Mohawk Hardwood - Product Specs

Thanks for responding Patser. I guess the floors must about 50 years old but I'm really not sure. I think they've been covered with carpet for most of this time. I plan on using water-based due to health issues but if this wasn't a concern I'd probably go with oil-based. The entire area is about 337 sq ft. with about 14 sq ft. that needs to be replaced/installed. The area in question is not just spots or small areas but an entire section that is much darker than the rest of the floor so it will not blend in if it remains darker. The one contractor yesterday told me that after sanding, it will all look uniform but after the process the water damaged area might once again appear much darker. The 1-800 contractor did not even mention that this might be a problem. lol I have another appointment with someone highly recommended in my area tomorrow. From what I've heard his prices are very competitive and now I just hope he gives me good news about the water stained areas. He quoted me $950 on refinishing and staining the floors although he has not actually seen or measured it yet and this does not include the small area that needs to be installed. Even as I was writing my original post and wanting very much to take the easy way out and go with the 1-800-woodfloor contractor, I knew on some level that this was not wise. lol Does anyone have any thoughts on floating, engineered flooring in case I cannot have the floor refinished? What would this cost to buy and have installed? My ex tells me this would be a good way to go but I'm not sure I should believe him. lol Thanks and please wish me luck!

ok, this is an area where I actually know something! I sold and spec'ed hardwood for a custom shop before my mommy-life. The information you are getting here is correct. Engineered floors will give you 1-2 refinishings ON A PERFECT SUBFLOOR. One of the issues that sometimes arises if there are inconsistanies in the height of your subfloor. Because there is thinner wood wearlayer (before you get to the engineered wood) there is the chance that you can damage the floor irreparably when you sand it. Now I only saw this saw this happen twice, once on a loft job and once in an older home. The loft was more subtle as it was over concrete, the old house more obvious as they were DIYers and picked engineered flooring to try to negate their irregular subfloor (they neglected to tell us that that was why they chose engineered, we would have talked them out of it had we seen the floor first) Neither of their claims to the manufacturer were fully settled because both times they did not follow the guidelines for floor prep. The loft job was also a materials only job for us with their GC laying the floors but he insisted he knew what he was doing. A good engineered floor will not be cheaper than most of your nail down options because the production costs are higher. Now having said that, GOOD engineered floors certainly have their place in places where you can't put traditional hardwood due to height restrictions or concrete subfloors. My boss had a great engineered floor in his basement and it survived a flood remarkably well (it was ash, Kahrs brand out of Scandinavia and one of the beefier engineered floors and one of the pioneers) My Grandmother also had a Kahrs floor in her ground suite condo and she LOVED it and I was impressed by the milling. I'm considering it for our basement because it's warmer and less echo-y than laminate There has been a lot of 2nd rate engineered flooring coming out of China and being labeled for all sorts of different companies. You should be able to tell an engineered sample because the layers are sandwiched together and the tongue will be a different wood than the top (showing) layer. Distressed finishes are usually more expensive because of the extra step in manufacturing to make it distressed. That is different than just getting a lower grade of hardwood like a rustic or tavern grade (in solid hardwood). Those grades have more character but they often don't carry a warranty and generally have a higher waste percentage. Another thing to think about---if you ever have to replace part of the floor, you will always be able to replicate 3/4" thick hardwood but engineered floors are more like tile, they change and get discontinued over the years. You could go pre-finished, save the hassle of site finishing but with the thicker wear-layer a 3/4" nail down floor offers. Only you will know if you can handle beveling or not. The changes in milling the last 10 years are huge. The bevel in your better milled wood is tiny. I like Canadian mills, Model or Mirage for pre-finished. Remember that if you ever re-finish, the bevel will disappear and you will, essentially have a site finished floor. One benefit that many people don't know about? With a prefinished tongue and grooved floor you can have a good installer cut out a single board (or more) from your floor if it gets damaged which is why we did a fair bit of pre-finished in new homes since inevitably we would get call-backs at move in to repair trade damage (@#$%^ plumbers and their big wrenches!). Prefinished hardwood deals the best with shinkage and expansion issues because the finish is on individual boards. Site finished floors are more labor intensive but the materials are cheaper (apples to apples). They are what many people consider the gold standard however there are more steps and you don't always know how it's going to look until it's done. There is more chance of finish contamination and trade damage during the rest of the building process. We refinished 100 year old floors. I loved the idea that there wasn't 4 generations of carpet and crap in the landfill. Definitely a forever floor and it can usually be re-sanded for all but the very worst water damage (think entire house under water for a few days) If you are going with a wide plank, keep in mind your species and humidity level (and your ability to keep humidity stable). The wider the plank (with 3/4" thick flooring), the more obvious shrinking and expanding will be. If you take a 2" wide board and it shrinks 2%, it isn't very noticeable. If you take a 6" wide board and it shrinks 2% the gaping will be more noticeable and in the case of a site finished floor *could* pull your finish apart. You'll need to find a flooring contractor in your area with lots of experience. Most of the best hardwood shops ONLY do hardwood. Beware of carpet shops and many of the big box stores in many instances. Make sure they are accredited with the NWFA (national wood flooring association) http://www.nwfa.org/member/ good luck!