km, just make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Some product comes in variable lengths such as 2'-12' and some are 'strips' mainly just 2'. The strips being a lower cost..sometimes significantly. Just my 2 cents, but I would not sign a contract stating you have to use the builder's suppliers. We sourced many of our own products from plumbing to windows to floors. Our builder had zero problem with it. Sure, that is money lost to him, but it is very competitive out there. One builder we automatically put in the no file after he said we had to purchase our plumbing fixtures thru him. I would shop around. I found the flooring places that also sold carpet were the most expensive. Those with showrooms were more expensive. We found out where local flooring installers shopped and purchased directly thru that warehouse. We also purchased flooring online via 'web specials'. If you still have some time, I would find some online stores that offer web specials and check daily. We snatched up some beautiful reclaimed hardwood this way at a large discount. There is nothing wrong with the product. They are usually over-runs or canceled orders or flooring that was sitting in inventory too long and the company just wants to move it.

Of course the easiest way to do what you want to do is to install a different width in the kitchen and use something to act as a transition between the two floors. If the kitchen section will be at the same finished height and you can and want to weave new into the old, then you will have to have oak milled to your 2 1/2" size. Not impossible, but will cost more than factory runs at the usual widths. I don't have pics for you, so I hope someone does and can post them for you.

I'm curious to see the replies. My son almost bought an older house, 1951, the wood under the carpet is about 2"wide strips looks like solid wood, but seems to have a lot of nails. Is that how it was done back then? I wondered how it would look if he had them finished, but he backed out of the deal after the inspection. We are about to tear out decent wood because the sun has faded it and since it is not a big area it would cost a lot to refinish, and I hear the refinished floor would need to be done again much sooner than a new prefinished. I wish I could take out the old wood in a way that it could be used by someone, but I think it will get wrecked. The store I am using charges $3 sf to install it, the wood price obviously varies. They use their own employees, no subs, and did a nice job on our mbr and hall, so I will use them even though I dont know what an independent installer would charge. My maple will cost $5.54 sf, plus install.

The answer could be "Yes". It could be "No" or it could be "maybe...it depends". The trick with this is that new hardwood does not like sitting over top of OLD finishes...like polyurethane. And new hardwood needs FLAT. So the chances are VERY high that you need to SAND DOWN your old hardwoods (to remove the finish AND to flatten any obvious areas of concern). That should cost you $2/sf. Now the fun part...getting patch down where it is needed. It is possible but old hardwoods don't normally like to have concrete patch put down on them. They can. But they aren't fond of it. The cement patch often cracks and disintegrates as those old floors move. You will still need patch = $1/sf (on the LOW end). The other fun thing is: you probably have to install the floors perpendicular to the old floors....which will be AGAINST the installation instructions/warranty (most hardwoods must be installed perpendicular to the joists...which would be your OLD hardwoods...but the NEW one's would be perpendicular to THOSE = parallel to your joists = against all "Best Practices"). The way around this = DIAGONAL (lay it at a 45deg. angle). This should increase your WASTE into the 15% range = 15% more expensive than anticipated. So if you add up all the "trouble" you will go to, you will be paying about the same or MORE to do this. Of course you could throw down some plywood over top the old hardwood = go ahead as a normal install. But that puts you too high---so your ONE option to do this "cheaply" is not on your list. Go ahead and remove those old hardwoods (I'm assuming they are so OLD that they cannot be sanded and refinished). Lay new plywood and then install the new hardwood. The cost to do this properly should add $2-$3/sf (labour and plywood included). If you do this the "cheater" way, it should cost you $2-$6/sf (that includes the diagonal install with extra waste) and lose you your warranty. After all that money for the hardwood and install, that would be a sad state of affairs.