Thank you for the responses. I just spoke with the floor guy. His experience with our insurance company has been that they "get it" with the hardwoods and are generally agreeable to redoing the whole floors and not just a patch. I sure hope that holds true for us. DH and I have pretty much decided to do the whole floor out of concern for matching and aging thereafter. If we end up having to eat part of the cost, it's probably worth it in the long run. I'll keep my fingers crossed, though. Thanks again for helping me!

Yes, it does look like an easy method to install flooring. I'm surprised to see maybe even ceramic. Not too sure about that one. It runs $2/sf. In this case it would save quite a bit of labor just on floor prep. There's adhesive on the slab which would otherwise need to be removed. It also provides a moisture barrier so he said solid wood could be used. I believe he even said 3/4 inch. Looking at the installation instructions, it looks to lay loose on the slab. I wonder what it's like to walk on one of these floors. If it feels like a regular wood floor. Another concern I have is how easy it is to replace a board. Or if a board goes crooked while trying to install it and you're already into the adhesive stage if you're stuck with a gap. Particularly worrisome when someone else is doing the install and maybe not as picky as you'd be yourself. The site says it has a worldwide patent but the salesman said that type of product has been used in Europe for over 20 years successfully. It's only new to the US. I'm looking into floating floors due to the adhesive on the slab but don't want a fake hollow sounding floor. The flooring stores I've been to don't seem to have sample floatings installed for people to check them out.

This is a Centex house made in 2002. The width of the board is 2 1/4". Here is a picture of the stair step near front door that shows the wood in vertical position: There are a couple of closets that have the same wood on their floors. They are not that big so not sure how much wood can be taken from them. How involved is it to take out some boards and swap? Is it likely that the boards get damaged as they are being removed? Any links on how this is done? I don't plan on doing this myself but I like to know what is involved. Is what this guy is doing in this video applicable to such damage? Again I am just gathering information and not planning on doing this myself. Thanks. https://youtu.be/eWi3ngubUS8

As Greendesigns points out, laying hardwood over concrete is tricky. A permanent hardwood (glue/nail/staple) on slab is more likely to go wrong than right. To be crystal clear, you can GLUE DOWN hardwood STRAIGHT to the slab. Adding plywood is a step used to NAIL down (or cleat/staple) hardwood into place over slab. You can SKIP this part if you GLUE DOWN the wood. But....and this is a MASSIVE 'but'....the professional must be SUPER EDUCATED as to glue down technique, glues, trowel size, coverage, moisture mitigation, etc, etc, etc! Gluing down hardwood is no different than gluing down plywood. Both are wood. Both require the same adhesives...and both have the same failure rates (ie the 'rotten plywood' comment above). The next issue would be height variation. I would expect a transition. Even a small one. And the reason: the townhouse subfloors were BUILT to accommodate cork glue down tiles (probably 4mm) in the kitchen and then another floor in the living space (???original floor???). And this BUILT IN floor height variation will never go away. Not unless you go back in time and make all of your decisions based on the inclusion of the hardwood running into the kitchen. I personally would find out if the engineered hardwood (with the 4mm wear layer) can be FLOATED - most are allowed to float...but not all so it is best to be super prepared. If it can be, your situation has been solved....remove the old vinyl/cork and FLOAT the new hardwood in the kitchen. A thin sheet of plastic will be laid down over the concrete and the wood will be floated over top. You will have a small transition ANYWAY (floor height variation = transition) so you might as well change the type of install to MATCH your slab = floating hardwood = MOST APPROPRIATE form of wood flooring install over slab. Also be aware that the finish might have a slight colour/gloss variation. Again, that's where a well prepared transition strip/area can be SUPER helpful in hiding these slight variations.