Poly does not touch up at all well. The entire floor will need to be sanded and recoated, and you will still see the line where you stopped at the threshold. In addition, some of these paint remover products or floor cleaning products that you have used will impair adhesion of the new to the old. If that happens, it may look OK at first, but then start peeling off in a couple of months. If that happens, the only recourse will be to sand to bare wood and start over completely. If you've ever used anything with silicone or orange oil in in on the floors, skip the intermediate peeling step and sand down to bare wood now.

Three things, knowledge, tools, and time. Most important of these is the knowledge of how to safely work around electrical equipment. This includes, but is not limited to, understanding how to correctly de-energize and test circuits before beginning work. Also, proper techniques are imperative when stripping, splicing, and terminating conductors as well as installing electrical wiring and devices. There are a number of DIY'er books available that help illustrate these points. Also needed is at least a basic understanding of the circuits being worked with. This can be gained through books, experience and the friendly folks on the Electrical Wiring Forum. Finally, the knowledge of proper tool use and selection is a must. Some tools such as multi-meters take some time and practice to utilitze properly. The tools required can vary from nothing more than a tester, a screwdriver and a pair of wire strippers for replacing a receptacle all the way up to a truckload of tools and equipment to wire an entire home. At the very least an electrical tool kit should include the following for simple replacement of switches or receptacles: Tester: The most important tool and imperative in testing for properly de-energized circuits and useful for trouble-shooting problems. These can vary from simple testers that use a neon light or incandescent bulb up to solenoid testers (Wiggys) and multi-meters. Regardless of the tester used it is important to understand how to use it when verifying that circuits are de-energized. Non-contact voltage testers, while very useful, should not be used as the only means of testing a circuit for safety. Screwdrivers: An assortment of Phillips and flat-bladed screwdrivers should be adequate, however with Robertson (square recess) screws becoming more popular, a Robertson driver can be useful at times. Pliers and cutters: At least a pair of linesman's pliers (8" or 9"), needle-nosed pliers, and diagonal cutters (dikes). Also useful are pliers with built-in crimpers. Wire strippers: A good pair of strippers will cleanly remove the insulation from wires with a minimum of effort and without nicking or damaging the conductors. Although more expensive doesn't always equate to better quality, the cheap $2.95 strippers that can be found in some stores should be avoided. A good pair will usually run $10-$12 and up. Of course even if armed with knowledge and the best tools, it takes time to do any job properly. From the standpoints of safety and reliability, attention to detail is vitally important when performing electrical work. Always budget plenty of time to perform tasks and if an unexpected situation is encountered don't guess at the right solution . . . take the time to find out the correct answer. Be sure to check the main FAQ page for other topics related to safety, tool selection, and tool use. Thanks to Sangan, Mizzou_KX, Normel, DavidR and Tom_O for their help on this topic.

You aren't really going to know for sure until you pull up the carpet and get all the old finishes off the floor. The floor could have been painted because the finish was wearing off and the owners at the time didn't want to bother with refinishing. Or the floor might only ever have had the faux finish that you saw, and when that wore out, it got painted instead. What you really need to find out is if the wood itself is finish-grade or not. And to do that, you are going to have to remove the finish, at least in a small area. What was in the kitchen might or might not be the same as what was in the other rooms in the house--if the kitchen originally had linoleum, there might never had been hardwood in the kitchen, even if the rest of the house had hardwood.And you never know what various owners have done. My 115 year old house has wide pine board flooring in most rooms, while the living and dining rooms were upgraded to hardwood at some point--and the living room sort of has a parquet pattern in the wood. There are three different styles of window trim, but the baseboards and crown molding are the same throughout the house, so it's a complete puzzle. In your case, I'd stop talking to friends and get someone who is experienced at refinishing floors in older houses in to look at your floor. Then maybe get a second opinion. Make sure these people are experienced with older houses. Because from your description, you might have hardwood and then maybe again you don't.

I'm not a fan of putting down plywood over concrete just so you can have a nail-in-place hardwood. Soooo many ways this can (and will) go wrong. Personally, if you MUST have a wooden subfloor over concrete, please use a sleeper subfloor system built properly with the proper vapour barrier used. Or in the worst case scenario, something like DriCore (I'm not a big fan, but it will work when done PROPERLY....ahem, I'll say it again, "when done PROPERLY"). You still have to patch the concrete. After that, you can use a vapour barrier (see how you can't get away from that?) then you lay the DriCore panels down and THEN you lay the PLYWOOD over the DriCore....and THEN you nail down the hardwood. Whew! Or you can look at engineered floating hardwood over a vapour barrier (there it is again) and a BEAUTIFUL cork underlay....like 1/2" cork would be AMAZING! As you can see, I will try EVERYTHING I possibly can to AVOID this type of subfloor system you are talking about. And I mean $5000 - $10,000 MORE to get away from it! That's how much I HATE the system you mentioned. Make sure your builder does everything properly (concrete patch, etc) and offers a LONG warranty on that subfloor system. Like 5-10 years (s/he won't like that ONE BIT). If s/he won't do it, then perhaps you would like to look at a different system.