I was thinking fire hazard as well. That doesn't really sound like it is up to current code either. I think the floor part of the problem is fineâ¦you can lay another floor over it. But at this point with the wires etc. under there I would look at a floating click-installation wood floor. I would not be driving nails into a nest of electrical wires.

You can put in a new floor in the kitchen and have it matched to the old one. It won’t have a patina but if done correctly blends very well! You can barely tell the difference between my 70 year old and 6 month old floors.

Thanks SJ McCarthy! Given what you said about the original floor (oil based finish - I think they are Swedish finish from what I one time heard from the listing agent - and no stain), what would be a good selection for factory pre-finished floor? The purpose is to lay down the new floor for now in the carpeted area and make sure they don't look too different or visually unacceptable. You also mentioned that the natural break (doorways and breezeways) will help my change, which I assume it means the natural breaks will make the mismatch between floor area less obvious. I think they are plainsawn from the pattern, red oak, so going for something like a natural red oak from say Bruce with same strip width would be OK? Or what color would be best to match the Swedish stain? I take what you said "Even a factory finished solid red oak floor can be refinished like the floors you already have. It makes it easier in the future to get them all the same colour/finish." as that I can refinish everything in the future (e.g. 15 years down the road) to get them all aligned in finish and color if I want to. I am also planning to install the hardwood floor in second floor. Since they are at different floors, do I better off use the same species/stain/finish of wood for second floor? If so, can I go with a wider plank (say 3 1/4" or 5")?

I'm sorry but the only option (to get what you want) is to sand and refinish ALL of it at once. If you had planned on that in the first place, your flooring professionals would have matched the species and the cut and the grade of floor. They also would have matched the THICKNESS of the planks. Or ideally they would have told you how it was going to turn out...and that the best option = remove the old and lay all the same floor. It is CHEAPER than doing a sand/refinish on Aluminium Oxide floors for the TOTAL square footage. Sigh. I think you have TWO different species of wood. You certainly have two different GRADES of wood (the new one has ++++ plank variation and HEAVY grain presentation. This tells me that if you sand all of this down you will STILL have two floors that look VERY different...even with the same stain. Right now my 'fix' = remove the old wood in the entrance/foyer. Use the entrances to the other rooms as the 'break'. Use the edge of the new wood as the break. Now you drop in stone or porcelain or vinyl that LOOKS like vinyl or porcelain. By removing the SMALL amount of old wood in the entrance you will REMOVE the eye sore that is 'mismatched' wood floors touching one another. It will do the 'most for the least'. Removing the old wood and prepping the subfloor = $2/sf. New stone-look vinyl tiles = $4/sf. Cost of install = $3/sf. Total cost of job = $9/sf. Size of the job? Looks to be about 100sf = $900 and you have a BEAUTIFUL foyer without ANYONE noticing the two woods are not the 'same'. It is the simplest, easiest way to fix this without messing around with sand/refinishing wood that shouldn't be touching one another anyways.