I don't know what the percentage of short boards are in the lot. I found the wood at an architectural salvage, and the condition of the boards is the same as the day they were ripped out of the old house they came from. They've been sitting in the back of the warehouse for the past 2 years. The shop owner gave me a board to take home, I can take a picture and post if need be. I know very little about hardwood floor, which is why I am asking questions on this forum. As an engineer, I like to think I am fairly quick at picking up on things, so any input you can provide will be helpful.

Thanks for your suggestions. I noticed the difference between the summer and winter with the floor. Its ashame as they are very nice looking. My wife and I are just fed up as we cant even go in the babies room without waking him up from the noise. YES, its that bad. We put a little rug in his room to try to damper the sound, but only helped a little. Floorguy, I tried with the screws underneath (probably about 100 of them or so) but didn't help. If I recall correctly, I used 1 1/2 inch screws. Maybe they weren't long enough? My arm was ready to fall off from holding the screw gun in an upwards position! I did try putting some shims where I saw that the sub floor was loose, but overall, the sub floor is pretty flat against the joists. As the contractors said, they basically didn't use any any nails when they were installed. If I look underneath them from the basement, I would probably count maybe 50 nails sticking out from the sub floor for the entire 1st floor. I don't know...... :-/ If you can remember the screw names, PLEASE let me know! :-) Any other suggestions or advice is appreciated. Thanks all!

"We installed hardwood over existing hardwood going in the same direction - although there was no subfloor, so pulling it up wasnt really an option. No problems at all." You had no subfloor? The hardwood was nailed every 16" directly to the joists? Did you do the work or did some contractor convince you that this was the situation? I Have not seen that in 40 years of remodeling old homes and will probably never see it. As I said before, TAKE UP THE OLD FLOOR!

My daughter had new #1 unstained, site-finished, red oak installed in her kitchen. Her kitchen opens to her den and dining room. Both of those rooms had 90-year-old red oak which she refinished a few years prior. A threshold was installed between the dining room and kitchen where both rooms' butt ends adjoin the threshold. No threshold was installed between the den and kitchen where the length of the board in both rooms adjoins the two rooms. Six months later, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the new and old floors. All of her floors were finished with an oil based poly. You could use a different width if you insist, but your home will harmonize better if you are consistent.