We are currently living in one side of the house because of new hardwood and the finishing of the new and the old. Luckily, our house is configured to make it workable. It is very disruptive: all furniture out, including stove and refrigerator, no cooking, dogs in daycare, cat locked in sunroom, dust everywhere (even though it's not excessive), and there is a smell with water-based, though not like with oil. Do it now and save yourself major inconvenience. Dee

Years ago we we purchased an oak amish kitchen table. And ok I guess I am a little anal. I have three boys and a DH so I was so so worried about scratches on the table that I always, always kept placemats on the table. One day I was removing the placemats to clean the table and to my dismay I noticed light colored rectangles on the table, in the shape of placemats. Needless to say I was crushed.(what could be worse, some scratches or big white rectangles?) I removed the placemats right away and in a few weeks it was blending quite nicely. I still use placemats, just peeked under one right now and all is good.

You have Red Oak. Plain sawn. As far as the stains, i learned a long time ago not to say if something can or cannot be sanded out. ive seen stains i was for sure were not going to come out, came out, and likewise ive seen stains i thought would and just would not clean up. That black spot is suspicious. it may not come out, but i would definitely rip off the old finish and then see how the spots clean up if at all. The nice thing about 2.25 red oak, is its very common to find that particular wood at home depot, at least in my area, so if you are trying to do this 100%DIY then you're in luck, if you choose to hire this job out, its not a difficult wood to find at all! Good luck!

You need to ask for a separate quote for each line item. Here's some charges you may not have thought of: 1. Floor material by the sf (plus 10% extra) (I'd check the calculations, also). 2. Transition strips or other specialized molding (stairs?); sometimes has to be stained to match, depending on the product line. 3. Baseboard (you gonna keep what you have or choose something new while you have the chance?) 4. Glue (it's very expensive, and must be the exact type recommended by the manufacturer of the wood floors. Read your specs carefully and inspect the glue product when they bring it. 5. Demo of old flooring. Where I live, that was, as I recall, $2/sf for wood/tile demo and $1/sf for carpet demo. And disposal--better make sure about that. 6. Costs to move your furniture. Make a plan for that. 7. Lastly, floor prep. You won't get an estimate for this, because they can't see what's under your floors until you pull them up. It could be minimal, it could be....maximal.... and this "floor prep" line item was where I ran to Yelp and the BBB and the contractors' state licensing board, and anywhere else out on the internet to find out just how satisfied were all the prior customers. With whom are you entering into a contract ? I chose a local, family-owned independent retailer, in same location for 25 years, with about 100 stellar 4.5-5 star Yelp reviews. I read them all. I did my research because floor is a big-ticket item. I asked a lot of questions about which crew would be my installers, and I specified in the contract which ones would do my install. (The "A-Team" as I called them). I asked for things like: no quarter round (flooring cut more precisely so that the baseboard itself covered the gap; no transition strips in between the flooring and the 2 different types of tile that abuts the floors (this required some artistic ramping up of the wood floors (undetectable); picture frame details around the hearth. In the end, I recall install costing $5.50/sf plus glue ($2000), plus the cost of materials. Maybe it was more than that. It's been awhile. Lastly, you likely haven't thought through installing a floor on top of old floor. How will it meet up with abutting flooring? You will still have to removal all your baseboards and reinstall. That costs as I recall, maybe $1.50/linear foot (plus materials). Probably you will negate any warranty on the flooring. If you are installing near cabinets/kitchen, you won't be able to slide out your appliances.