no the slate is on order and am ripping out the hardwood floor area where the slate is going. I hope to be level with the hardwood and was looking to use one of the flooring strips to butt up against the ends of the run of boards in the hallway. I am 3/4 way down the hall now and need to define the end where it will go to slate. not a reducer, but was wondering if I should router a 1/4 inch channel in the ends of the boards I am using in the hallway and use the slip tongue strip of wood to lock the ends with the board across the ends. Or should I just cut the ends of the boards and butt the perpendicular board against them. end result should be something like this: http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e157/mbclk320/Hardwood%20Floors/31-front-kitchentransition.jpg

Wow...that's a huge question. I know it sounds simple, but it is quite complex. So complex there are entire books on the subject (both professional and lay-man). So....solid hardwood is just that. It is solid. It is the same wood cut from the same tree, from the same plank at the mill. Traditionally it is 3/4" thick. Widths vary but the classic is around 3" wide plank. A 3/4" solid hardwood can be refinish 3-4 times with a total lifespan of 60-100 years. These are either factory finished or site finished. The industry has realized that some people are too afraid of large purchases so the solid hardwood industry has come up with the idea to make their planks THINNER and thereby making them cheaper. I've seen 1/2" or even 3/8" solid hardwood. They can be refinished once...maybe twice and have a lifespan of 20 - 40 years. These thinner solid hardwoods are often factory finished (cheap, thin and fast). And that's the easy part. Engineered hardwood...where to start. First off the TOP layer is the ONLY LAYER that contains the pricey hardwood that you are paying for. Everything else is like "plywood". The body of the plank is made up of cross-hatched layers of wood (not always hardwood) that are glued together. The top layer will range from 2mm - 6mm. The ability to refinish will depend on the thickness of the top layer (known as the wear layer). You need 3mm of wood to complete a full sand and refinish - just once. So the 2mm wear layer is a "one and done" type of floor. It has a life span of roughly 20 years (though many people rip them out after 15 because they look beaten up). The 6mm wear layer in a 3/4" engineered plank that is site finished is the Holy Grail of the engineered hardwood world. They are the most expensive, the most beautiful and offer the longest life cycle of all engineered hardwoods. They are so expensive that they are MORE expensive than solid hardwood floors. Whew. There is so much more but that's the difference in a nutshell. Shaw has had some complaints. The biggest issues with wood will be humidity and indoor climate control. Ask your builder to check the heating/cooling system. Ask them detailed questions about the unit's capability to handle climate control that is REQUIRED for a hardwood floor - regardless of the presentation.

This is a relatively easy floor to recreate using a site finished red oak hardwood. Simply match the width of the plank (looks to be roughly 3" = super common). The hardwood flooring installer will then match the stain colour (these dark colours are much easier to deal with than super light) and add three coats of polyurethane. I'm going to guess the wood itself will be (roughly) $5/sf + $5-$7/sf for labour that includes sanding/staining/finishing.

OK...the solid hardwood is factory finished. That's fine. It means that you can choose a solid factory finish so that EVENTUALLY you can get all of this refinished at the same time AND STILL end up with the same floor throughout. What you do is find the SPECIES of the hardwood and the width (and the thickness)...and if you can find the same grade/cut. Sure you can run it perpendicular to the hallway...so long as you are NOT on wood joists. If you have wooden subfloors the direction of the joists will dictate the direction of install. Regardless. So long as you get the same species in solid, you can always sand/refinish everything at once = same floor throughout the home. You do not have to do it today...but it gives you the BEST option to do it later if you want...or just before you put the house up for sale.