You need to do a little more archeological digging still. You need to know the whole construction of the floor before you can decide how best to install something new. I'd take up that plywood piece in the kitchen and see what's under it. It's higher than the surrounding floor, so needs to go. You should also be able to see from there what subfloor is under the original kitchen hardwood. It's too bad the space under your entryway is finished, but I'd still do some exploring from below to see what's under there, and to figure out the fix to stop it from squeaking. Is it drywall below or a drop ceiling? I know it probably seems like a pain to tear out drywall, but if you cut out a clean patch, like 2' x the width of the joists, it'll be relatively simple to repair. Just make sure to cut it down the center of the joists so that there's room to screw the patch piece to it later. Cut the hole under the area that squeaks the most, if you can. Have someone walk on and watch the floor from below to see what's moving. It might be as simple as pounding in a couple shims from below, or face-nailing a loose board from above. You want to find out what's underneath the hardwood. It might be laid directly on the floor joists, or there might be 10" wide boards that the hardwood is nailed to. Another thought is to take out a board in the hallway, since that's not original and you want to replace it. See what the subfloor is there. I am a bit puzzled at why, when you've stripped the kitchen down to the original hardwood, it's still higher than the hallway floor. Is your current surface perhaps not the original kitchen hardwood? Peeling back the plywood area will help determine that. BTW, I haven't heard of that stop squeaking product you linked to, so can't offer any personal opinion. And don't pour self-leveling compound over top of hardwood. It needs to go over plywood.

Hi wi-sailorgirl, We have narrowed it down to exactly the same two Teragren floors - either the Synergy chestnut or the Portfolio Darby Brown. We are leaning toward the Darby Brown. Can you tell me how the actual color of the Darby brown relates to the pictures online? Is it darker, lighter, etc... Also, did you decide to order in online and with who? Any advice would be greatly appreciated since we are planning on installing 1200 sq ft in the coming month or so. Thanks in advance!

I think it really depends on the brand you choose. My GC has bamboo in his house and he HATES it - swears he'll never use it again and will advise his clients the same. When I told him my cousin was considering it for their beach house, he had pretty strong opinions. He said that the first time he had a party at his house, his floors were totally destroyed the next day b/c of the women wearing high heels. Personally, I would not want to have to tell my guests, esp. at a party, to remove their shoes. He also said that besides the issue with the heels, it scratches VERY easily, and that the scratches are a different color than the finish, so they are VERY noticeable. So my cousin tried abusing his samples - he had one that was considered "commercial grade" and while that one did hold up better than the residential, it still scratched kind of easily. And the scratches were a different color. He decided to go with it, since theirs is a beach house and bamboo IS great w/moisture, plus they are in the habit of removing their shoes at home anyway. it's being installed now. I'm worried about it for them though, as they keep their primary residence meticulously won't be happy if the floors end up living up to their reputation. Plus they plan to rent it, and you can't dictate your tenants also remove their shoes. We'll see...

So we decided to float the new calibamboo floor over preexisting hardwood floor using 6mm cork underlayment. My questions is should we glue the underlayment down and then glue the calibamboo to the cork underlayment? What do we gain by doing this as opposed to just floating the floor? Suggestions? Thanks Cork underlayment: https://www.amazon.com/QEP-4-Inch-4-Foot-25-Foot-Underlayment/dp/B007OSICIS/ref=pd_sim_60_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5T2Z724661N9C6A96P1H