You can never go wrong with hardwood. Most of the homes I have seen in the last 14 years have mostly hardwood. It is much easier to keep clean and you don't have to shampoo carpet! Also never use the swiffer wet jet on hardwood floors. It will build up and I have yet to find a way to remove it. No, it was not I who used it. I do love the swiffer dust mop though. I wish I had thought of that one! I have seen one home that stopped at the top of the steps and put carpet in the hallway but, the bedrooms were all carpet and I guess she just wanted them to blend. I have been cleaning her house for 13 years and the hardwood still looks great but the carpet needs to be replaced.

Time to choose stain samples. The upstairs has four different types of wood, so that’s fun. We’re thinking Early American for the downstairs office to try to match the current pine floors (photo 1). Anyone prefer Special Walnut, Provincial or 50 Provincial / 50 Neutral? Upstairs, 3 of the bedrooms have a very red (cherry?) wood so early American didn’t look very good (photo 4). The other bedroom has a mix of woods (photo 3) and the stairs are red oak (no pic). We’ve been advised that a darker stain might work better given everything going on so we’ve been looking at either Provincial, 50 Provincial / 50 Neutral, or 33 Jacobean / 33 Provincial / 33 Neutral. Anyone have a preference between those three? Using water based poly in Satin finish.

IMO the stairs should be the same as the lower floor since IMO they are seen togehter much more often than the stairs and the upper floor. But not a problem to have different flooring on the upper floor.

Thank you Angel. The first flood came from frozen pipes in the ceiling. They were installed too close to the foundation, we had -50C cold snap, and burst when they thawed. It was the line to the laundry room and we didn't even notice the hot water wasn't working, since we wash using cold water. We fixed that issue by moving the pipes into the heated living space, under a small bulkhead (basement ceiling). The last flood came up through the septic system. We have a 45-year-old house and an unusual (for today) septic system. A second tank holds fluids and then it gets drained (underground) into a mound back in the woods. The pump in that tank had failed but we didn't know. Then a toilet ran all day while we were working outside, and grey water came up in the laundry room and flowed out from there. The house does not have a backflow valve. Water wasn't deep - maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of water, just enough to soak the underlay/floor. Good times. At least there were no floaties, thanks to the water running all day and flushing out the lines. We now have a hydromatic pump out there, and we will be installing a wifi-enabled alarm system. Preferably one with a big flashing light! We don't have a back-up pump - hopefully the alarm system does the trick. Thanks for suggesting it, though. I'll mention that, and the battery back-up, to my husband. We definitely don't want to experience that again. We waited 6 years to reno our basement, and we've now refinished it twice in the last 7 months. Hopefully the third time's a charm.