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Wood vs. Engineered Wood? No contest in this case. If the home was built in 1905, put real hardwood in. This preserves the integrity of the home's building materials. Plus, as you can see from the age of these floors, higher grades (i.e. thicker) hardwood can be sanded several times; you usually don't get even one chance to sand engineered wood. The hardwood layer at the top of this multilayered product is simply too thin. Level Floors and Subfloors There are ways to level a subfloor, ranging from replacing parts of the subfloor with thicker or thinner sheets of plywood (or planks, see below), to pour-on leveling compounds that harden to make the entire floor level. What you use to level uneven areas depends on what the subflooring is. If it is plywood or concrete, the compound works. But more likely with this home, on floors at or above grade, there will be wood planks laid at a diagonal across the floor joists. So in your home, the layers were probably joists first, then subfloor planks of wood, then hardwood with tongue & groove joints. You cannot effectively use a pour-on leveling compound on a plank subfloor, as there are cracks between the planks. However, you can lay a new hardwood floor directly on a wood plank subfloor as long as those planks are sound and relatively level. Replace individual planks that have been damaged by water or insects, are otherwise compromised, or even missing (it happens!), with either new planks of lumber, or with plywood of the same thickness as the planks. Any lumber you install, for either the subfloor or finished flooring, should be brought in to your home several days prior to installation, so the materials acclimatize to your typical interior temperature and humidity. Unlike for ceramic or porcelain tile, the subfloor does not have to be perfectly level. And unlike vinyl sheeting, planks or tiles, the hardwood won't "telegraph" minor differences in height, and minor surface irregularities, so the subfloor doesn't have to be absolutely perfect; it should be sound, strong, uniform and essentially level. Your flooring contractor can give you specifics on what upgrades your subfloor may need once the original hardwood is removed. Joists If the floor is significantly not level in parts, or if certain areas feel spongy when you walk on them, I recommend you have your flooring contractor, a home inspector, or structural engineer inspect the subflooring and especially the floor joists. You don't want to invest in a new floor, only to have it become damaged because some joists weren't attended to. Transitions Transitions (a.k.a. thresholds or molding) between existing rooms and the new floor ought to be made of the same wood and same finish (stain, polyurethane, etc.) as the new flooring you are putting down. As wood ages, the finish becomes darker, so trying to make the transitions match the finishes of existing floors is very difficult and not recommended (what will match those floors right now won't match later after your transitions age up a bit). Eventually, the transitions wouldn't match either the new or the old floors! Transitions come in four types: reducer (when the two floors being joined are of different heights), seam binder (when the floors are the same height, and the boards from each are very close to one another), T-mold (when the two floors are the same height, but there is a crack between the two rooms' flooring) and stair nose or stair edger (when the flooring needs to curve around the front of a stair's "tread"--the flat part of a stair upon which you tread!). The transitions for your particular project can be ordered when you order the hardwood, so make sure to include measurements for those doorways/entrances. The contractor can tell you if he/she anticipates there will be a height difference or gap between the floorings, which would require those particular transitions. Dry Air Concerns Consult a local lumber supplier or flooring contractor familiar with your local climate conditions to discuss finishes or other tips for keeping your wood floors healthy in the dry winters. Sounds wonderful! Have fun!

Please do NOT use Rejuvenate or Mop N Glow or Orange Glow or any POLISH on your floors. These "restores your floor's finish to a healthy glow" type of products are temporary polymer products that are considered a "floor polish". Bona produces a 'cleaner' (which sounds like the product you are using) as well as a "polish" with "restorative" properties. The polishes are to be avoided like the plague. While the short term benefit of added sheen is a bonus, the LONG TERM difficulties are the massive down side to these products. If you start down the road to "polishing" you will be caught in a horrible "wax-on; wax-off" situation. You will need to apply the product every 6 months or so. The product "builds up" and looks waxy or plasticky after awhile. And then you need to STRIP the product every fifth or sixth application (every 2-3 years). That means a chemical stripper and "hands and knees" scrubbing for hours and hours and hours. And then you have your dull floor once again. You get to start the whole cycle all over again. Whew. It is exhausting. And this is why we say "No polishes!" on your hardwood. They are far more trouble then they are worth.

@shead, it is not an either/or between engineered and onsite finishing. I am planning to get an engineered floor — that will be supplied with the raw white oak top layer (to the thickness I specify) and it will be finished on site. There will not be bevels between the planks. I can specify the quality of the wood of the white oak (character grade or less knots — I’ve forgotten what all the grade levels are called). It is my understanding that if I want boards over 3 or 4” wide, the engineered boards help prevent cupping, curling and etc distortions. The humidity in the house also needs to be controlled. Although I love the look of really wide planks, I understand that people have more problems with 10” and wider boards so I plan to stay around 7”. There are various companies that offer this raw wood engineered product. The color of the white oak varies from where the trees are grown so that may impact your choice (and mine). I haven’t yet decided on what sealer (or stain) I’ll use — the installer will provide samples on site. If I go with Bona for the sealer, I also plan to use the Bona water-based protective coat (leaning towards 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD as the installer uses that a lot and is not as familiar with the similar quality Loba product). The installer also uses Rubio Monocoat; I haven’t researched that yet to see how it compares to Bona. So far, I haven’t heard a downside to taking this route — if there are any pros out there that think differently, please let me know.