"We installed hardwood over existing hardwood going in the same direction - although there was no subfloor, so pulling it up wasnt really an option. No problems at all." You had no subfloor? The hardwood was nailed every 16" directly to the joists? Did you do the work or did some contractor convince you that this was the situation? I Have not seen that in 40 years of remodeling old homes and will probably never see it. As I said before, TAKE UP THE OLD FLOOR!

Does anyone know if you can install pre-finished hardwood flooring over existing hardwood? If so, what are the top pre-finished brands that you are aware of? Can this be a less expensive option than refinishing hardwood floors? Thanks Amy

The answer could be "Yes". It could be "No" or it could be "maybe...it depends". The trick with this is that new hardwood does not like sitting over top of OLD finishes...like polyurethane. And new hardwood needs FLAT. So the chances are VERY high that you need to SAND DOWN your old hardwoods (to remove the finish AND to flatten any obvious areas of concern). That should cost you $2/sf. Now the fun part...getting patch down where it is needed. It is possible but old hardwoods don't normally like to have concrete patch put down on them. They can. But they aren't fond of it. The cement patch often cracks and disintegrates as those old floors move. You will still need patch = $1/sf (on the LOW end). The other fun thing is: you probably have to install the floors perpendicular to the old floors....which will be AGAINST the installation instructions/warranty (most hardwoods must be installed perpendicular to the joists...which would be your OLD hardwoods...but the NEW one's would be perpendicular to THOSE = parallel to your joists = against all "Best Practices"). The way around this = DIAGONAL (lay it at a 45deg. angle). This should increase your WASTE into the 15% range = 15% more expensive than anticipated. So if you add up all the "trouble" you will go to, you will be paying about the same or MORE to do this. Of course you could throw down some plywood over top the old hardwood = go ahead as a normal install. But that puts you too high---so your ONE option to do this "cheaply" is not on your list. Go ahead and remove those old hardwoods (I'm assuming they are so OLD that they cannot be sanded and refinished). Lay new plywood and then install the new hardwood. The cost to do this properly should add $2-$3/sf (labour and plywood included). If you do this the "cheater" way, it should cost you $2-$6/sf (that includes the diagonal install with extra waste) and lose you your warranty. After all that money for the hardwood and install, that would be a sad state of affairs.

To the design question, of course you can have two different floors on two different levels. So long as the wood stairs match the 'main level' where the public would be most likely to be, then the private areas (such as upstairs bedrooms etc) can be whatever floats your boat. Lots of people have tile and wood on the main floor and then carpet on the upper levels. Totally acceptable. Now for the technical stuff. Vinyl has a chemical reaction to wood FINISHES. Yes. The colour you don't like is part of the wood finish. That colour has a tough finish over it (polyurethane). That polyurethane is most likely a petroleum product. The vinyl is 100% petroleum product. The two petro based products are going to have a chemical reaction. The wood floors will STAIN the vinyl sitting on top of them AND the vinyl is going to STAIN the wood sitting below it. Now for the MOISTURE issues. Vinyl acts like a water proof sheet. The vapour escaping from the wood below is going to hit the bottom of the vinyl. The moisture will be trapped. It will drip down onto the wood causing it to rot. Yah. Rot. So you not only have stained vinyl (ruined) you also have squishy, moldy, sticky hardwoods sitting below it (ruined). Now you have to replace both products. The advice = sand/refinish the hardwood on the main floor to a colour that works with the stairs. Average cost of a sand/refinish = $5/sf. It is one of the cheapest flooring 'purchases' you can make. Can you load a photo of the bad hardwood?