Even without knowing the kind of wood or condition, I can't imagine replacing wood flooring in an 1890 home. In my opinion, the value is in the original material. If the floor is in good condition, it may not need sanding at all; a screening and recoat might be all that's necessary and the patina would be retained. There are many threads on this topic, try searching the Old House forum. I live in a converted schoolhouse built in 1890. The fir floors had been covered with layers of linoleum, glue, paint ... they were a mess.. but looked awesome after refinishing. That was years ago and I'm planning to have them screened soon (aka buff and recoat.) What kind of wood is it? Do you have photos?

If the cabinets are solid wood are they able to be sanded and refinished and stained a different color perhaps or left natural with a clear coat finish? I am a BIG fan of solid wood cabinets, however, I agree they look out of place with the newly refinished floors. I do like the option of painting but in my experience, paint is a pain as it does come off with wear and tear and I will never have painted cabinets ever in my kitchen again.

OK...if the current oak is solid (3/4") you have a 20 year old floor that can live another 60 years. If you pull it you have wasted 60 years worth of flooring. That's a bit of a shame. To refinish oak/wood floors = $5-$7/sf. That's it. That's all. That includes labour and materials. Now, to remove it = $2/sf. And you still have NOTHING. To replace it = $7 - $12/sf for material + $4-$5 for labour = $11 - $17/sf. Hmmmmm. That $7/sf sounds pretty good right now, doesn't it. Right. Here's the best case scenario for wood everywhere. 1. Get species match (not all oak is white...just sayin'). 2. Get plank width/cut/grade match (yah...they are all different) 3. Get a wood flooring pro (someone who ONLY does wood floors...not some person with a hammer) to come in a do all the removal of all your other materials ($1-$2/sf...depending) 4. Have him/her lace in all the new wood into the existing wood (do the 1/2 bath and kitchen...no issues there) 5. Have everything sanded and finished all at once. When a wood flooring pro is offered a big, juicy, well paying job, they often give a small discount on the refinishing bit for the old hardwood. In other words, they are already there for a big job...what's it to them to sand an extra 400sf of old stuff? Not much. All their tools are already on site. They are making their income on the BIG stuff (install/demolition) what's a $1/sf on the old stuff between friends? See where I'm going with this? You can save a snick of money on the old floors by adding in a BIGGER job for the wood flooring PRO...something s/he can really sink their teeth into for several days worth of work.

The areas that are darker were because they didn’t sand those areas during the redo, they only buffed them for the final coat of poly, from what I understand. We sent photos to the PM (before they stained!) of them leaving those areas instead of sanding the entire floor and he assured us it would blend “seamlessly”. I really hate this because the crew did work hard, but the crew leader is the one that told them to not sand everything. He will not be getting paid now which will probably mean the workers won’t get paid which truly sucks IMO. The PM finally responded saying they’ll be there Monday morning to fix it. We replied saying it needs to be a different crew, the best they have and to have his manager contact us as they began the floor refinishing a month ago and now we are having to pay an extra month of mortgage and utilities in our current home. Regarding the current state of the floors, it appears they need a complete sand and finish correct? I’m not sure I trust anyone they send out to only fix those areas. They also sanded so deep in a hallway it’s about an 1/8” difference from where they had left the previous finish. (3rd photo) Thank you all for your advice.