I wish I would have seen this thread before purchasing my wood floors from Appalachian!! I DO NOT recommend at all. I bought white oak floors (Alta Mode line) and when they were first installed they were beautiful. But after a few months, they look so dirty! I purchased these knowing they were “sealed” which is completely false. The grain is open allowing for any dirt to enter, an no amount of hand scrubbing can even get them cleaned. Two pictures show under a rug, and the other picture in an area that’s exposed. I was told the warranty means nothing. So sad considering they were $10sqft!

Could be almost anything. If you're going replace the thin slat florring anyway, then have at it and remove the stuff; you will then reveal what you have beneath it and be able to decide if it is worth restoring. I have done many restorations and there was only one floor that was DOA. Sounds as if your house has had lots of "remuddling" over the years; it's amazing what a DIYer with poor vision can do to nice architecture.

I just used the Feast and Watson Liming stain and varnish on my cypress pine boards....an absolute disaster! Doing a bit of google research I find sooooo many people who've had the same experience. I spoke to a couple of professional guys who said 'don't do it' (I still did). Sometimes it works out ok....but often it doesn't. Followed the instructions to the letter and still it went badly blotchy. Whenever the roller touched previously painted, it just grabbed at it. I've just had to sand the whole floor back again :(

It's a tough call to make because many of the pictures out there with wider planks look good. But they tend to be engineered wood - and honestly there's nothing wrong with that. They're a bit more stable dimensionally when it comes to cupping/curling so they're preferred if you want to go that way. Our builder spec'd a 2.5" red oak but we upgraded to a 4" white oak with simple stain. Compromise was that in areas with a herringbone pattern we mixed both to make it look more interesting. Here's what our 4" looks like.