We're at the framing stage now. At demo, the guys pulled up 2 layers of linoleum in our 1930 Spanish to reveal tongue-and-groove wood floors. The GC says they are fir--not quite hardwood, but a perfectly serviceable softwood. IF the floor lady can sand through all of the adhesive, he thinks they will look beautiful, if a bit rustic. (There are some loose joints.) If we can't salvage the fir, then they'll have to lay plywood and put new wood on top of that. The floor will have to come up at least an inch unless we rip everything out and start over. Hope not. The rest of the house has red oak with dark walnut accents.

I had the exact same issue. Initially they thought they could do it. But my house is old and when they did the demo they said the way they did the spacing of the supports under the wood on the older section cannot be duplicated today and the floor would never look even and the old section would always be a little higher and "squeaky". Ended up doing the whole floor. However, the hallways are old hardwood as well and the transition (via a doorway) seems fine.

My subfloor is 1 inch thick pine planks that are layed diagonal. There is a utility closet where the floors stop at and there is a piece of plywood in that closet. I can see the edge of the oak board and there is a quarter inch gap between the oak and where the plywood starts. I can see the diagonally laid pine planks but there is no underlayment there. It might have been removed when the plywood was put in the closet. The closet holds the water heater and furnace. When they took up the original floor that was in the closet, they may have removed any underlayment before putting down the pine. Where the edge of the hardwood stops and where the plywood begins, the area is too small to be able to see if anything is under the oak. I would have to damage a piece of the board to find out. It is not important that i know im just curious.

What's your counter top? As much as I love the look of blue slate up against a wood floor, it would look weird if it is the ONLY punch of blue/gray in the entire kitchen. If in doubt, look to your counter tops to help pick your floor. It is a very simple (yet elegant) form of DIY Design which helps homeowners complete the look without having all the stress of picking 'another colour' for the floors.