I would keep the original hardwood. You said yourself they're in good shape and you like the color. A little squeaking wouldn't be a big enough reason for me to invest thousands in new flooring.

I would keep. :-)

If your close up photo is representative of the whole area, I would keep it.

I would keep them. How old is your house? We were looking for houses built in the 40’s or earlier and ruled out any with Engineered flooring.

Both are very different looks. The new one is updated but yes a lot of cost involved. The old floor has great graining and its a nice color. Seems the verdict is stay with what you have unless you have deep pockets ; - )

The home is over 100 years old and the closeup photo is representative of what the rest of the home’s flooring looks like. :)

Yes keep what you have! Refinish if you must.

If it's a 100 year old house I would definitely keep the original. Most buyers of older homes want character and the new wide plank stuff just doesn't look right, even when they try to make it look reclaimed or whatever. It also just doesn't wear as well. We just refinished floors very similar to yours in our old house and they came out great. They also take abuse better than I was expecting them to.

Another vote for keeping your original floors.

@raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio

"creaky spots can be fixed."

Given the age of the home (100+ years), I'm not sure what, if any, type of subfloor there is under the hardwood flooring. Is it still possible to fix the creaky spots? If yes, that would be amazing and the no-brainer solution to keeping the original flooring!

Do you have a basement that doesn't have a finished ceiling? In my 80 year old house, I can look up from the basement and see what the floor construction is. There will be some kind of support for the hardwood on top of the joists.

There are several different methods for fixing squeaks -- google this and you will find videos from several sources (like This Old House, Bob Vila, and various floor repairmen) showing how it is done.

Check to see how thick the wood is. A full sand and refinish requires 3mm of wood ABOVE the tongue and groove. You might find your wood floor has made the decision for you.

If you still have another sand/refinish left in those floors, I would have them refinished. A professional flooring installer/refinisher can come in and deal with some of the squeaky areas (some use screws from below if possible, some screws from above with patch to cover the screw heads). Once the squeaks have been dealt with as much as possible, the sand/refinish can happen.

And to be helpful with a baby who is a light sleeper, you can install/plug in a 'white noise' machine (aka a small fan) in the room. This will reduce the impact of sudden noises on babe's ears.

And be aware that installing new hardwoods (engineered or solid, doesn't matter) the 'fixing' of the subfloor could double the cost of the project. Yes. Double.

A sand/refinish is roughly $5/sf. If you add in some 'squeak maintenance' you can add another $2/sf to that. A new subfloor that has been shimmed and reconstructed to be flat and level could be $5-$7/sf (materials and labour). Then you have the cost of the wood floor and the cost of the install.

Keep! It's the charm of the house. Not sure if you noticed, but 2/3 of your reasons to change are not even sure things "possibly add sound insulation" and "we may need to replace someday."

The original floors are classic and beautiful. They will look nice with any style. I love the color too. I’d keep them!