We have similar narrow plank flooring and opted to refinish them rather than replacing. it seemed less wasteful. Plus, we don’t mind the narrow plank flooring as it is a classic look.

Be a shame to rip out that classic oak hardwood flooring. I say refinish that flooring.

Refinish. We did that in our previous house and also added more of the same narrow boards when we replaced the wall to wall carpets upstairs.

chispa that’s another thing we are debating. We need to replace the carpet upstairs as well and we are wondering if we should keep it consistent with these thin planks or get wider planks. The floor persons said it would not look weird if we opt for wider planks as it’s different floors.

Refinish. I actually like your narrow planks, it’s classic to me. If you want the wider planks upstairs, I think that’s fine. I also think that whatever width planks anyone chooses, a very thin or very wide plank will look dated eventually.

Refinish, low gloss. Are you sure no hardwood under carpet? I'd install a matching hardwood floor with the same finish as the refinished existing.

Hi yes I’m sure unfortunately no hardwood under 😫 the wood installer pulled up the carpet to check when he came over for estimate

@Imma S, our existing hardwoods went up the stairs and into the upstairs hallway, so it made the most sense to install the same type in the bedrooms. Our wood floor guy weaved new boards into the olds boards for a seamless look, between bedrooms and the hallway, once it all got sanded and re-stained in a new color.

I would keep any new floors the same, unless your upstairs is completely closed off and you can't see both floors from the hallway/landing upstairs.

Okay you all convinced me to keep these floors and just refinish them! Now I need to decide for the new floors upstairs whether we should keep it consistent with downstairs and use thinner planks, or go for wider planks. Need to let the floor person know by tonight!

Are you choosing between hardwood and engineered wood, or just which engineered wood?

It's red oak, I say rip it out.

@G & S Floor Service wow why? I think they said it's a mix of red and white oak (seems a weird mix but I guess thats how the builder did it initially). Is red okay not good?

@P Banos no Im debating between ripping the old floor out and replace with new engineered wood, or keep them and restain.

So no chance of adding new hardwood then? Are the steps hardwood or carpet?

BTW, I had our oak floors refinished with low gloss and they are beautiful. Your refinisher should be able to show you a couple of choices for color. Mine is a mix of stains. Then a low gloss finish. Perfect.

The floors are very nice. I would do thin planks upstairs too.

If you can afford real hardwood upstairs, I'd go for it. It will, unfortunately, be WAY more expensive than carpet. You might want to cost both options out before making a decision. I wouldn't use a different wood product upstairs unless it's not at all visible from the lower level.

@P Banos ohhhh that sounds really nice thanks for sharing!

Im not considering adding new hardwood because then I would just keep what I have currently. Im just considering refinishing the current hardwood, or install all new engineered. Install all new hardwood is too expensive for us.

@anna_682 okay thank you! Im definitely leaning toward thin upstairs too now :)

@chispa thank you I think that's what we will do as well!

Hey M, I meant just upstairs. But , yes, expensive. Then your floors would all be the same.

Avoid the coloring headaches with red oak. Rip it out and install white oak if, you have the budget. It looks better and much more easier to design with. You have the option to start with a blank canvas. Why not?

@P Banos ah I see what you are saying! So what we are considering are:

1. keep the current floors and just restain them, then for upstairs we will replace the carpet with unfinished wood floors and restain them together with downstairs to make them consistent.

2. rip out the current floors, and get engineered wood for the whole house.

Now we are probably going to go with option 1 based on everyone's feedbacks.

@G & S Floor Service ah so red oak is especially hard to stain? did not know that thanks for the advice.

Good then, I think it will be very nice. You'll want to plan ahead for the disruption if you are already living in the house.

Red oak can be beautiful! I would absolutely keep it. I have red oak in my living areas. Explore stain options with your flooring specialist.

When we renovated our ground floor four years ago we very specifically opted for narrow plank oak which matches the rest of this 1938 house. Why narrow plank? Because: Everyone is doing wide plank. Keep what you have, it's classic.

Major Ground Floor Renovation · More Info

Major Ground Floor Renovation · More Info

i had flooring just like that. Loved it. "engineered" flooring = too much synthetics.

Red Oak is not hard to stain. It's a sampling nightmare. How many samples would you need to see before finding the right color to fit your decor design idea? Red oak natural hues are hard to hide. Browns and white stains do not look good on it. It has always cost less than white oak and will continue to do so. Because of cost, it's the number one choice for builders when it comes to hardwood. It's why you see it in so many new builds.

I personnally would change out the flooring if, my budget allows it. If, you are doing a full gut, do a full gut. You will be able to do the necessary subfloor repairs needed, also.

We had the narrow oak strips in our kitchen and family room and refished them once. It was messy and the finish was not that durable and scratched easily. When we decided to replace all the carpet in our house we decided to go with factory finished hardwood and ripped out what we had. Yes it was a bit wasteful but that is the reality of renovating. We had a houseful of furniture when we ripped them out and we were able to just move the furniture from room to room and put it back immediately. With refinishing we had to wait a week for the floors to be done and dry and even then they were still a bit tacky. Replacement was completely done in 2 days and we didn’t have to move our furniture out into storage. Plus the factory applied finish on hardwood is much stronger in our experience. There are wider plank hardwoods available with a wide selection of finishes. In our case replacement was the better option while living in the house.