Hi, my mom is selling her 1935 home and it had been carpeted for almost 30 years, so instead of having her spend all the money on new flooring or cheapish looking laminate, I told her I would just refinish a couple of her rooms for free. Overall, both seem to be in surprisingly good shape. I'm doing about 550/sq ft for $0.80/sq ft so can't beat that. Anyways I had a few questions about some things that might make the process easier.

First off, I'm pretty sure this is 1.5" red oak, BUT what kind of oak? I'm unsure of what grade though. Would this be common 1 or common 2 or something else?
Link to web album:
https://picasaweb.google.com/tamzan1/1272011?authuser=0&feat=directlink

I can pick up some 2.25" Red Oak in Common 2 and Select at Menards. There is a an odd 12/sq ft section that has pine instead of oak, so I am just going to replace it with the 2.25" Common 2 Oak from Menards. I can get a 20/sq ft bundle for $37 so no biggie there. I will have leftover though that I would like to match the register vents that I am covering up. That wood is 1.5" so the 2.25" wouldn't fit, but I was thinking about mitering down the grooved side down to 1.5" and dropping it in. Another issue that I have, is that I have to put in subfloor for these small register vent openings. What are some ways to piece in some subflooring without tearing up all the oak flooring. Could I just cut out a square and piece it in somehow?

This is the other room I am doing is the blue one. It appears fine, but there are pet stains, but I'm hoping the original finish and all the glue helped keep it in a tolerable state where I can just sand it out. The glue makes it a PITA to sand because it gets clogged in the paper, so I'm hoping the drum sander and edger I'm renting will cut through it fine.

I'm doing Colonial Maple in the blue room and the cherry in the other room. If the cherry turns out too dark, I might just tone it down with some natural stain mixed in with it.

I know it's not the most professional tool in the world, but I think with a little patience and touch I can make this floor pad work to apply the poly if I used the edges and drag it lightly over the wood to prevent streaks, plus I can cut in with it.

Choice of poly was a major PITA decision to make. Of course it's not Bona Kemi or some $120/gal stuff, but with my discount of 20%, it was more affordable for a home my mother is selling to boost the resale value. At $36/gal(with discount), the Varathane water based floor finish seems like good stuff for the DIYer plus the water base will help with speed on the issue. I like oil based looks more and considered the Minwax water based, oil modified poly which has a bit of amber in it, but seeing as how we have dogs in the home, the aluminium oxide additive in the Varathane was more important to me as it hopefully should make a stronger finish to protect against the dogs nails...or at least I hope so.

I appreciate whatever help you guys can give me guys. Hopefully I can get this all done before X-mas!

Jeffcat might wont to get some white oak to mix in that's typical of the year of home I .I like the fact your staining to give floor rich color,your vent repairs can be filled in with the existing floor where your large repair is take wood from that area .wish you best of luck on project. Wentzwood

Are you saying they mixed red and white oak together for that period? I actually don't have anywhere to take existing floor from. The part of the floor I am pulling up is pine....possibly an original utility closet area that they did in pine, that I am now replacing with oak.

take additional flooring from floor repair that matches existing for repair on the focal areas like covering your vents. so you have only 1 area with new wood. you are welcome to call direct with additional ? tom wentzwood az