We are in the process of remodeling our house we just bought. It has 5/16" red oak solid hardwood in 3 bedrooms. However the living and family rooms are carpet, laminate respectively which we want to remove.
Regarding the hardwood, it looks in good condition. Our contractor says it will last for about 2 refinishes.

We are now deciding between 2 options:
1) Refinish old hardwood in bedrooms and install matching solid wood in living/family rooms. Will cost us $7000
2) Remove all flooring and install engineered wood throughout. Will set us back $9000.

Our contactor is pushing for option 2 since he thinks the current wood in the house is anyways not great quality to keep. But I believe solid hardwood might get some advantage during resale. How difficult is the maintainence of either with a small kid. Any help is appreciated.

Oh gosh, I don't think either option is great. First, if you have "solid" 5/16" wood, yes, your installer is right - this is not good wood at all. If he says you can sand and refinish it, it's possible, but eventually you will need to replace it - maybe in 7-10 yrs.

I'm not a big fan of engineered hardwood, especially when you have the option for solid hardwood (I'm assuming you have a plywood solid hardwood floor).

So, my priority would be to add solid hardwood to the new areas first. This is the most important and is a no brainer. Then, if budget allows, replace the cheap wood w/ solid in the other rooms. Next, best option is to refinish the cheap wood in the existing rooms (if it can be refinished) and save money until you can afford to rip it up and replace it. Or else do nothing in those rooms, save your money and do those later when you can afford to do it right.

This will give you better quality floors and save you a lot of money in the long run and improve your resale value.

Debbie Gartner, aka The Flooring Girl.