I have a 1940s bungalow that has hardwood floors underneath the icky carpet. I want hardwood in my dining room and hallway where there is currently carpeting. I wanted to just refinish or restore whats underneath, and then put linoleum or whatever in my kitchen (no existing hW there). But my brother in law says that we should tear everything out and put down new, prefinished planks, so that the kitchen could be hardwood as well. My mom and i were thinking that the 1940s hardwood floors would be more valuable, as a selling point, not to mention tearing all of that out and starting over would be alot of work and alot more expensive than having someone come in and refinish.

So my question is, (assuming my current floors are in good enough condition to refinish/restore) would it be better to just keep them and refinish or tear out and install prefinished floors? Are the materials used back in the 40s more durable than what they have out now? Would a potential buyer be more impressed with old refinished floors rather than brand new prefinished flooring? My BIL says that the prefinished are better because they bake the planks in the oven making them more durable.

Thanks in advance!
Mich

Refinish them! Less money and time. Also, the flooring MAY be of better quality than available today. Could be quarter sawn white oak with borders. That would be nice! The floors were built and designed with the original architecture in mind and I'm all for preserving the original design, especially the Bungalow and Arts and Crafts designs.

Thank you for your reply! That is what I was thinking, that the older stuff would be of better quality. My mom was saying that having the original flooring would be a good selling point, as we may sell in a few years.

-Mich

Keep what you have. There's also no reason you can't add to it in your kitchen. You could even go with a different species in the kitchen area if you feel you can't match the original wood.