Hardwood Floor Refinishing - Dealing with Oddities

Hi all,

I recently purchased my first home and pulled up carpets to find (mostly) gorgeous hardwood floors in need of refinishing.

The catch is that there are several spots with oddities that I'm not sure how to handle prior to having them sanded and polyurethaned. I'm looking for any bright and creative ideas for how to improve the situation.


Issue 1 -
The original owners removed four fireplaces throughout the house and replaced the hearth area with non-flooring wood pieces that are roughly the same width as my original hardwood but a different color. These are pictures:



What are my options? Can the flooring guy treat it the same way as the rest of the floor (sand and poly)? Should I try to have him mix up a stain to match the rest of the wood? What about any ideas in the way of putting a non functional fireplace with a nice hearth back in the place of the old ones?

Issue 2 -
There are multiple spots where the original flooring is currently patched either because holes (~1 inch diameter) were drilled or just because of large gaps. How do I handle that prior to having the flooring guy come in? Picture 4 in link.



Issue 3 -
There is one section where they apparently pulled up a floor board and it is now loose with wide gaps between two boards. Do I have to have the flooring guy replace them alltogether? Any other ideas?
Picture 5 in link.



Issue 4 -
There was some settlement around the load bearing wall on the first floor. The hardwood adjacent to the wall has cracked significantly. Is that just something I keep as-is and chalk up to character in a 90 year old house, or is there an efficient way to deal with it?
Picture 6 in link,



I appreciate any feedback you can give on the above issues!

A first time homeowner.

Also, the existing flooring is nailed directly to the joists with no subfloor. At least that's the case on the groundfloor. Does that cause any problems for me?

I can not bring up your pics. I would take a little time and see if the settling can be fixed before you have the floor done. This would be the best time.

Sorry, here are the pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100949...authkey=Gv1sRgCJOykee95YyklwE&feat=directlink

Your pics. of the floor are still not there.

You can't access the link in my last post? I was able to just now.
Here it is again:
https://picasaweb.google.com/100949...authkey=Gv1sRgCJOykee95YyklwE&feat=directlink

If the link doesn't show up for some reason, copy the URL into your browser.

The photos are there now.
To do this properly you would need to find the same wood that is milled to the same shape and size and find a really good floor repair guy.
The fireplace patch was just brought to level for carpet I suspect. The tim patch covers the hole for hot water radiader and has a lot of water dammage around it that should be replaced.
The area where the cables are are the biggest concern because that indicates structure damage and needs to be addressed no matter what else you do. Can you get to the area below to get a pic. of the structure there.
If I was going to re finnish a floor I would want to have it in really good shape first and, you may find it cheaper to put in new.