Per a suggestion here, I watched Don Bollinger's video on installing hardwood flooring. In the video, he shows the process of putting hardwood in several rooms, and finishing up down a long hallway and butting up to pre-existing hardwood in the bedroom. My question is this. The video shows the new wood in the hallway being installed right up to the bedroom hardwood. Don't you need the 3/4" expansion joint??? Also, for kitchen cabinets, do you install the hardwood right up to them, or leave 3/4" gap?

I removed the carpet in my den and was suprised to find solid oak parquet flooring. What appears to have happened is that the prior owners decided to put in carpeting, then painted and covered the wood with the carpet. The didn't care about protecting the wood. There is a clear shape of an area rug, a couple of side tables, and the remaining space received a fine mist of latex flat paint. There are also a couple of serious paint splatters. Is there anything which can be done short of refinishing the entire floor? Aside from this odd paint treatment the floors are in mint condition. Any help would be appreciated.