Assuming you have access to the space under the house, could you shim between your subfloor (plywood?) and joists? This is often done before the floor is installed to level the subfloor.

I have seen plywood subfloors leveled with large shims for small depressions. The leveling compounds on wood do not have a good track record.

Hello alex, thanks for replying.

The floor is actually on the 2nd level, above my wife's sewing room. There are no obvious signs that the ceiling in her room is sloping. So it just seems to be more-or-less a localized phenomonon.

I say "more-or-less" because there has been settling in the past. I did have some construction men come in a while back, to lift a couple areas. I thought this would do more than it did. It certainly made substantial cracks in the drywall in a few places. But not much change in the floor in question.

I appreciate your comments about the floor leveling compound, and the other possibilities. I'd hate to get down to below the subfloor to level this floor. I believe if it comes to that I will heed my wife's advice, and just go with it the way it is.

I still am at a bit of a loss. Your comments about shimming beneath the subfloor could well be valid in this case (I'd never even thought about this option!). But I sure'd rather not "go there" if possible. Even leveling beneath the finish floor would be a pain and require quite a bit of flooring replacement.

I appreciate any additional feedback on this issue....but there's sure a part of me that wouldn't mind following my wife's advice and just calling it "character".

Thanks alex, and thanks in advance for any additional feedback.

-k2 in CO.

i have been thinking about your problem floor,the best i could come up with is to take the hardwood up in the area that sags,find out where the problem is ,fix it and reinstall the wood,then procede with your refinish.before you start make sure you have a matching size,style,grain ect.to fill in the pieces you have to cut.this will take some extra effort,but the final result will be worth it.......good luck

Thank you, Carpetman.

I am working with a flooring company who's helping with replacement boards and will be renting me the equipment, so matching isn't too big a problem. If anything, I'm seeing that the #2 red oak in use 22 years ago was better quality than the #2 in use today (big surprise!)--so I've had to go to #1 to get a reasonable match. It probably will stand out some, however.

Still not sure if I want to replace that much flooring, but I'm sure you're correct--that it's the best way to go.

Thanks again carpetman,
-k2 in CO