We have been hemming and hawing over Hardwood, Engineered Hardwood, Laminate or Vinyl/Linoleum. There are many good reasons to go with each of these types of floor. We are not considering ceramic tile, primarily because the thought of dropping a cup and shattering it is not appealing, but also because the extra weight would require a lot of strengthening to be added to the sub-floor.
We also want to use the same material in the kitchen as the living room as one room is closely tied to the other. There is a six foot opening between the living room leading in to the kitchen. We think it makes sense for both of these rooms to have the same look, so the flooring should be the same.
Since we don't want linoleum in the living room, we don't want to put it in the kitchen, although of course we could easily divide it at the opening, my wife doesn't really care for it in general.
So we are down to using some form of wood. Laminate flooring is significantly less expensive, and can be significantly easier to install. But cost and ease of installation are not my primary motivation. Long lasting material, good appearance and eventual benefit to selling price are more motivating to me.
So we are going to use hardwood, or engineered hardwood. Hardwood is usually sold in three inch wide strips and are individually nailed down. Engineered Hardwood is actually a quarter-inch (or much less as we found out today) veneer of hardwood on top of three to five-eighths of plywood. These strips are sold in three or five inch widths, and can be nailed, stapled, glued or "floated." Ah! Even more choices!
We went to a flooring store today called "Lumber Liquidators" if you are looking for inexpensive flooring, boy do they have it, but it is cheap! The veneer is only a very thin layer on the top, too thin for my liking.
We eventually ended our day at the place my contractor friend recommended and they had some material we had seen before, but at a lower price. The man working there was also very helpful filling in information no one had given me before and really offering to help me as a do-it-yourselfer. He offered to send home some samples with us, and if I brought back the layout, he would make out material list we needed for all of the molding, edging with the carpet etc. etc. I really felt like he wanted to help me. We took home his samples and this is what they look like in our house under natural light coming in through the front windows.
These are both the same material, "hand scraped" maple, one is stained with a darker brown with yellow tinge, the other is a little lighter stain with a red tinge. You can see closeups of each under direct flash light in the photo album.
"Hand scraped" hardwoods have intentional defects in the surface such that when future defects are added by us, they won't be so noticeable.
We are pretty sure we like this brand and price, we just have to choose the color. The installation process is pretty straightforward. First put down 3/8" plywood underlayment and staple it in place. Second put down Kraft paper, for a little fill between the boards. Third put the flooring down and staple it in place.
Should be great when it's done. In two weeks!
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