Engineered is a great option for a glue down floor. Wonderful choices and less expensive and labor intensive than HW, less maintenance, better long term value than laminate.

Can't be hardwood if family room is below grade. So go with engineered!

KAT T, go engineered!

Hi Kat,

Do you have Under Floor Heating? Do you have high humidity levels? If that's the case, I would go for a Wooden Engineered Floor.

These boards have a solid surface with some engineered layers. We normally recommend 3mm to 6mm for the solid layer and we always suggest either American or European Engineered constructions.

Wood will always be more expensive than laminate. But that's because you're paying for a floor that will last your entire life.

Laminate flooring has a very short life when compared to a wooden floor. You can also re-sand the wood to change the color or the finishing. This is something that you can't do with a Laminate.

We wish you all the best with your project!

Sincerely,

Your RFC friends.

No, I don't have either.

In that case, you can't beat the natural beauty of hardwood. No solid below grade though, only engineered. Plus, with some of the new engineered woods, the price difference between laminate (assuming pro installation) shouldn't be that great.

The big cost is in installation. Some years ago, I spent about $13,000 having 1000 square feet of new floors installed, and about $10,000 of that was for the labor. If I'd spent a dollar or two more per square foot on materials (and I wish I had), I would have spent a total of possibly $15,000, which isn't really so much more, in relative terms. I still hate myself for going cheap on that floor.

I live in another house now. The floors are mostly the original hardwood, but one bedroom is laminate. I'd always hated laminate, but really, it's super-easy to maintain. And besides, I only really care about the floor insofar as it serves as a frame for my beautiful rugs.

Kat and Liz -- one of the most common complaints from people who buy flooring is that they wish they had spent a little more for better quality. As you point out, the price difference is not that great.

I would do vinyl plank in a basement and add an area rug