My right-hand man, who shall remain nameless (Grant), is thinking of doing his basement rec room in wood. Engineered is what we're told, so far, what we should use. Now, I know some of you are humidity and moisture savvy (read Houston). Any brands, things to look for (or out for)?
I used a Bruce engineered wood floor, adhesive installed on a monolithic slab about 625 ft sq. about seven years ago, no issues, in an area with lots of dew point differential.
I think the engineered floors are more temp, humidiy change tolerant.
I also installed about 300 feet of 2-7/8" wide, 3/4" thick solid oak in my office upstairs. Local salvage company had a shed full of it. When I finished the job the cost of flooring, nails, renting the sander, finish materials, was less than $10/sq. yd. After running those numbers I went back to buy the whole shed full, but it was gone.
I don't have any big humidity issues here in the Arizona desert, but I did put down Bruce engineered flooring in my dinette area. I did the floating method to get around a slab crack that kept breaking tiles. This stuff is 3" wide and random lengths. I put it over a vapor barrier with a thin foam attached.
It has been great for over two years and wears like iron.
worked equally well. Both are very good quality. If below grade you need a poly moisture barrier. I installed both as floating floors and they went in easily and look great.
I put down a floating Maple engineered wood floor in our master bathroom about 5 years ago. It is holding up very well. Would I do it again in a bathroom? No. We don't like having to be very careful about water being spilled/dripped on the floor after a bath or shower. Anywhere else but the kitchen, fine. I don't recall the brand however I got it from HD, I seriously doubt it was a common name brand.
I used bamboo in the kitchen. I thought I'd have trouble with drips from the ice maker and sink but it was fine. The only thing I didn't like about it was the semi-gloss finish. It showed spots pretty badly. No, I wouldn't use it in a bathroom. Tile is too easy.
Bamboo is dirt cheap too. I went with it because it was cheaper,=20 including installation, than even a medium grade vinyl (that it=20 replaced). It looks far better. If I'd known how easy to put down=20 I would have done it myself. It would have taken a while but I=20 would have done a better job.
BTW, if you go with bamboo the vertical stuff is much nicer, IMO. I=20 have the horizontal in the great room and dining room of our new=20 place and don't like it nearly as well as the vertical carbonized=20 medium we had in our last home. Also, 6' boards look better than=20 the 3' and are only a little more expensive.
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