We are in the midst of a larger project and are preparing to have a professional lay down hardwood floor in the dining room and kitchen (open concept, rectangular room). I would appreciate your insight/experience which underlayment to choose (paper only vs. cushion vs. vapor barrier/cushion) and if there are any specific materials or brands you can recommend (budget-friendly). I read a few posts and tried to gather as much information as possible. -- Installing 250 sq. ft. -- solid, pre-finished white oak - 4" blanks - standard tong and groove -- dining room and kitchen are above a garage (not heated) - insulation and fire-rated ceiling will be added in garage as part of the project -- floor joints run along the long side of the room -- sub-floor (?) runs across the room - wood is solid and dry, so we are not planning on changing it -- dining room has a large opening towards the living room with existing oak hardwood. The new floor is the same thickness as the existing one. -- steam heat and window air conditioning Our preference would be to lay the floors along the long side of the room to match the living room. Thank you in advance for your help!

I think you can have solid...just work with a narrower plank. The cut is also important. Some cuts are much more stable than others. Rift sawn lumber is more dimensionally stable (and more expensive) than other cuts. I would personally look for a narrow plank (more stable + cheaper installation costs) in a Rift Sawn presentation (most dimensionally stable + more expensive). I would guess you would end up spending about the same amount this way. Yet you get a more stable wood with fewer problems in a home without the added stability of humidity control. Of course you can move to engineered to avoid SOME of these concerns...but even engineered has limits re: humidity control (or lack there of).

Floating floors with a "click together edge" requires it to keep the floors intact. A floating engineered hardwood is often a glue-edge technique. This is different from a click-together-edge (but some engineered hardwood floors now offer the glueless floating floor option). The click-edges have LIMITED "grab". Once that grab has been exceeded, the floor will rip itself apart at the narrowest point = doorways (point of least resistance). An floating engineered wood floor has glue that holds the planks together. And glue has a much BETTER hold. The glue allows engineered floating hardwoods to run through pinch points and have longer runs. The installation instructions for this particular floor are quite vague....which is a question I have about the instructions. And the floating floor instructions make mention of transitions....but not WHERE or WHY to put them in. Which tells me there is some sort of limitation....but that limitation has been left out by the manufacturer. The problem now for the OP remains: an uneven floor height in a space that is very small, with three different substrates and three different strategies to work them "flat". I would say even a seasoned flooring installer with years of experience would find this area quite challenging. A DIYer is going to have a ton of trouble just to get this area cleaned up and levelled.

My concern is whether or not the rubber is meant to be used as underlayment for flooring. The edges of the rubber seems pretty rough to me. Are they new? How long have they been hanging out in a dusty environment? Do they have an odour? Some of these rubber products will give a nasty odour for years and years and years. The flooring underlayment is specifically made to ensure this does not happen. And the odour, even if it is mild right now, will get MUCH stronger as the space warms up (like in direct sunlight, etc). And then there are the asthmatics out there. There are MANY people who are chemically sensitive to rubber particles that are left to float in the air. Again, the flooring underlayments made of rubber are specifically made to reduce the deterioration of the product to a minimum. And I won't get into the group of people who are allergic to latex (created from rubber trees that are almost exclusively used to create these rubber products). Someone who is allergic, specifically, to latex will be hospitalized after walking through a room with rubber underlayment...even the stuff that is specifically created for flooring underlayment. Their allergic reaction will be much worse if it the rubber underlayment used is not specifically designed for flooring. If you wish to continue, nailing through a rubber underlayment that is designed for this, should be no problem...I would find out if you need to glue down the rubber before you lay your hardwood. That's when some nasty chemicals can be involved. Rubber doesn't like to stick to anything. Which means the chemical make up of the adhesive could be quite nasty. There are several eco adhesives (Mapei has a few) that are created for rubberized underlayment...but they are hard to find and expensive ($1-$2/sf...or more). First things first: warm up the rubber (put it infront of a window for a day...let some sunshine hit it to get it to warm up) and then see if you like the smell. That should would be my first test...as someone with asthma and migraines...and a latex sensitivity.