Actually, DH had reservations about wood period. He thought the tile should go throughout the house, and I said NO. He installed the Bellawood in the front rooms of his Cape up in Massachusetts, and it was the narrow boards of the select ash, very light, and it was gorgeous. That house has lower ceilings than here, and it was basically more individual rooms and not going to be open concept like our living/dining/kitchen/laundry will wind up being. And, our cottage with beadboard could better use the 5" wide boards, also select ash. It sits in my Teahouse under lock and key, with the heat or a/c keeping it properly conditioned for use. I got a bit more than DH estimated we needed, thinking he would skimp on what amount was required, and so there will be enough to have a little left over.....and I will have no problem extending the back porch/addition another foot all the way across, and to floor the tiny new entry as part of the living room. If that doesn't quite make it, well, I can put tile in the entry. It was MoonPie who hiked his leg on everything, even just a tiny squirt on the house plants, the chair legs, the bed covers that hung down far enough for him to reach, the laundry basket, the garbage can.....I became expert at recognizing what HE did and what Dixie might do. She specialized in the bath mat, since she knew business should be conducted IN THE BATH ROOM. Which is why I am so impressed with Dolly and her arriving at 7 weeks of age already, in effect, PAPER TRAINED. And she cannot yet go outdoors to learn about grass, because she needs her final shots to avoid parvo virus. What a charmer she is though.

/sigh... This is one of the problems with internet advice so be careful that you don't cost yourself a fortune following the advice of people who don't fully understand your situation and are just making a lot of assumptions. First, let's talk about acclimation... The required acclimation time for flooring is zero minutes. It would be better to think of it as acclimation when needed (though usually needed). If moisture readings were taken when delivered and were at the baseline moisture content for your geographical region, then they don't need to acclimate. That is rarely the case, but it does happen. In my area there is a flooring retailer with an acclimation room which helps get flooring to the baseline for our area. So the “delivery guy took a reading of the wood and the floor where they were stacked and said they were good,” would be acceptable so long as they really did the readings, and it would be sufficient to charge you for those workers taking the day off. Next, yes, what you are describing is customary in a lot of areas. In reality, flooring installation just isn't hard. The hardest part about laying hardwood flooring is squaring up the layout, which again isn't really hard but does require you to have some basic understanding of the process. It is completely doable by someone who has never installed hardwood before and is willing to take extra time. In hardwood installation experience gets you speed, any amateur willing to take their time can install hardwood floors, any finish carpenter or apprentice finish carpenter should easily be able to install it properly. This is not taking anything away from flooring professionals, the ease and speed at which they do what is time consuming for others is impressive. However, even the hardwood companies around here will often send their less skilled workers to install and reserve the skilled workers for finishing. Finally, be careful about insisting on methods after the contract is signed. That is a great way to simply hand your checkbook to your contractor and dare him to do his worst. You get a lot of control over results, but few over the methods used to achieve those results. If the floor is installed properly then you can't insist that the installer have any experience that wasn't in the contract or required by regulation. The moisture content thing is a great example of this, you can't force a contractor to stop work because he didn't take a moisture reading, you can force a contractor to stop work because the floor he is installing is not in an acceptable moisture range. As crazy as it may seem, being right doesn't require intentionality. You either suffer damages or you don't, and stopping work without damages actually damages your contractor and gives him recourse against you. So if you insist on a flooring professional install, you should expect to pay the entire amount he was going to pay his people to install, plus the entire cost of the professional installer, plus any markup on that professional install that is in the contract. Since he has to pay his people for doing nothing, you have to pay his people for doing nothing. Not that this will be the case for you, but anything less would be a gift.

If you must have tile, then do it right. Remove everything down to the subfloor. You will need to know your joists distances. And then you have to BUILD UP the subfloor to ensure you have the right THICKNESS to achieve the right DEFLECTION RATING. In essence you will be learning and then applying the entire 'tiling business' do get this done. The cost of doing this could get you into the $4- $5/sf just to deal with the subfloor. That includes the rental of tools and purchase of multiple/thick high-end subfloor grade plywood (this is NOT the $1/sf stuff and you will need more than 3/4" for a proper deflection rating over 20" joists). And don't forget the sanding machine to knock down the seams. And you still self leveling compound (SLC) to get this smooth/flat. And don't forget the decoupling membrane. Whew! There's a reason why the contractors did NOT offer a quote. They knew all of this needed to be done and they KNEW (from past experience) that if they quote the $25/sf total-job cost (purchase of tile, thinset and grout to be added to that bill) would be WAY too much for a homeowner to accept. So they just walked away. It wasn't worth their time to quote it because they knew you wouldn't accept it. Please ensure you have purchased and read the TCNA handbook. https://www.tcnatile.com/products-and-services/publications/218-english-publications/188-handbook.html I would read it a few times. And pay close attention to the deflection rating. The very thing you hate about the current tile floor (cracking/lifting) is the very thing you are going to fix. And that begins at the subfloor. Of if you REALLY insist on being perfect, get down to the joists (yep...open gap in the kitchen where you can fall through to the basement) and then build up from there. Don't forget the section on 'shimming'.

Sigh....0h dear. "If the crawl space is not encapsulated, which it won't be any time soon then polyurethane seems best. Air exchanger will be on." I'm going to ask a simple question: How much will it cost you to redo the floors in 2-3 years time? An unsealed, unconctrolled crawlspace is against NWFA requirements. It voids your wood flooring warranty and it will void the adhesive warranty. I know the cost is bigger than you want, but it will cost more to redo 'soaked' wood floors. By the time you catch the soaking wet wood, you will need new subflooring as well. And you will STILL have to pay to have the crawlspace encapsulated. You can skip it today, but it is only a matter of time before the floor fails. A wide plank product is going to cup very quickly...even with moisture barrier adhesive. It just takes more time. By the time it shows up, the subfloor will be soaked and will need replacing. By skipping this today, you are at very high risk of having to pay quadruple the costs later on. If it were me, I would throw down a vapour retarder (plastic sheeting with holes in it) and a floating laminate floor with a nice underlay (cork is my favourite) and WAIT until I can afford to encapsulate the crawlspace before purchasing wide plank hardwood. It is your choice. But this is not going to be covered by anyone's warranty...including the installers labour warranty. The conditions are completely wrong for hardwood install.