I'm reviving this. I have been having discussions with contractors and still haven't started the project yet. My likely contractor sent me to a flooring showroom. (Patriot Hardwood Floors & Supply.) He said they were the wholesale suppliers for the metro Boston area. I don't know if I actually believe that, but they seemed to have a decent selection to view. The guy I was talking to there didn't know all that much, but he pulled in a rep from Mercier who happened to be in the office then. I discussed my sagging floors with him. He insisted that I needed to: - level out the sags, with a leveling compound - then put another layer of plywood down, bringing the total up to 1 1/4", or at least 1". As I noted earlier, my ceilings are very low, so every little bit counts. I'll already lose 1/4"+ just going from laminate to engineered - more for solid wood. I certainly understand the leveling. Do I really need to add on top of that? At the showroom I was looking at my options. I want a very light look. Maple seems the best. And I want it to not have much yellow cast. Of the prefinished, unstained, there was noticable difference between grades and brands. The stuff they had that looked the best to me was Mercier - either the engineered or prefinished solid. They both have the micro-bevels. I would really prefer not to have those, but the only option for that seems to be site finished. I do think the toughness of the prefinished will be an advantage for me. I've gotted mixed impressions of the issues with the micro-bevels - my concern is "stuff" collecting in them and being harder to clean up. (I also don't like to look so much, but I think I can get used to that.) I did a search here and discovered boxers raising some concern about problems with their quality. The samples looked fine - better than the other stuff there. Expecially in the case of the engineered - they had a 7-ply product with the top layer being 4mm. Seemed far better than anything else. Also, they claim an anti-yellowing UV blocker. At the least their clear finish seemed less yellow than the alternatives. What other brands of prefinished (engineered or not) would be viable alternatives to Mercier? Finally, are the warranties that come with this stuff actually worth anything? I was looking at the Mercier warranty for the engineered stuff. It is for 35 years, which sounds impressive. But then I see it doesn't apply unless the finish has failed on at least 10% of the floor. I imagine that less that 10% of the average floor is in major traffic areas, or exposed to any special condition, such as sunlight. Also, I notice that they expect you to account for a 5% cutting loss and another 5% "normal defects" in what you order, and won't replace unless you exceed that. Are these terms normal? Is it a scam? Thanks in advance. I'm counting on you guys - I haven't found any other good source of advice on this subject.

If you are looking to go with a laminate look to go with one with a mill of say 12. The higher the mill the denser the laminate, thus less likely to give you the "hollow" sound. Also take the time to upgrade your underlayment for it as well. Underlayment will be a the more expensive,but denser sound armour type of padding. The first question I would ask you though is how long do you plan on living in your current house (housing market aside, as by the end of the year we should begin to see it correct itself)? If you only plan on being in the house for 18-24 months then the wise investment would be a hardwood floor. If this is then the case look into a Engineered hardwood floor since you will be putting this in a "wet" area. Hope this helps!

I just laid LVP in my home office and son's room due to allergies and I love the the look and functionalities. I have LVT in my kitchen and it's easy on my feet, I can be in there cooking for two hours and not feel it. If this is a $530K house I'd recommend hardwood or engineered wood flooring in the public rooms unless you're not planning on selling anytime soon. This is what I picked. It won't fool anyone into thinking it's hardwood but with an area rug, no one notices. It's the Shaw Aviator collection, Kitty Hawk is the name of the style. I picked it because there's not a lot of "drama." https://shawfloors.com/flooring/vinyl/details/aviator-plank-0247v/kittyhawk

I am thinking he is trying to be helpful. My floor guy steered me away from dark floors- I was pretty set on Jacobean or something similar. He was worried that it would suck all the light out of the room. Entire first floor, actually. He’s a well respected floor guy and did do the Jacobean on my friend’s floor- they were dead set on it. I ended up with a medium brown stain, some custom mix he made for me, and so glad he helped me make that choice. Definitely prefer it for my space.