Trying to convince myself the highly regarded but simple and thin looking Floor Muffler is truly better at reducing the hollow footfall sound better than the thicker, funkier underlays I've seen, like the Roberts Harmony and Airwalk. It'll be under 3/4" engineered planks on a well-prepared, flat wood subfloor. Any experience from others?

Have the guy who says he can match the floor stain show you a sample to show you. don't just take his word. I do a lot of custom staining of treads to match a prefinish color. If someone were to ask me to show them a sample before them wanting it done, I would have absolutely no problem in doing so. I would def do solid treads. they will hold up better, and not to mention down the road if you wanted to change colors you could do so. engineered wont give you that option, at least not multiple times. just my opinion on this, but do not distress the treads to match the wear of the floor. it never looks as good as one hopes and its kind of a waste or time. Its a stairway, its suppose to stand out as its own attraction.

You really need some consistency in so far as moisture conditions year round for a solid wider plank floor to perform well. I've mentioned some of the issues before. In a nutshell I think of some of the comments here over the years when people say things like "...my 50 old year old house had oak floors and they looked like new...now with my my new house they cup and gap etc." The reasons are due to the way homes are built today. Older homes are generally drafty, the RH is more stable, hardwood floors love that. Today, new homes are are so tightly insulated, but what happens more than anything is the basements or crawlspaces are never given the attention they should be when new hardwood floors are considered. It's your choice, but make sure you have the obvious covered and know what can happen. Engineered Floors Today Ken Fisher

A high quality engineered floor will have the same or longer wear life as a solid wood floor. This isn't usually a big deal in residential as you are talking at least 45 years of life... Engineered wood flooring can cope with changes in moisture better than a solid wood floor, but if you have a good HVAC system and monitor the humidity in your home, both will be fine. Solid wood floors are not recommended below grade, for example in the basement. Our standard 5/8" thick engineered floor will give you 3-4 sand and refinishes. This floor can be glued to the slab and will line up with carpet and most tiles. This means you don't have to drop the slab (money saver!) or use transition pieces. Some areas where it is very dry have had issues with the thicker engineered floors (3/4" with 6mm wear layer) as the plywood base dries out at a different rate to the wear layer. One of our clients (Flooring installer) in Arizona is replacing engineered with solid as it handles that climate better. Since it sounds like you are doing a remodel, you are probably best to go with an engineered floor. A 5/8" thick engineered wood floor from our company has a 4mm wear layer and will give you 3-4 sand and refinishes. This you can glue to the slab and will take up around the same amount of thickness as the travertine did. This means you will not have to replace the trim, cut off the bottoms of doors etc. Typically a solid wood floor is installed on a plywood sub-floor. On a new build the slab would be dropped on those areas to allow for the extra thickness. A quality engineered wood floor is not inferior to a solid wood floor in anyway. Once it is installed you will not be able to tell the difference. If you have further questions, feel free to reach out! We are only a email or a phone call away -- debbie@woodco.com // (210) 298-9663 Keep safe! -- Debbie George | WoodCo www.woodco.com