Thanks for the advice! The plank we have is floating, but you are right..so easy to care for and we did have to pull up one when it was gouged...easy fix! I do love it. Maybe I should put it throughout the house...it just does seem like a great kitchen/bath/laundry floor but not really a living room/entry/hallway one. I would also save about $800 if we did it because that is the install cost of the laminate (which has to be a pro). The vinyl (Trafficmaster Allure) can be installed with just an exacto knife, no kidding. However, I think a pro would "finish" it better than my hubby...there is a rock fireplace and other places where trim is a bit of an issue. I talked to my guy today and he said that we would place it at a 90 degree angle to the kitchen and the color change would be fine. I want to be a couple of shades darker but not so dark as to show dust and dog hair (the vinyl shows NOTHING!). I thought maybe the distressed hickory? Or pecan? Argh. Thanks again for the advice. If anyone has butted up two kinds/colors/types of wood or wood-look floor and either liked it or hated it, I would love to know!

So here's the deal. If you want to LEAVE the subfloor as it is (no more cleaning/grinding/scraping) you MUST install a flooting floor. The subfloor appears to be particle board that has cut-back adhesive on it (cutback was often a black colour). What was on the floor in the first place? How old was that product? Some products from the 80's had asbestos in them as well as the adhesive (cutback adhesive from the 80's is famous for having asbestos in it). Don't panic. So long as it is NOT ground down (made friable = airborne) you are fine. But if this is an asbestos containing adhesive you have to either: A) Float a floor over it (vinyl or water proof laminate or engineered hardwood, floating cork, etc) B) Rip out the substrate it is sitting on (the fibre board) and lay new underlayment; or C) Lay new underlayment over top (sandwich the black adhesive between to layers of underlayment) and then apply a permanent floor over top So the decision for you sounds like an easy one: floating floor. Vinyl MUST have flat (all the ripples in the glue will show through). A rigid floor like laminate (spend the money on a water proof laminate like Aquaguard) will be fine to go over top of the remains of the adhesive. Put down an underpad underneath the laminate and you are good to go. And no, vinyl planks do NOT like underpad. They need to go straight down over top of rigid subfloor.

Durock's website says to install on wood. But I found this info... Manufacturer Recommendations James Hardie Industries, makers of HardieBacker®, and USG, makers of Durock®, indicate that their respective cement backer boards should not be installed over concrete. James Hardie: HardieBacker specifications specifically exclude concrete as a base for installation. USG: Durock does not expressly exclude concrete, but the material is specified only for minimum 5/8-inch exterior-grade plywood or OSB. One source reports that USG will not officially validate the Durock-to-concrete attachment simply because they have not tested it. The lack of testing may be simply because so few customers express a need for applying Durock to concrete. There is no problem with the two materials being compatible. The issue, as Bud Cline of The Floor Pro says, is more about how to attach the cement board to the concrete. A powder-actuated nailer is out of the question since nail depth would be impossible to regulate. Concrete screws, Cline says, have heads that are too small to hold down the cement board. His recommendation: Work with the concrete surface so that it is strong enough and porous enough to accept tile mortar. Portland cement-based fillers can take care holes and cracks. Painted concrete can be sandblasted, sanded, or ground down to bring up a nice, porous surface. Most tile professionals, including John Bridge, concur: Attaching cement board to concrete is not an acceptable way to surface the concrete prior to tile installation. Thin-set alone will not help the cement board stick to the concrete slab. Screws are the only logical way to do this, but it would entail an extremely tedious and time-consuming process of drilling pilot holes before sinking the screws. Additionally, you would be fighting against the thin-set bed under the cement board when drilling the holes and driving the screws. The View of Tile Professionals But the manufacturer prohibitions or omissions are warranty issues. The questions remain: Can you effectively pair two cementitious products—cement board and a concrete slab? ************************************ I went to Wedi's website, and the foam panels CAN be used on concrete for floor tile. Installation over concrete subfloors Floor application for wedi Building Panel All wedi Building Panel sizes and thicknesses can be used as tile underlayments over concrete subfloors. Modified thinset mortar, combed through with a minimum 1/4” x 1/4” notch trowel, will then provide a ribbed bed into which the wedi Building Panels will be laid. All joints should be staggered so that no seam continues throughout the length of the floor. Apply weights (i.e. tile boxes) onto the surface and where transitions are located while the mortar is setting up. After the mortar has set, wedi alkali resistant fiberglass mesh tape, or wedi Sealing Tape or wedi Joint Sealant should be applied to all seams, then tiling can begin. So Wedi panels may be easier and faster for us to install after the marble tile is gone. I also found a new floating porcelain tile product that Dal Tile started selling. It is like installing laminate flooring or vinyl planks. Dal Tile Revo Tile - they said I could install it over the marble as long as I level the floor with self-leveling compound, including where the missing tile is. I still need to follow requirements per tile industry as to x " per 10 ft. I can't remember ... 3/16" or something like that. https://www.daltile.com/revotile $4.50 sf plus $25.00 for tools, $58.00 for 9 lbs of grout. Underlayment $54.00. Adhesive tape for seams. $542.00 and I can install it. I am calling We Ship Floors tomorrow to see if their floating Supercore Extreme Vinyl Tiles can be installed over my marble once the floor is leveled. And if I can install over Wedi panels. For someone who works with mud day in and day out, I am sure it is much cheaper, but I am afraid that I can't do it. Three more tile guys today told me wrong installation procedures for backerboard on the marble and for the tub surround, so I will not be calling them back. Just because they owned a trowel doesn't make them an expert on tiling,

OK...I'm sure these guys believe what they are saying...but they are discussing FLOATING FLOORING. That is sitting on HDF (fibre board). The WATER PROOF stuff is 100% cork. It is 4mm - 8mm thick. There is nothing but cork...cork...and then some cork. Nothing in the middle. When people say that cork isn't good with water, I always ask them: What is in wine bottles? Cork. What is the material that kept the Titanic's Champagne 'sweat' (ie. now salt water intrusion)? Cork. I'm not kidding. Google the sale of Titanic Champagne. It exists...and so does the CORK that kept the sea water out (at 3800m = 12,000 feet). Cork is glued down to the subfloor. It is butted tightly together. Then a polyurethane is applied over top = water proof. You can spill GALLONS of water on the floor and it will sit there. The cork does nothing. It doesn't care. So long as the water does NOT reach the walls or the cabinets you are fine. This is IDENTICAL to stone. This is identical to porcelain. So long as the water does NOT reach the walls, you are fine. Just suck up the water and go. Cork is the same. Whosoever 'poo poos' cork's water proof properties does not know the REAL cork flooring. The CLICK together stuff is a different animal and it needs to be TREATED as such. I can get a floating cork floor in a kitchen. No problem. How? Because I know what I'm doing and I know what I'm dealing with. Am I an installer? Nope. Just a sales chic! But I've done it, personally, on several occasions. I can also install a decent glue down cork tile in a BATHROOM. Yep. Baths, kitchens and entranceways = super happy places for glue down cork tiles. But cork is expensive and takes +++ MONEY to install (if it is glue down). So the cork industry tries to make it easier to install....but the SALES people (and many installers) fail to understand the product and they FAIL to follow installation/maintenance instructions. I can get the softest wood floor (cork) to be water proof (glue down tile) and to be the toughest floor you will ever meet (Loba 2K Supra AT applied x 2 coats after installation). But then again, I know what I'm doing; I know what I'm working with and I UNDERSTAND what cork is. I think you would be hard pressed to find the same with the Gents in the video. As for resale, the EXPENSIVE cork glue down tiles = as valuable as marble flooring. Nope. Not kidding. But then again, I understand cork.