Thanks Worthy, you'er right, I do mean blocking, using wood to go between the joist to add support. The joist are accessable from below, in the basement. I have decided on the Miele washer dryer set and will stack them. Yesterday as I was searching the topic of placing the set on the main level of a wood floor system (on the Miele website) I found the installation manual and this is what Miele says about installing the washer on a wooden floor: If the installation must be performed on a wooden floor: - Install the unit on a 2 ft. x 2 ft. x 1 3/16" (61 x 61 x 3 cm) plywood base. Ideally the base should be large enough to span several joists and should be anchored to the joists and not just the floor boards. It is best to install the washer in the corner of a room, where the stability of the floor is at its greatest. I couldn't believe the thickness of the plywood, so I called tech support and they went with that recommendation (of course they did:) The tech guy also stated that some people pour a concrete pan for the washer on their wood floor. How is that done? SLC wouldn't be strong enough would it? It sounds like it would need to be a special strength concrete for this purpose. The tech said that the Miele has 1200 to 1400 rpm during the spin cycle if I remember correctly. I also redrew my plans to relocate the machine in the corner of my room. So since this is a remodel situation and everything is out of the room, down to the studs, I am going to prep as the installation states and see how it goes.

I appreciate all the advice. As I mentioned, the floor is completely covered right now so I can't take any photos. And it's covered for a reason, so I don't want to pull all the cardboard off just to take some photos. When the time comes to pull it off and address this, if I'm still unsure about what to do I'll post photos and would appreciate your input. Even though there's no definitive answer, lots of great advice and things to think about and weigh. One thing I'm still not clear on is how much of a mess this is going to make. I know to start their going to have to break some tiles up. But once they get a few tiles out can they pry the rest of the tiles off in one piece or will they have to bust everything up to get it off? And if they remove the tile, will the float below be damaged to the point it has to be redone or can they just patch up some trouble spots where there is a lot of damage? The aftermath is part of the decision for me. If it's possible to cleanly remove the tiles without making a giant mess or destroying the float then I will most likely have them start over using a leveling system. If this is a major demo job with a ton of mess and dust then I'd be less inclined to go through with that.

Any of those Beth posted or a REAL travertine or limestone will always be ‘in’. A good quality natural wood look will be a sure bet as well. I’m personally a little leery of the grey wood look floors as I feel those will quickly read as a fad. You need to assess your furnishings that you wish to reuse - is everything ‘warm’ or ‘cool’. Typically, a natural wood look will work either way. The original tile you posted is very pink and would only work in the very warm family of colors. Good luck and again I wasn’t trying to be snarky :)

why would it fail? tony, are you purposely being obtuse or are you just ignorant? Numerous people have written multiple comments about why it would fail throughout this entire post. You making that comment either means you didn't read any of them, don't understand (in which case you should have asked for clarification) or you're just mentally retarded. sorry to be blunt, but your ridiculous mono-sentences and redundant questions have taken me to my tolerance limit. you're a grown adult and yet it's like dealing w/a petulant pre-teen the way you comment. yes, the tile layout looks wonderful (even though I can't see the entire thing, nor can I see how they went around the railing fasteners). enjoy it while you can.