I am thinking of installing engineered wood in my house in Houston,TX. It has to be engineered wood because of humidity. I want to go with either Brazilian Cherry or Santos Mahogany - the color of which MUST compliment / match the color of my existing red oak flooring downstairs.

This flooring will go on second floor where I have Berber carpet on plywood. The staircases and the trims will (including risers and treads) will have the same wood.

I planning to give the work to a flooring company which will provide me the wood, all the accessories - glues,trims, staircase nose etc. and the labor

I NEED your help in

0) Deciding the brand. I am thinking of going with either Johnson or Mannington 5" plank.

1) Calculating the cost of complete installation (excluding staircase) using a 5 mm thick APC cork underlayment which will be glued to plywood and wood will be glued to the cork. Approx. area including 7 % wastage is 1405 Sq Ft.

1.1) How much shall I pay for leveling the the surface since my house is 11 years old and at few places it may have some tips. I know it is hard to guess unless we take out the carpet BUT for estimating how much should it cost? What kind of leveling cement will you use?

2)Calculating cost for the complete installation on the stair case including risers. The stair case has 15 steps (including 2 large landing areas due to curvature of the staircase).