You can install it yourself...we have done that several times and it looks great...you need to buy or rent the correct equipment, however and make sure that it is straight...

Paso, I admire your skill, but that's just not realistic for us.

We were recently quoted $12 or so for maple engineered wood installed in Arizona.

Not laminate like Pergo. Real wood with a factory finish but only about a sixteenth or two of the show wood then a couple of layers of other wood. Kind of like plywood in strips basicly.

Locally prefinished hardwood started at about 10.00 sq ft installed and went up from there. Figure between 12-15.00 sq ft unless you want something exotic or very high priced like mahogany or live in a really high cost of living area. Maple is a little more than oak, not usually as high as cherry or mahogany.

Sue

I just got an estimate for about $2300 to install 270 square feet of random width red oak floor (3 & 4 inch wide planks) in our kitchen. The flooring is solid hardwood, not engineered. That price includes finishing the flooring. Costs for solid hardwoods range from $8 -12 per square foot around here. Believe it or not, in many instances engineered flooring is actually MORE expensive than the traditional.

Tartanhabit, I paid $8200 for 460 sqft of engineered hdwd -- material was $11/sqft (they needed to buy about 510 sqft), labor was $3/sqft, and misc costs of glue, moldings, and such. This was about 2 weeks ago in SoCal. Sounds like you are at the same place I was -- unenthusiastic about tile. Here's a pic (during the installation) of dark maple stained hdwd and natural maple cab, just in case you need any more inspiration:

Mpwdmom (love your name), here's your crash course: Engineered hdwd is a well made & beautiful product made by most of the brand names (Anderson, Bruce, Mannington, etc) but easily confused with laminate wood-look (eg, Pergo). Eng'd hdwd is prefinished, sort of like kitchen cabs. If you are on a slab foundation you must use engineered hdwd unless you float the floor above the slab (expensive). If you're on a raised foundation with a crawlspace, or second story, you can install traditional hdwd, either prefinished or finished on site. The only drawback to eng'd hdwd is that it can't be refinished multiple times. Choices include wood species (you don't want American cherry or bamboo), color/stain, matte/glossy finish; plank widths; whether the edges of each plank are beveled (more country/rustic, but a bit of a pain to keep clean) or smooth (think urban loft look). Do not use Swiffer to keep clean. Mine is Anderson Dellamano hand-distressed (it's not grungy, it's distressed!) maple with Amaretto stain to match my caramel cabinet glazing. HTH.

bluekitobsessed -- I'm curious as to why you say "Do not use Swiffer to keep clean." Why not? I just had bamboo installed in my sewing studio - why don't I want to use a Swiffer on it?

Thanks!
Patti

Maybe she means the Swiffer wet-jet? Perhaps the water aspect is the no-no.

1. Swiffer leaves a streaky residue across the hdwd so I can see the direction in which I mopped. When I use Bona (hdwd floor cleaner, now widely available) the floor gleams.
2. General preference for reuseable/environmentally friendly/less expensive over the long haul things (put Bona on a terrycloth cover on Sh'mop) instead of disposable/landfill fodder things
3. My hdwd floor guy told me to :)

Thanks, blue and cat_mom! I have both the swiffer mop and the plain swiffer duster broom, so wasn't sure what the issue might be. I'll probably just use my Roomba on the floor most of the time anyway...

Always listen to your hardwood floor guy. :-D

Patti

Thanks everyone for the fast info.

The tile certainly looks better in daylight but still leaves us a little unsure. We need to decide soon as tile installation was due to start Thursday. I'm off to hw floor shops ASAP!

Bluekitchen, that's a nice combination.

I have Kahrs engineered hardwood floors in my kitchen and entryway. Mine can be refinished up to 2 times. I've had mine in the kitchen for a year and a half, and aside from the normal dings that hardwood floors get, the finish is just like when it was installed. It's very easy to care for--I use swiffer duster mop once a week, or more if needed, and damp mop every other week with a microfiber mop and either Kahrs wood cleaner, or Bona cleaner. It's the easiest floor to care for that I've ever had!

Our site finished quartersawn red oak floors came in at $8.55 a square foot installed and finished. A regular sawn red oak floor would have been less. If I'm remembering my numbers correctly, about $7/sq foot installed. We did install over 2000 square foot of hardwood, so I'm not sure if we were given a "whole house" discount, but I would shop around. We found a great variance in pricing between the "Floor to Ceiling" type place to the independent sub we choose for the install.

Tartanhabit Don't confuse "engineered wood floor" with prefinished solid hard wood floor. There are both kinds. The prefinished solid hard wood floor comes already stained and "sealed" and is usually 3/4" thick. It can be refinished multiple times. Some claim the engineered wood has a different sound to it when you walk on it.

Site finished hardwood by a private contractor that only does hardwood floors (not a flooring store) I found to be less expensive than prefinished, but many people do not want to consider site finished. It IS what I am doing, but is more difficult if you are living in the house at the time and are doing, like I am, almost the entire main floor. Random width flooring around here can be purchased at the mill, and is laid end to end with butt ends, not interlocking ends. I forgot what that is called. Looks nice in an older home especically, as do wider boards, but you do tend to have more shrinkage and opening of joints between boards with wider widths. That also looks more authentic in an older home, but may not be what everyone likes.

Sue

HD has engineered floating hardwood floors starting at $2.99 sqft. Some pretty nice looking floors with a decent hardwood layer. Even hand scraped ones, most engineered floors can be finished at least once.
If you have a miter saw, table saw,hand saw or can buy or rent one you should be able to install it. If your floor is pretty flat basically you role out a layer of rosin paper or foam depending on manufacture and click lock them into place. At the cabs and walls you install 1/4 round molding to cover the edges. It goes down the same as laminate floor.
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/instwoodflooring.html

I paid $1080 for 100 sq ft of Mirage 2 1/2 inch plank, stained red oak pre-finished hardwood, including 2 thresholds. Beautiful floor. Installation was part of contractor's overall quote.

Thank you Bluekitobsessed, for the crash course. Sounds like we'll need to use engineered since we're on a slab. I hope it will be a good result. I was just admiring a friend's floor (red oak, site finished) but she is not on a slab.

Thanks again. BTW, you're the first to notice my name. :)
Susan

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If your home is on a slab you want to go with engineered hardwood. If you have a basement or a crawl space, you can go with solid hardwood.