Hello, We are having troubles deciding on what to do w/our floors & are hoping for guidance. Our house was built circa 1958 & has had some major renovations (before we bough it last year). The house has massive chocolate brown tile (that we intend to keep), along w/some light colored carpet (in the living/dining/bedroom areas) that we would like to replace with either engineered hardwood or wood grain tile. Now--for the questions: 1) Since we live in the desert, will engineered hardwood give us troubles (such as not lasting due to severe dryness, warping, etc.)? 2) If the above is not true, what's the story on acacia engineered wood? One installer told us it would work great; the other said it would be big trouble in the desert! We'd appreciate any guidance--thanks! 3) Also, we wonder if we would be better w/wood grain tile? Any thoughts? 4) And finally--considering our tile so so dark brown, should we try to "match" the color, do a contrasting color, or something in between? I've included samples of the floors. I would appreciate any guidance/suggestions w/our flooring issues. Thank you in advance!

Hello there, relatively new DIYer here, first home, not huge, and we don't have a large budget, but we are going to make it the best we can. I am installing a Hard wood Laminate product throughout the main floor, which is relatively open concept. Its a 12mm plus 2mm attached under pad floating floor. The panels are individual plank style, 48" X 5". My question is very similar, I have the flooring laid in the first room (bottom of picture), with plenty of spacing around the edges (to be covered by quarter round) but am about to extend it into the "Hallway" (as much as its a hallway) and then into the diningroom/kitchen (located at the top of the picture attached) The entire length of the house (top to bottom) is 30 Feet. The manufacturer recommends transitions between each room, and in any room greater in length than 26 feet. As you can see from the floor plan there is only one relatively narrow area that the flooring would be continuous, all the other sections will have expansion room around the edges. My question is, and I know this isn't anything I can bank on, do you think I can get away without using a transition between the living room and the rest of the house ? We just think a transition will really ruin the look we are going for, nice flowing uninterrupted flooring throughout. Also very worried about trying to find an exact match for the flooring, which after some considerable searching I have not been able to locate. Perhaps there are better materials for achieving the look we are going for, but, like I said we don't have them in the budget. If you can let me know your thoughts, I would greatly appreciate it. [ATTACH]50913[/ATTACH]