[red-beard]

We're about to replace a bunch of carpets in our house with hardwood floors.

Background: We have an 8 year old house, built on a concrete slab. At present, the downstairs is mostly tile but has 3 rooms plus a walk-in closet that have carpet installed over the concrete. We are not touching the tile.

Originally I was looking to use click together hardwood floors. The stuff uses a thin layer of wood with a heavy duty compressed fiber board (basically cardboard) in the middle. It is about 3/8" thick.

I looked at some higher end engineered wood, which uses plywood in the middle and has a real wood layer of about double the cheaper stuff. This requires the wood to be glued down. It is also about 3/8" thick.

The best looking stuff is 3/8" Brazilian Koa solid wood. The stuff looks fantastic and the grain and contrast on the boards is best. This is also my wife's choice. Looks amazing.

The floor guys are saying any of the items would be a good choice. With the glue down, we'll need to use a self leveling compound to make the floor perfectly flat first. Then use of a special sealing urethane glue with the vapor barrier built in. So, more work on the install.

I would really like to use the solid wood, glued down to concrete. Will this really work? The stuff definitely looks way better than the engineered wood. But the engineered wood looks way stronger with the plywood underneath. And the glue down engineered wood looks much stronger/better than the click together engineered wood.

And before someone suggests we put plywood down first. The house has tile. I do not want a huge transition between the tile and the hardwood. Even the thinest plywood underlay would make a 1/2" difference in between the tile and the hardwood.

Suggestions?