Installing hardwood vs Installing tiles - difficulty comparison (tiling, hardwood floor, laminate)

[jimmybirdie]

I have installed tiles before. It wasn't difficult, just messy. Is installing hardwood floor easier? I have a 16 x 16 area and thinking about doing myself.

[RyanR]

What kind of tile? Ceramic or self-stick or ???
Hardwood or a laminate (like Pergo)?
Pergo is really fast to install. Once the floor is prepped, you can do that area in a couple hours.

[chet everett]

I have done both in small areas. Traditional hardwood floors, installed with a nailing device into a normal subfloor, is not really any more difficult than tiling the same area. There are some tricks -- mostly how to make sure that the pattern is SQUARE to itself and adjacent rooms (this is assuming that there are imperfections in the framing of the room that you need to compensate for...) and you need to understand how to fit in the finish pieces (by ripping down regular planks and maybe routing or back sawing them) but if you can rent the right tools and GO SLOW so that you do not make mistakes you can get a decent result. Hardwood Floor Installation | Ask the Builder You need to get access to high quality floor finish too, and that is probably the hardest part -- need license from the EPA for the "good stuff"... Home - Glitsa

[jimmybirdie]

Can you tell the type of real wood I have? I am not sure why the close-up pictures' color look different.