Flooring: what's best?

[Cody F.]

I have about 1000 square feet to do with flooring. The main floor 500 sq ft is a concrete slab and should be fairly easy whatever goes in. But the 2nd floor is uneven and has old wood that has some slight give. What can I use that will last a fairly long time, will fit that uneven floor upstairs and doesn't cost a fortune?

[Nicole Marshall]

Invest in a quality underlayment that will help adjust for any imperfections in the subfloor. However, if the subfloor is really out of level, then you need to fix that. Any tongue and groove, locking flooring may come apart over time with an unlevel subfloor. Imagine doing all that hard work and having to rip it up only a year later.

I recently put laminate flooring in 2 of my upstairs bedrooms. But I do second the vinyl planks... what's amazing about those is that you can re-use the flooring if you ever have water damage. Just rip them up, dry out and lay back down!