I'm really not sure what's best in my situation... we are in a starter home that currently has carpet that's absolutely worn out, we want to replace it with some kind of hardwood flooring. We live in Tennessee so outside humidity stays around 80-90% in the summer and drops to 0% in the winter, but we don't have any serious mold issues beyond a little bit around the metal part of the windows, so I would imagine that indoor humidity isn't extremely high. The house sits on a crawl space as well, in case that factors in, it is insulated and has a vapor barrier. Finally, we know we're not going to stay in this house forever, probably only around 5 more years and then we'll move

So my questions are:

What's better in my situation, Engineered or Solid hardwood? Obviously, since we're only planning to stay in the house for around 5 or so more years, we don't have to worry about refinishing it a bunch of times, but will the net present resale value of solid hardwood be higher enough than engineered hardwood to overcome the price difference between the two making it the better option? I don't know. Also, will the high outside humidity play a large factor in cupping and warping?

Next question, is Floating, Glued, Nailed or other best for my situation?

Finally, since I don't know what I don't know, and we are just starting to look into this, what else should I be taking into consideration or what else should I keep in mind or learn more about?

Best to wait for Kevin to chime in. He lives in those parts and knows what works.

Solid wood floors would probally be my suggestion if your looking to make something off the investment. If you put an cheap entry level eng. floor in five years its going to be close to needing at least a maintence coat and it will still be a entry level wood floor. Nailed down solid wood floors are what we sell the most of by a long shot, about the only time we sell eng. fllors is if its on concrete or its a builder trying to save 50 cents. I dont know what part of Tn you are in but I know almost every installer in east Tn and many others across the state so ifr you need some refrences Id be glad to help. We do have some pretty significant swings in r/h throughout the year and be sure to not let some Bozo install a floor without checking the subfloor and the crawlspace out first. Just because they tell you "ive got 30 years experience" doesnt exactly equate to knowing the right way or conditions that are in spec. You cant visually see the diffrence of a subfloor thats reading 18% vs one thats 10% you HAVE TO HAVE A METER! BTW the price diffrence between a midddle of the road eng floor vs a middle the road solid floor may be a lot closer than you think. The glue alone in an eng floor will run 50 cents a sf.

We just found a dealer up in northern Wisconsin that did our floors in our new Cabin in "reclaimed" wood. I always thought that it would cost an arm and a leg but we came in under the price it would have cost us to lay hard wood floors. It looks amazing and adds tons of character and quality to our new lake home.