Kitchen, dining room flooring

[madokie]

Looks like our dishwasher sprung a leak and caused the hardwood flooring in the kitchen to swell and lift up. Its flooring I made from red oak about 10 years ago by using biscuit joinery on 8 inch centers. The planks are 3" wide. We're going to replace it with red oak hard wood flooring, factory made. What I'm not sure about is whether to staple it down or glue, either is recommended by the manufacturer, (Bruce.) I'm going to use what is called engineered flooring as it is 5 ply so it is real stable in not swelling up if it was to get wet again, chances are I wouldn't have to replace it if that was to happen.
Staples will allow me to put a vapor barrier down where gluing won't so I'm leaning towards staples plus my brother has the staple gun that is made specifically for this type flooring that I can use.
Pro's and Con's on staples and or glue if you have a preference and why that is.

TIA

I love working on our house so its something I'm looking forward to doing and have been planning to do for some time now. The leak ensures the time is now
My plan is to get everything foreseeable done before my wife enters into retirement along with me so we can cut down on outlays of cash in our retirement years. The dishwasher is going to be replaced at this time also irregardless of where the leak is for that very reason I stated.

[jeff47]

1. My primary dislike for staples is that they can squeak.

As they loosen, you get squeaks. So I favor glue, but that may be partially due to my hatred of noisy floors. Realistically, it's not likely to squeak for many years.

IMO, if it's not going over a slab, then a vapor barrier isn't necessary. And since you're talking staples, it's not going over a slab. If you have a subfloor on top of the slab, you need the vapor barrier under that subfloor anyway. In that situation, a vapor barrier under the finish flooring is actually a bad idea - it will trap moisture within the subfloor.

[madokie]

2. Thanks

I don't like squeaky floors either, thanks for the reminder.

[Warpy]

3. Engineered flooring isn't impervious to water

and the veneer can be ruined by a good soaking, so you'll want something you can take up in sections and replace if something starts to leak. My vote is for staples.

[madokie]

4. My better sense tells me staples

I shouldn't be getting any standing water but who knows so i think staples it will be.
I bought an extra box of them just in case. I'll put it back for later. 22.9 sf per box.
2.99 per square foot.

[LiberalEsto]

5. My kitchen floor is Bruce hardwood, and I hate it

The previous owners installed it some time before we moved in 16 years ago. I don't know if it's engineered or what, but it is the worst kitchen flooring I've ever had.

Because there is a small built-in gap between each wood plank, dirt and liquids seep in them and can't easily be cleaned out. Unless I want to kneel down and spend hours running the end of an opened paper clip down every single gap to scrape out the junk.With two cats and two dogs and a household of relative slobs, I've found that keeping the flooring nice is really a pain.

If I could afford it, I would get real linoleum -- the kind that lasts 50 years and is made of natural materials.My second choice would be vinyl flooring that comes in planks and looks like wood.

Just my 2 cents.

[lululu]

6. Mannington

I had Mannington resilient professionally installed several years ago and it looks like new.

The problem with linoleum is the colors are limited and some are odd.