reall wood or wood laminate

[medic]

We want to replace the carpet in part of our home with something cleaner. We've decided to go with some sort of wood, but we're not sure what kind.

We have a concrete subfloor, so we're thinking either prefinished wood or wood laminate(e.g. Pergo). One item though it that we want to do it ourselves and want a simple install. I helped a friend install wood floors using glue last year and it was a PITA. I want to go for a click together design. Our target is something that will last 25 years or more.

What do people have and what was the install like? The areas we're thinking about are the living room, fomal dining room, family room, and maybe the kitchen and breakfast nook. It's a total of about 800 sq ft.

Thanks.

[Lowejackson]

One thing to bare in mind is the increase in noise levels with wooden floors, all the sound which was previously absorbed by the carpet will now bounce around the room. For some it is not an issue but for others it can be.

[GaryRz]

Did Pergo on our den/great room and hall about 1 1/2 years ago. My wife and I did it ourselves and it wasn't too bad. It takes a few planks to get the "click" thing down and learn to get the end joints closed up. The noise has not been a problem, or the cold floor thing some people talk about. Ours is over concrete too and you will probably have to do some prep work to level high/low spots. The hardest part for us was the threshold moldings. We got them down though.
So far we are very happy with it. If you decide to go this route you can PM me with questions. I will try to help.

Gary