since this is the de facto home DIY:
the other day i finished up a project to replacing carpeting with a manufactured wood floor in a rental (no nails). ~500 sq feet.
I pulled up the carpet to expose the sub floor. Wear a face mask. There were a lot of staples and carpet tack to clean up. Leveled the floor with dry wall mud because i had existing bags i could use up. Either laminate (fiber board material) or engineered (plywood) types are available. I chose a laminate brand "Hdro Shield" balance between cost and water resistant. I picked a lite brown color. In front of the egress front door I used construction adhesive and put down 1/4" 3x5' sheet of wonder board. Using white thin set i set 12x12" porcelain tile. I chose a real cheep grade and it was brittle, get what you pay for. I used up some snow white sand grout from a previous project. For the threshold between tile and wood i used a manufactured threshold kit. It is the type with a metal channel you attach to the sub floor and a melamine resin "wood" strip plugs into the channel. I went dumpster diving at home depot for various shim materai. Unexpected but useful was adhesive backed vinyl flooring as shim material. Each threshold install was a snowflake requiring differing shim material. Left right on each threshold i put a 2.5" long GRD brand cabinet screw, spline drive, through the threshold into the sub floor for additional security. Drilled pilot holes. This may have not been the best for the long term as the melamine construction if finicky. I bet better results on the thresholds if i matched the threshold thickness to the manufactured flooring. The flooring was 1/2" and the threshold kit was not.
notes:
-the house was built 1890 and has no two edges that are perpendicular. About 2012 the house had a re do and all the old flooring was ripped up, covered with 1" locking glued under lament. Still the floor is not totally level. You can get nice wood simulated tile for $2.00/ft-sq but an old house is not rigid enough to support a large tile installation. I worked a lot with tile but no so much with the manufactured wood. give the choice the tile would have been easier for me and less expensive.
-i had access to a really good portable table saw for this project as there were a lot of rip cuts to accommodate the uneven construction in the old house. In the kitchen of the house I setup a shop vac connected to the table say to collect the dust.
-i used the typical vapor barrier but the thin stuff, under the manufactured flooring. In low spots doubled tripped up on the barrier some places.
-at least 2 of 4 walls you will not be able to get the flooring right up to or under the existing molding. Your supposed to leave a small gap anyways. I got some home depot white quarter round. I used the white plastic wood replacement. It went in super fast and is the same color all the way through. I did not have to paint anything. It covered up gaps in the floor wall.
-after the next tenant cycle i am going to rip of the remaining up stairs carpets. Will use inexpensive manufactured flooring since this is the bedroom area. The current project used 1/2" or 12mm laminate flooring, plan to use thinner flooring up stairs.
-I saw some solid 1/2" bamboo flooring which has some characteristic of the manufactured flooring. Seems you had to nail this in place.
-solid wood flooring is expen$ive... Some of the upper end manufactured flooring is totally water proof. In another unit with a smilliar floor after 10 years shows little wear. I really really liked the bamboo just didnt want to mess nailing it.