If you're considering ripping out your worn or stained carpet and replacing it with solid-surface flooring, you may be investigating various ways to get the highest quality floors at a low cost. However, the number of options available can often seem overwhelming. How can you ensure that you're getting durable floors at a reasonable cost? Read on to learn more about where you can purchase your new hardwood flooring, as well as to whom you should look to install it.

When is wholesale flooring your best option?

When it comes time to purchase the wood you'll be using, you have a few choices. You can go to a local sawmill and purchase this wood directly -- however, you won't always be guaranteed a uniform color or texture. You can also purchase this wood from a big-box store or home supply store that sells flooring materials along with other items (like kitchen appliances, lawn and garden tools, or even plants). Your final option, and often your best value, is to purchase your hardwood flooring from a wholesale hardwood flooring manufacturer.

Although there are advantages to each type of purchase, you'll often find that wholesale flooring manufacturers have the lowest prices. By choosing someone who deals only in flooring supplies, rather than a variety of other home improvement items, you'll be able to take advantage of the low overhead and avoid paying for products and services you won't use.

What are your choices when it comes to installation of hardwood flooring?

One potential complication of purchasing this flooring from a wholesale manufacturer is not having the equipment or manpower to install it. However, most of these manufacturers have arrangements with local contractors to provide installation services for an extra fee per square foot. You may need to perform some of the prep and cleaning work yourself, like removing baseboards or ripping up your old carpet.

If the idea of performing this prep work yourself is unappealing, you may be able to hire a full-service contractor to help you move furniture and perform other prep work, as well as install the floors. Although you'll likely pay more than you would for the contractors employed by the flooring manufacturer, this cost may be worth the convenience of avoiding the heavy lifting yourself.

However, by far the thriftiest choice when it comes to installation is performing the task yourself. This will help limit your total costs to only what you're paying for the flooring and underlayment. You'll likely need to spend a long weekend moving your furniture, removing your old flooring, and nailing or gluing down your new hardwood flooring, but -- depending upon the size of the room(s) you're recarpeting -- you can save yourself a substantial amount of money.