Peel-and-Press Linoleum

• The easiest way to a new floor, and among the least expensive, is peel-and-press linoleum or vinyl. It can be laid over plywood, another vinyl floor, or any flat surface. It's a quick, cheap way to temporarily cover a floor while saving up for real tile or wood. Application is as simple as peeling off the wax paper from the back of each tile and pressing it into place. The tiles should be laid out from the center of the room, by dividing the floor into four squares with two intersecting chalk snaplines, then building out toward the walls. Cut the end pieces by running a razor knife alongside a straight-edge on the face of the tiles, then breaking it.
  
  

Ceramic

• For a bathroom or kitchen, hard tile is usually your best choice in terms of durability, mosture-resistance and beauty. It's more expensive than linoleum, but you can keep costs down by laying it yourself and going with a simple ceramic tile (rather than porcelain, marble or other more expensive choices). Adding cement board underlayment is recommended, though you can often get away with a strong plywood subfloor. Lay out the tiles from the middle of the room. Among ceramic's advantages is that you can cut it with a simple score-and-snap tile cutter, rather than having to use a more expensive wet saw.
  
  

Floating Wood Laminate

• Modern floating wood laminate floors sit on a foam underlayment, unattached to anything. They're held down by the floor trim at the edges, with the planks locked together through a no-nail tongue-and-groove system. It's meant to mimic hardwood floors and is about as expensive in terms of material. The big difference, though, is that an average homeowner can install a floating floor just about anywhere in a few hours from start to finish, while a hardwood floor is a weeklong project that requires specialized tools and usually is done professionally. Some styles of floating floor can be disassembled and taken with you when you move.