solid wood is 3/4" thick. You can sand down to where the nails are which is where the 'tongue' is. Engineered wood is 3 5 or 7 plys with a veneer of hardwood on top. Its generally more stable than a solid. There is no intrinsic advantage of a solid over engineered, though there is a perceived difference as one is 'thicker'. That has really nothing to do with anything. Factory finishes are generally far more durable than anything you can do on site. Unfinished allows you to stain any color and sanding will make the floor real flat and smooth. Prefinished you can't pick stain color other than the std colors, and generally will have overwood if the floor isn't perfectly level. As anything in this industry there are tradeoffs to all flooring materials.

I add my vote to solid wood flooring. We installed 3 in x 3/4 inch planks ourselves and love everything about them. We did oak in the main living areas, and solid brazillian walnut in the kitchen. Two very different looks and different benefits but equally beautiful. Obviously, the oak hides dirt a little better. It's prefinished and is wearing beautifully. We take the necessary steps to protect it by removing our shoes at the door and using soft pads on the feet of our furniture. The Walnut is in the kitchen & dining area and is amazing. We get compliments on it all the time because it's different. It's not stained, that dark color is completely through the wood, so scratches don't show very easily and when we do have to refinish it, all we'll need to do is put some poly on it and it will look exactly the way that it does now. It's one of the hardest woods there and very durable. The reason we went with the solid flooring is because we felt it would be more durable, it will last a life time and it can be sanded several times. I have family members who have laminate, and with all do respect to those who have it, it looked fake to us, we could see the repeat of patterns and hated that fake sound when walking on it. Although many will disagree with me, engineered (which implies man made) wood seemed flimsy and fake as well. I know it has "wood" veneers but we didn't want to pay so much money for a thin piece of wood glued to a cheaper piece of wood. That just didn't make sense to us. Especially because of it's limited life span when compared to the solid wood.

What if.... I looked at the stone-look vinyl in the store and while it's nice, it's just not what I want. There are other patterns online that the store didn't have though. But what if I did use the wood look vinyl, separated from the real wood floors by a couple of different colored wood transition strips? Oh & get this. We have boxes of old 8x8 tile in the garage, the white marbled stuff that we put down 15 years ago. I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of it, and mentioned putting it on craigslist today. Dh was shocked and thinks we are still going to use it. Um, no. I was thinking GIVE it away. On the FREE CL side. He was shocked, after we spent so much on it. Yes dear, 15 years ago when we were both 25 pounds lighter, everyone wore tracksuits everywhere, and the beastmobile was a gleaming new truck. No. No. No.

Ok...so engineered hardwood is an option because this is "ground level" and not below grade. If you do not want to heavily invest in the home's flooring (and after a big renovation you feel the pinch at every turn...I get that), then an excellent water resistant laminate (I hardly need to add "out of Europe"...) will give you an amazing floor for 15-20 years without much effort. Work with something out of Switzerland or Germany and you will be ASTOUNDED by the toughness and the handsomeness of the product. Quick....do it be Brexit! While all the tariffs are still "Zero"! I like water proof/water resistant laminates because you are in IRELAND...it rains there from time to time. Sometimes water comes in on your Wellies...and that just isn't good for regular laminate or wood. As water resistant as you can please. It will pay itself back 10 fold by the time you finish your second winter with your flooring.