I hope it is not too late in responding to you. We replaced our "cheap" engineered floors 4 years ago with a 5/8" engineered redoak over 9 layer base. It comes prefinished, but we chose the unfinished wood in order to finish on site. Some leveling had to be done, as some areas had been carpet. Then it was glued down. We had it hand scraped with the grain, then stained and finished. I had two colors mixed, as I did not want red, but wanted dark brown (the red oak and scraped areas will take the stain darker and lighter in areas)but not black. I really wanted the wider planks but just could not go the extra money with all the other out of pocket expenses we had. I went with 3 inch and really worried how it would look and if I would be happy. There is some sanding once installed and before staining. While nothing is 100% dustless, it was not bad. I was expecting worse. We have a son with severe allergies to air born allergens/dust mites, etc and he was fine. He as asthma as well (not allergy onset) and was never bothered. However, we did not live in the house during installation. I am happy to report that I still LOVE my floors every time I look at them. I had area rugs under the piano and coffee table, but they did not last long. Covered up too much of my beautiful floor. Recently, we had a hot water heater flood a hallway that was under water for about an hour. After all was said and done, not one millimeter of finish was damaged and not one board warped, cupped, popped, etc. Exellent installation is a key when installing any product. Good Luck Here are a couple of photos. Depending on the time of day, which lamps are on, and how much natural light is coming in, the floors can take on different hues of brown. Here is a link that might be useful: Shamrock Flooring

You have a ton of questions and I will do my best to address them, I also have AADD so if I start to ramble and jump back and forth just overlook that :). We need to simplify this more because there are certain issues you can't change..... being on a slab and the weight issues. Any slab has to be reasonably flat and dry, but in your case it needs to be almost dead flat and dry. We are supposed to always check slabs for vapor emissions that can go unoticed when there is carpet over top that allows the slab to breath and release moisture without any problems. You have an 18yr. old glued down wood floor that has exhibited no problems, in my view that is as good an indicator one is going to get..... so we'll just say you are dry. I don't know how many sq.ft. is involved but it takes some space for an installer to check the slab for flatness and then take measures to correct it. Sometimes a low spot can be a few feet in diameter and with the feathering needed I may need 6', 8' or more to deal with it. If I don't have space I could be featuring up to a high spot underneath furniture. It is best to try and figure a way to go one room a time, clean it out, then go on to the next room. If you have your heart set on an engineered BC, then get it :), life is too short to fret over that as long as you know about this issue and are okay with it. On glued down floors the thickness does not really matter as much as opposed to floating. What does matter is the top wear layer thickness and using the right adhesive. A 3mm or 4mm thick wear layer is actually better in the long run as a 5mm thick . Going too thick with the wear layer can cause a phenomenon called "dry cupping" .... the NWFA and NOFMA are aware of this and it is being addressed. If you go with a glued down engineered wood floor and want to put on a sealer as "insurance" , then do it. In your case I would strongly consider using Stauf 960 which is a quality sealer and adhesive combined in one application. You pay alot more for the adhesive but you only have one labor issue. Imo you could also go with a floating floor. But to pull this off you must use a quality product and (here I go again)..... the concrete must be flat. There is a laminate out there that I have personally installed that is almost bullet proof. That would be Wilsonart , which is a high pressure laminate referred to as an HPL. Putting that down along with using their blue fusion glue in the joinery can take any weight you want to put on top of it. When I do that I recommend to the client upgrading the underlayment to a product Sound Solutions. You cannot walk on this type of install and tell that it floats. You could also go with a floating engineered wood... this is where thickness comes into play. I prefer to use nothing less than a 1/2" in thickness and a where the joints get glued up, or, choose a good reliable click-lock system like the valinge or Uniclic joinery systems. They both hold together well. The wood should also be waht is called balanced.... the top layer equals the bottom. You are very typical of alot of my clients. Quit stressing so much :).

I would love to help but I can't see any pictures. Check your settings.

Brutuses, Early in the day, I was all set to go with Makore or Amendoim (two days ago I was set to go with Cabrueva or Brazilian Cherry and take a chance of a dark floor) until a neighbor liked the very light Sakura and thought I should take pics and look at the pics to get an overall feel of the colors without being on top of them. Well, I would have never considered the one you chose until you sent me a sample of it and then I ordered a few more samples of it and realized the Cabrueva was the Santos Mahogany that I liked at the store a few weeks ago when I brought home the big samples that I had to return. So you choose Bruce Park Avenue Cabrueva in pics 9 and 10 that you are right has a few tones in it that compliment my credenza. The Amendoim you chose I love also which is an engineered wood (BR-111 Triangulo the big samples is of that is in the middle of the Santos Mahogany and the Tiger Wood in Picture 14). Most of the Amendoim Samples I have here unfortunately are the solid wood with two planks in the engineered since I had to return that pretty sample that was large in picture #14. I love the Brazilian Cherry but some of the pieces were more red than my furniture when I had the big sample here so I was not sure and I should have taken a picture when I had the bigger sample here. I love the Makore and that is why I have 4 samples of it since it looks so real but in the pictures you did not choose it with my furniture and chose the Cabrueva. Now you understand when I say I love the Makore but I wish it had more red in it? The first samples in pics 9 and 10 on the left are the Bruce Park Avenue Makore. Miller88, Thanks for your opinion of Amendoim or Makore which are my favorites along with the Cabrueva. Caminne, Choosing the darkest sample would be either the Cabrueva or the Brazilian Cherry when it darkens up. Thanks for your opinion. Al-Horses, I guess I really wanted a light floor but the real light colors did not do much for the room and seemed to have too much yellow in them or did not look right with the file cabinets so then I thought maybe I will stop thinking light or dark and go with what I feel looks good and so far that is Amendoim (the variations seem to have a red tint to it that looks nice with my desk and is neutral and looks nice in my family room also... I am told the wood will have a lot of knots), Cabrueva (which is Santos Mahogany and picks up colors in my desk and is rich looking and pretty in all my engineered, laminate and solid wood samples) and Makore (= African Cherry... but I wish it has a little bit of a red tint to it that sometimes it fools the eye that it has due to the shine in it picking up the red in the desk.. I love the tones it has and how it looks so real and beautiful) Parma42, I also love the Tiger Wood but when I got solid samples that showed what it looks like at first and what it darkens up to, the dark piece has so many dark black streaks that I was not sure about the Tiger Wood anymore. If the Tiger Wood would not have the black streaks, I love the grain in it and the color variation so much and fell in love with it at the store on the floor along with the Santos Mahogany and the Brazilian Cherry. I like the grain better in the Tiger Wood and the Santos Mahogany than the Brazilian Cherry but I love some of the pretty reds in the Brazilian Cherry so much.