In regards to using OSB, I have the following comment: I am a structural engineer in California, and I have specified OSB as a subfloor, roof sheathing & shear wall sheathing for hundreds of homes. As far as an underlayment for hardwood floors, there appears to be two issues. 1) is the floor structurally sound for hardwood, and 2) whether attaching the hardwood directly to OSB will result in nail slippage many years down the road. I have comments on both issues. As far as the floor being structurally sound, I have seen a few posts on this issue & I am not one to automatically say that hardwood should be placed perpendicular to the floor joists... But it would definitely be stronger and may help in easily repairing the hardwood attachment if the nails should slip many years down the road. I myself have placed the hardwood parallel to the floor joist because my subfloor is very stiff. To get a stiff floor, this is my recommendations: joist spacing should not exceed 16"o.c.; floor joist span should be designed conservatively (building code minimum is not conservative), and floor sheathing should be 3/4" nominal and placed with the face grain (long dimension) perpendicular to the joist & staggered. In regards to item 2: some national floor associations have said direct OSB attachment is acceptable as long as sheathing is PS2 standard & 23/32" minimum. That is all we can go by. As I mentioned above, let's say the nails do slip after many years... If your hardwood is perpendicular to the joist, couldn't you just screw it down to the joist below as a repair? That is one benefit I can see with placing the hardwood perpendicular to the joist or adding blocking between the joist. In regards to nail slip, I posted a blog regarding using the hardwood nailers that drive the cleats at an angle in the tongue of the hardwood edge. The cleats are locked in place inside the T & G connection. How is this going to lift up? Also when you drive the nail at an angle, there is a vertical bearing component of the nail that is preventing the nails from lifting. This is versus using a brad nailer that goes vertical. The vertical nail would rely totally on friction between the OSB & nail and I can see this possibly slipping down the road.

We've had hardwood in two different homes for the last 40 years. We collect hand-made rugs but also have some machine-made, so we cover the gamut - wool to silk to olefin to polypropylene. I've had at least half a dozen of them under the DR table at various times, so here's the skinny from our considerable experience: - A good rug pad will help a good-quality rug last longer. Conversely, though, because it makes it more plush underfoot, it makes it more difficult to scoot those chairs in and out! Personally, I love my rugs so I use pads under all of them, whether machine-made or hand-made. As I have a bad back and sciatica, I gave up appearance (nice traditional chairs that match the big DR table) for a set of used Herman Miller desk chairs with wheels. Not beautiful, but they scoot nicely over any rug, LOL. I've had guests tell me they're in love with how comfy the chairs are - which they should be, as these originally cost $800/ea and are fully adjustable in every way. You've probably got nice traditional chairs, so just be aware it isn't going to be easy for your guests to get in and out unless you put those large-sized 'glider' buttons on the chair feet. - Bed Bath & Beyond not only has those lovely 20% off coupons (you can ignore the expiration date, they never expire), the foam pad they sell is extremely cushy and good quality. We've been using some of them for over a decade and they've never broken apart or crumbled, nor stuck to the oak hardwood flooring. - If you want a thinner pad, I suggest you go to a flooring & carpet store. They usually sell a high-quality, very dense, thinner pad that they'll cut to size. Now, for rug size and type: - You want a rug sized to the width of your table with a chair pulled out for someone to try to sit down on it. There is nothing worse than a rug too small so when the person sits down, they discover when trying to move their chair forward and closer to the table, they've got the rug caught in the back legs of the chair! - My preference for DR rugs is wool. It doesn't matter whether it's handmade or a good machine-made (I've used both). The lanolin in a wool rug is one of the best stain-repellancy coatings around. The few things that will defeat it are coffee and sugar, curry, blueberries, or red wine (all of which will stain just about anything), so get those cleaned up pronto. A damp sponge will take up everything else; you can save the Resolve cleaner for the heavy-duty stainers. Vacuum the rug regularly and have it professionally cleaned every couple of years - I admittedly am terrible at getting around to this last and average every 10 yrs. But it really does make a difference in the vibrancy of the colors and plushness of the rug fibers. - Polypropylene, often sold as outdoor rugs, can be either plush or woven. The woven kind look similar to jute, and that tight flat weave makes it easier for chairs to slide over it. The upside is they clean with a garden hose, the downside is: 1) a big rug is heavy, and not easy to lug around or lay out to dry, and 2) oil stains can be more difficult to remove on some of them. They would be my distant second choice behind wool. - the real trick to stain-resistance is pattern. Any interior designer can tell you that, especially for those commercial spaces. Solid light colors are death for trying to keep stain-free, which is why you'll never see them used in any public spaces or even reception areas. Oriental rugs are great, you could drop an entire pan of paella on them and hardly see a thing wrong! This one was a great choice when I was giving sit-down formal dinner parties twice a month back in the '70's and '80's. Now it's in our LR still looking just as beautiful. It's just a machine-made Couristan but obviously will outlast us:

Sashasmommy, I briefly googled Smart Strand and it seems like Dupont is pushing it as an environmentally "friendly"/"green" product. They do list stain resistance and softness as attributes. Does anyone else have anything to add on this newer product? valinsv, you have very good points about allergies. It does always creep me out to think about the dust and the nasty mites that are along the baseboards and other places the vacuum can't get to very easily. I don't know anything about engineered hardwood. Is it as durable/thick as the other kind (I don't even know what the old kind is called...serious knowledge gap here!) amyrsq, I have a really hard time with carpet colors. I would want something that remains neutral enough that I wouldn't be tied to a certain color scheme. I guess when I think about different carpets, I have memories of seeing homes where the carpets varied wildly from room to room (think primary & secondary colors). It was jarring, shocking and incredibly disturbing to the senses. Not to mention tacky. I don't know that I would have the decorating finesse to carry it off. So, that is why one color may be a safer bet for me.

Kim - You mentioned things I was worried about! lol You can put rugs (cheaper kinds) in the washer? I never even thought about not being able to shampoo a rug on top of the hw. Duh. :) Our driveway is stones so that wouldn't work either. I guess I really need to check into if there's a place near us that does professional carpet cleaning and see how much it is. Tina - That's cute your dog wipes her feet. Growing up we always wiped our dear Butch's feet. He was smart, we should've thought to train him with that! If we got hw I was thinking oak, mid range color, and less shine would be best. I bought a wool/silk rug for under the DR table back in October and didn't realize you shouldn't use a beater bar on it . . . For two months I ran my dyson over it often! I don't believe there's an adjustment for the suction. I now use the attachment and I find it to be somewhat of a pain. Doesn't help that the rug is mainly black, the cats like to sleep on it and the room gets a bunch of light. Our LR gets a bunch of light. That being said I don't think I'll ever buy a tufted rug again. It's not too bad since it's only one but I believe future ones will be cheaper synthetic or I'll go the hand knotted way and be done with it. But I think I'd feel better when something happened to them if I didn't spend gobs of money as accidents happen, iykwim. Heck, I've never had hw. Maybe I'll like it without rugs. Wouldn't that be easy. :) So as long as there's a good protective finish on there my cat's occasional hairball being there all day while we're at work should be ok? Honestly as far as cat hair, I'm not bothered by our vinyl floors. Well except by the side door where we're always in and out. The tiny stones get on my nerves. Oakley you're right as far as it sticking to the furniture. I'm forever running the sweaper on it. I thought it was pretty good until this morning when I was reading in the bright morning sunlight! Eek. I wouldn't trade our cats for the world but I've about had it with all the fur at the moment. I'm leaning toward hw I just needed to hear some thoughts. I'm nervous to spend the money and possibly not like them. I'm sure there's an adjustment period like anything else. Thanks for all the feedback everyone! I really appreciate it.