Fun2cook, yes you can have wood floors. The initial investment is higher, but you will not have to worry with traffic, dings, scratches, pets, kids, etc. Our kids are now teens, but 4 years ago, we put in an engineered unfinished wood veneer floor with a 6mm veneer. Being unfinished allowed it to be hand scraped, stained and coated on site. It was a strange process to watch (get it pretty wet with sponge mop to soften wood, then 3 guys scrape in unison, 18"-2' at a time). The wood gouges differently in each board. I went with heavy scraped but you can do light or medium scrape as well. Between everything my kids are in to, football, wrestling, music (think friends and their amplifiers coming and going)scooting furniture (they scoot while sitting rather than pick up a chair) dogs and cats, it takes LOTS of abuse. We went this way after a smooth plank floor (3mm veneer) and carpet that just got worn out after 2-3 years from traffic, kid toys, gouges thru the veneer, and water from a toilet overflow (ran out the bathroom). We recently (April 2010) had an interior hot water heater go out and empitied its contents onto a portion of the floor. So much so that two bedrooms in that hallway had to have new carpet. It also went under a wall and into my master bath (marble) and closet (carpet) which carpet was ruined. The MDF built in shelving soaked up the water and crumbled (new maple built-in closet going in today-cabinet maker made it for the same cost as ripping it out, repainting, and having trim man come and re-do what we had with mdf. It was also half what those closet system people for same layout. We did out own tear-out and paining. Anyhoo, the wood floor was completely undamaged. Even the eurathane didn't lift. Nor did it seep through cracks or where carpet met wood (surprised at that). It is more expensive in the outlay of dollars, but the ding from a helmet facemask, or scratch from piano bench (before pads) are covered by tinted markers or sharpie. I looked in to putting it into the 2 bed rooms but it does run about $10 a foot. Plus, those rooms would have to have a leveling compound which ran it about 11ish a foot. With the hot water heater being replaced (we went gas tankless from a local independant plumber-not a national chain) and a new front door (another saga in itself), we just couldn't swing it. So we went with Shaw low pile tuftex carpet. The product we used is shamrock plank flooring. It comes in several woods, pre-finished or unfinished.

It's great that some of you trust all of your contractors, but spend a bit of time on the bathroom forum and you will see that there is ample cause to not just blindly trust what people are doing in your house. In the end, you are the one who will pay when something goes wrong. I'm sure my contractors make more money in a year than the total cost of my project remodel - heck I'm sure they make more than I do! That's not the point though - a good craftsman is worth his weight in gold. Unfortunately, in my experience, there are more bad than good. My dad was in the business for 40 years before retiring - he's where I first got my healthy skepticism from. By the end of his career he was managing guys and running jobs and he can spot a good one or a bad one from a mile away. The rest of my skepticism has come from my job, reinforced by some of the nonsense people report here on GW. I tend to grill people up front and let them know that things will be done my way and give them the opportunity to bail before we get started if they have a problem with that. Luckily, except for the plumber who flaked out on me and did a bunch of things that were not to code that I had to pay to have redone by someone whose head was in the game, my contractors are great. But that doesn't mean that I am not watching everything they do like a hawk and letting them know when I want something done differently from the way they normally do it. Also the easy home equity availability of the last several years has brought a huge proportion of hacks to the various trades. The money source has not been dried up for long enough to weed the majority of them out. I'm fortunate in that we are friends with our local building inspector and we've had fantastic luck with anyone he has recommended (true craftsmen) but honestly, I don't know how many people remodel their homes and don't end up with utter crap in the process after seeing what I've seen from some supposed good and reputable contractors. About being seedy or not, I am very distrustful of strange people in my house until I get to know them a bit. Part of the reason I chose our contractors (and that it is taking so long) is that they work themselves. Sure it took a week to demo the bathroom when a crew could have done it in a day but I also trust my GC with my house keys without blinking an eye. Maybe it's just the high standards set by my dad but although he was just a blue collar worker, he always dressed neatly and presentable. He pressed his jeans every night for work the next day. That might be going a bit overboard, but all of the guys who work on our house dress neatly and appropriately for the job they are doing. Admittedly, our plumber is way better looking in his police uniform with creased pants and shiny shoes, but he's okay in jeans and a sweatshirt with his company logo too. I'm in the 4th month of a gut remodel of our upstairs bath and it has been incredibly stressful to keep on top of every little detail to make sure it's done right. Also, some people are just more affected by chaos in the sanctuary of their home than others. Chelone, I've seen the pictures of your house that you've posted about the way you "really live", and I don't think you are one of those people who requires calm, neatness and order to thrive ;). Most people are not rolling in the money so taking on any large expenditure like home remodeling is stressful. If something goes way over budget it IS a big deal to me, so careful planning was of the utmost importance - as is making sure things are done right the first time. With a full time job it's a lot of pressure and stress. DH works from home and I know it's been tough on him to have to deal with people coming and going constantly while he is trying to get his work done. So I hearya on how stressful it is but I just keep my eye on the prize. No wine will help, I don't normally drink and when you are 6 months pregnant it's not the time to start ;). Sure, in the context of world atrocities, your remodel is irrelevant - but then again so is this whole board. Surely the resources we spend on paint and even our internet connections could be better spent feeding the starving children in third world countries, but none of us is the second coming of Mother Theresa in that regard and is therefore unfit to judge.

someone2010, have you used this product yourself to know if it goes on evenly? it's in an aerosol, so if the pressure used isn't consistent, could it look spotty, and what if more has to be applied to even it out, and then looks too dark in spots? Also, do you know if the product can change color over time? ...Also, should that be used between the 2nd and 3rd coat, so it doesn't get sanded off? But I imagine, that if a floor company hasn't used this particular product before, that they may not want to experiment with it on a real job that they would be responsible for if it goes wrong. I read an older GW thread about this, and many people said (like northcarolina, above)that it will even out with the whole floor exposed. I'm tempted to go this route of waiting. I hate to go through another heavy sanding. Good news: the floor company is coming themselves now,... without that horrible contractor, so I'll be able to deal much better with them. I wonder if the light sanding for the 2nd & 3rd coats will help the appearance of the line, and then, after finished, covering the exposed parts (that are darker) with paper, or a rug, and keeping the lighter parts exposed, to hasten the evening out process? Does anyone think they would do the same?

Well, it's an expensive method, but I just ate out all the time. That meant no snacking between meals, no grazing out of boredom. I had to get up and leave the house to eat anything more than fruit, so I only really ate meals when I was hungry. And I never really had more than one meal's worth of food on hand at a time, so I couldn't really overeat. Also, restaurants are better at preparing vegetables than I am, so I find vegetables at restaurants a lot more exciting and ate a lot more of them. I wish I could afford to do that all time. It was easier, I was thinner, and the food was better.