Bamboo is harder than maple.

Do either one of you know anything about D & M engineered flooring? What are your thoughts on 7.5 " planks?

The wider the plank, the more movement in the wood. The less stable.. Wood is a living thing that expands and contracts with humidity. Nothing over five inches is necessary, and three and a quarter looks great too. Oak, bamboo, maple, hickory, cherry, .....with reasonable care they all could outlive .....you.

Jan Moyer, would you recommend Shaw engineered floors? Our builder works with them but I can't seem to find a medium brown with NO red or orange in it. It needs to be a neutral with a little brown with a hint of ashy. It's hard to find! Seems like Shaw gets bad reviews from what I've seen. Do you have any ideas of a 1/2" thick 5" engineered floor with that tone of brown? We get very little natural light so it can't be too dark, but like I said with the lighter ones, they are too red/orange or yellow.

That product looks decent and the color sounds like it's exactly what you want. Maple generally gets knocked because it's so smooth, not because it's soft. It's reasonably hard, but because of the smoothness it will readily show indentations. Your selection has some texture so it probably wouldn't be too bad, but if you have an active household and/or big dogs, expect it to get indented. Of course the same is true of most woods but some have more surface texture so indentations are prominent.

With a 2mm surface, you should get one resanding out of it. If you can go 15 years before resanding, this floor would have about a 30 year lifespan.

I'm concerned about what Jan Moyer said about the wide planks being less stable. I am interested in Oak and Broad flooring, but don't know if it's out of our budget. We certainly would love for our floor to last that long and not go with what we've gone through with what we have now. We've only had it for 6 months and it's splintering, popping and chipping. It's seeming impossible to find anyone that can truly educate us about flooring in every store we go to. It's overwhelming.

As with any other product, you will GET what you pay for. The longest lasting, most guaranteed to last "forever" floor, through whims and style morphs, and general foot traffic and daily abuse, and all else..........is a sanded on site 3/4 inch select grade red or white oak, in a medium deep brown tone stain, in 3 1/4 board width with a Glitza satin finish. A hundred years from now, it will still be a very good floor despite a few refinishes. As it is in many homes of decades........and decades in age. Just saying it's as classic a floor as you can find. Or do the higher end of your category of engineered

http://www.plankflooring.com/

Frankly, I'd buy a luxury vinyl plank flooring, long before I'd buy a cheap hardwood floor. Worry free for the most part, and in a good one, a great look to boot. Get your wide board, that way.

Expansion and contraction of wide boards is more of an issue with solid wood floors, not engineered.

If your six month old wood floor is splintering, popping and chipping it would be wise to determine why, before installing anything else.