I can't do solid hardwood. Something about on-grade cement slabs and Alaska. It's down to LVT, engineered hardwood or laminate. And... I keep hearing stories like gilmoregal's about engineered hardwood. So, basically I can spend over $10/SF plus $4 installation for a glue-down engineered wood floor that is the PERFECT color - or $3/SF for a laminate that is slightly darker than I want that we could install ourselves. That's like 14K compared to 3K. In a modest neighborhood. With a man who doesn't take his boots off. I mean, I can see spending more for what you love. But spending more to get less durability in a place we are likely over-improving already may not be the thing to do... I just really do love this particular engineered wood. It's the perfect brown, not too light, not too dark. But, it's a thin veneer of wood on a particle board backing that looks a lot like the laminate backing, actually. Ouch. These decisions hurt. I thought the benefit of my small house would be that I could basically afford whatever I wanted without gulping too hard. Not so! Gilmoregal, I really feel for you. 15 minutes and the scratching begins...

Sorry, didn't see this, Lynn. One thing I read while I was looking for the 5/16" solid -- and I may not recall this exactly right, so just derive the general idea -- was that when looking at engineered wood, there are 3-ply and 5-ply veneers on top. Obviously the 5-ply would have more resurfacing potential. They recommended to always get the higher ply veneer. I saw yesterday, in Home Depot, the 5/16" solid. Yes, it does look kind of thin, but it's solid. I don't have any idea how much weight those things can take or the type of damage, but I'd think having your subfloor correct would be important in supporting it well enough to withstand heavy cabinets. My mother has a huge antique armoire, extremely heavy, sitting on the thin 3/8" engineered stuff in their condo. I think I'd be more afraid the veneer would give, now that you've mentioned it, than a solid. They have 1/2" solids, too, not just 3/4". Which I'm sure you've discovered. How much is the sf price difference between 1/2" solid and 1/2" veneer? When I've casually looked around, just to get a feel for things, the prices seem to be all over the place. Very true with the laminates -- wood floors are slippery enough for our pets and the laminates are even more so.

Hi @mpbiersack. We are still extremely happy with the flooring. No issues except my husband says there's one board in the kitchen that doesn't seat well. Not sure if it's from a defect or poor installation. It does scratch easily so all our furniture feet have felt or some other protection. Take care when moving heavy furniture. I can't speak to moisture because we're up on a raised foundation and live in a low humidity, high desert area. We used this flooring throughout our 2300 sqft house except in two guest rooms and media room. Still in love with the color.

You will need to choose your MOST IMPORTANT aspects of the floor. All floors scratch and show wear. Even porcelain tile will look 'lived on' after a while. A house with 10 people would be considered a high-wear situation. I would look for a floor that offers commercial grade wear. Engineered hardwood offers the benefit of being able to add acoustic underlayment. Whereas most vinyl products (95-99%) do not. They will need to be installed straight down onto the subfloor. Engineered hardwood can scratch...depending on the type of finish. It can handle spills that are cleaned up within 15 minutes of so (1/4 cup fluids) but it won't handle a large puddle (the entire gallon of milk sitting on the floor) for that long. Yes, vinyl scratches. Sure. But everything will - eventually. The 20mil finish on vinyl is going to be good enough for most households. For yours I would suggest getting tougher (30mil - 40mil) finish. There are a few of these out there...but not many. Again, the noise reduction won't be very good (it is cheaper to insulate the ceiling than it is to get any meaningful noise reduction underneath vinyl. These two issues need to be reconciled to your level of acceptance. A scratched, beaten up vinyl is still a viable, sound floor. It just doesn't look nice. An engineered hardwood will scratch as well...but eventually it can be brought to the point of plank failure (cracks/splits, wear through causing raw wood to be exposed). This level of wear on an engineered hardwood is rare (especially if you work with the super tough finishes on the high-end products) but it still can happen with a family of 10. I suggest you decide which is more important - pretty vs. functional vs. quiet. It would be hard to have all 3 with a family of 10.