If you have or will have pets as well as kids, definitely buy a steam cleaner == probably $200-300 and well worth it. As one who recently installed wood, I wanted to point out that your options for wood flooring will never be greater than they are in a new build. Now, you builder might want to limit what they do or charge you a lot more for upgrades, but at least in theory, you will never again have as many options for types of installation, price, etc. Later on, you are stuck with the foundation, transitions and other factors. I couldn't put down the kind of solid floor I would have loved -- I was limited to engineered floors. If your foundation is not the same under the carpet, you could have issues if you want to later put hardwood in your family room. My utility room and bathroom tile were set in place, so the flooring has to match or transition to them. Rugs don't have to double your flooring cost -- we have bought 5 cine we put down the wood floors, ranging from $49 for a hall rug to $135 for a room sized wool rug on clearance at Marshall's and about $300 each for a couple of room sized rugs at Macy's. I know some folks use outdoor rugs inside, but they would not be soft for little ones sitting or playing on them. I have heard that some folks use polypropylene rugs and hose them down. I have a couple, they are very soft, but I have not cleaned them yet. The synthetic fibers should be easy to clean though -- and much easier than carpet fixed in place over a pad as pointed out. Anyway, I wish we had installed the wood when we bought the house (some of the wood replaced tile that was not properly patched in our kitchen remodel and some replaced carpet we installed and didn't wear well). If I ever had the opportunity to install wood from the get go, no doubt I would. Keep in mind that your builder and real estate agent will not live there and will not have to deal with making changes later. The only negative that matters in my mind is your DH and I would look at that is something for the two of you to talk about. Listening to other people about what you want can be an expensive mistake. I am sensitive to that right now because I let DH talk me into trim paint I didn't want twice (pick your battles) and we are redoing it all now because of those. More time than money in this case, but still....

Old thread but I wanted to update...we chose the laminate for the master. And I'm sorry. Not sorry that the carpet is gone, the laminate is a good improvement but I wish I had gotten wood. When he was doing the floor Dh said, this laminate is nice, let's put it all over the house...I don't know why but I said no, let me live with this a few months first. One good thing, we can (and have) moved furniture all over, around the painter, etc and it's not been a problem, no scratches. Brutuses, I haven't kept up, are you in your house yet? And how do you like your floors, if you're in? Susan

My daughter had new #1 unstained, site-finished, red oak installed in her kitchen. Her kitchen opens to her den and dining room. Both of those rooms had 90-year-old red oak which she refinished a few years prior. A threshold was installed between the dining room and kitchen where both rooms' butt ends adjoin the threshold. No threshold was installed between the den and kitchen where the length of the board in both rooms adjoins the two rooms. Six months later, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the new and old floors. All of her floors were finished with an oil based poly. You could use a different width if you insist, but your home will harmonize better if you are consistent.

ok, this is an area where I actually know something! I sold and spec'ed hardwood for a custom shop before my mommy-life. The information you are getting here is correct. Engineered floors will give you 1-2 refinishings ON A PERFECT SUBFLOOR. One of the issues that sometimes arises if there are inconsistanies in the height of your subfloor. Because there is thinner wood wearlayer (before you get to the engineered wood) there is the chance that you can damage the floor irreparably when you sand it. Now I only saw this saw this happen twice, once on a loft job and once in an older home. The loft was more subtle as it was over concrete, the old house more obvious as they were DIYers and picked engineered flooring to try to negate their irregular subfloor (they neglected to tell us that that was why they chose engineered, we would have talked them out of it had we seen the floor first) Neither of their claims to the manufacturer were fully settled because both times they did not follow the guidelines for floor prep. The loft job was also a materials only job for us with their GC laying the floors but he insisted he knew what he was doing. A good engineered floor will not be cheaper than most of your nail down options because the production costs are higher. Now having said that, GOOD engineered floors certainly have their place in places where you can't put traditional hardwood due to height restrictions or concrete subfloors. My boss had a great engineered floor in his basement and it survived a flood remarkably well (it was ash, Kahrs brand out of Scandinavia and one of the beefier engineered floors and one of the pioneers) My Grandmother also had a Kahrs floor in her ground suite condo and she LOVED it and I was impressed by the milling. I'm considering it for our basement because it's warmer and less echo-y than laminate There has been a lot of 2nd rate engineered flooring coming out of China and being labeled for all sorts of different companies. You should be able to tell an engineered sample because the layers are sandwiched together and the tongue will be a different wood than the top (showing) layer. Distressed finishes are usually more expensive because of the extra step in manufacturing to make it distressed. That is different than just getting a lower grade of hardwood like a rustic or tavern grade (in solid hardwood). Those grades have more character but they often don't carry a warranty and generally have a higher waste percentage. Another thing to think about---if you ever have to replace part of the floor, you will always be able to replicate 3/4" thick hardwood but engineered floors are more like tile, they change and get discontinued over the years. You could go pre-finished, save the hassle of site finishing but with the thicker wear-layer a 3/4" nail down floor offers. Only you will know if you can handle beveling or not. The changes in milling the last 10 years are huge. The bevel in your better milled wood is tiny. I like Canadian mills, Model or Mirage for pre-finished. Remember that if you ever re-finish, the bevel will disappear and you will, essentially have a site finished floor. One benefit that many people don't know about? With a prefinished tongue and grooved floor you can have a good installer cut out a single board (or more) from your floor if it gets damaged which is why we did a fair bit of pre-finished in new homes since inevitably we would get call-backs at move in to repair trade damage (@#$%^ plumbers and their big wrenches!). Prefinished hardwood deals the best with shinkage and expansion issues because the finish is on individual boards. Site finished floors are more labor intensive but the materials are cheaper (apples to apples). They are what many people consider the gold standard however there are more steps and you don't always know how it's going to look until it's done. There is more chance of finish contamination and trade damage during the rest of the building process. We refinished 100 year old floors. I loved the idea that there wasn't 4 generations of carpet and crap in the landfill. Definitely a forever floor and it can usually be re-sanded for all but the very worst water damage (think entire house under water for a few days) If you are going with a wide plank, keep in mind your species and humidity level (and your ability to keep humidity stable). The wider the plank (with 3/4" thick flooring), the more obvious shrinking and expanding will be. If you take a 2" wide board and it shrinks 2%, it isn't very noticeable. If you take a 6" wide board and it shrinks 2% the gaping will be more noticeable and in the case of a site finished floor *could* pull your finish apart. You'll need to find a flooring contractor in your area with lots of experience. Most of the best hardwood shops ONLY do hardwood. Beware of carpet shops and many of the big box stores in many instances. Make sure they are accredited with the NWFA (national wood flooring association) http://www.nwfa.org/member/ good luck!