What's a good flooring option?

[bparker]

If I may, I would'nt suggest a prefinished veneer wood floor for any high traffic area or an area that will be abused. Prefinished are veneer layered which makes them weak due to the cheap filler woods they use under the veneer to cut costs and make them affordable which will possibly put you right back into the market for a new floor in a few years.

Also, most not all but most prefinished veneers are obtained from rolling the log on a blade making a "sheet" which seperates the grains and further weakens the top veneer. If they are actually "cut" (and some brands offer this) its much better but still a thin veneer at best.

Stick with solid planks, oak is one of the best to be had but there are other exotics that are great too just a little more pricey. But stay with the "hard woods" for a longer lasting floor as something like pine will dent easlily but some like that distressed look too..

If you really want durability go with cross scraped oak. Not many offer this but inquire to custom designers and they may know about the process - its not fun - but if you hand scrape "across the grains" it takes all the soft grains out and the hard ones are higher - lightly sand (or screen) then stain. I have seen people hit those floors with a hammer and they wont dent. No, I am not talking about a sledge hammer with a running start but just standing flat footed with a good whack and they wont dent. Try that with a laminent wood

[deserth3]

I put Austrailian Cypres in my bathroom about 9 years ago and it's done great. Looks good too. Just put a few coats of a good finish on it. I used polyurethane.