I know most people don’t think about this, but you may give some consideration to how much and how long the material you choose will off-gas. Off-gassing depends on the type and age of the material and even stuff like the adhesives.

My main floor has real hardwood (oak, I guess?). It’s OK, but as I look at replacing the carpets in other parts of the house, I’m leaning heavily toward bamboo. The oak (or whatever it is) floor hasn’t been a good value for what we spent on it. I like to go barefoot at home, and I’ve never felt a synthetic floor that didn’t make my skin crawl. Bamboo seems to be much sturdier than regular hardwood, and the samples I’ve touched have felt pleasant against my bare feet. The only thing holding me back is choosing a color that’ll transition well to the existing floor.

We have hardwood floors in most of our house, but LVP in our kitchen. I love the vinyl, it looks good and is super easy to install and we haven’t had issues with scratching so far. It doesn’t really look like hardwood, though, so I think some people still get snooty about it, lol.

If you can, walk on samples without your shoes on. LVP seems to be the material of choice for all the new developments in my area. I hate how it feels on my bare feet. Solid oak or maple feels much better.

Tile is nice in entryways where there is a lot of wear from dirty shoes.

I’ve heard of people doing polished concrete. Could be an appealing option if you live in a hot place and want cool floors. Or maybe combine concrete with a heated floor if you’re in a cold climate.

Instead of replying ‘thanks’ to every single post like a maniac, I’ll just self-reply.

Thanks to all the responses! It definitely sounds like a decision with many factors to weigh. I think it feels more of a Solid Wood vs LVP, and while I see positives for both, one way of “summarizing” is that there aren’t regrets on solid wood. ugh - maybe the price difference will help me decide!

thanks again all. this has been a very pleasant experience posting on Lemmy/Beehaw!

When I bought my house, we bought surplus unfinished engineered oak flooring. It was a great deal and saved us over 50% vs buying from a flooring supplier directly. We stained it our preferred shade (a warm orange) and when the sun sets our rooms glow with the colors of a warm sunset. I honestly wouldn’t trade the floor for anything else. It has a warm, vibrant and rich feeling throughout the house.

Granted, the flooring is starting to show signs of wear and tear. We have a small dog and no kids so the damage is minimal but its something to consider. But in our case, we appreciate the minor weathering look. It makes our house have character and feel lived in.

If you have kids, pets/animals and/or lots of foot traffic, it may make sense to have something more sturdy. Personally, our home is our sanctuary so we keep it pretty tip-top and we’ve never had more than 4 guests over at a time.

You can’t really beat the look of hardwood flooring, but its durability may not be great for your needs. For us its plenty durable. Something also to consider it that you can restore hardwood flooring back to its original glory pretty easily whereas other flooring may require a complete replacement.

Good luck! Renovating a home can at times be challenging but making it truly your own is very rewarding.

I installed naildown prefinished hardwood in the majority of my house. It was the first major project we did, so therefore the one we would live with the longest, and I wanted to love it and really improve the character of the house. Installing it really wasn’t that much worse than cheaper click lock floors.

If you don’t feel that strongly about it, LVP has gotten much better.

I have no expertise, but I would recommend balancing aesthetics with utility. We have an engineered hardwood in our house and our Golden has more or less destroyed it over 6 years just from normal use. My parents have this tile flooring that looks like hardwood and it’s SO robust. They have four dogs and their floors still look perfect. If I was going to do it all over again, I’d get the stylized tile.

I have a century home that has all 3 installed in various spots from previous owners and some LVP installed by us.

If you want to install the same flooring through all those areas I would not pick laminate. The laminate we have in the main kitchen was installed I would guess about 5 years ago, and it being a kitchen, spills happen. Because of that the laminate is already swelling up at the edges where the planks meet. Its not drastic or overly noticeable, but it is there and will continue to wear and tear over time. As you can imagine I’m not particularly thrilled with the previous owner’s choice on that one.

In the mother-in-law kitchen we installed vinyl plank which has held up nicely and isnt prone to absorption from spills, but time will tell as its been in for only ~2 years. My MIL also has a small dog and it hasnt seemed to make a dent in that regard. YMMV with a larger animal or kids.

The rest of the house, dining/living/bedrooms are the original hardwood floors, the scratches are just character in a house of this age and it wasnt an issue for us when buying.

If I were starting from a blank slate I would pick LVP for the kitchen for the water resistance and pick one of the other 2 for the rest.