I loathe carpet, my wife and I want to remove all the carpet on the main floor this winter and replace it with something else; I've read mixed reviews on just about everything... If you were to suggest an alternative flooring to someone looking for something durable but reasonably priced, what would you suggest?  We don't have any kids but do have a couple of dogs. FWIW the laminate faux wood planks we have in the kitchen and entryway already seem to be pretty damned durable, but I'm not a fan of the texture.

We've got roughly 800sqft to do.

Do you have a dog?  I built a new house.  I had installed a variety of flooring installed.  Tile carpet and wood floors.
The wood floors were supposed to be scratch resistant.   We noticed a few scratches.  Called the installer and the told me it was scratch resistant for dogs weighing 30lbs or less.
The tile is excellent.

Are you looking to do it yourself? Some bamboo floors can off gas and smell, I like vinyl planks like the TrafficMaster stuff from Home Depot which is made by Metroflor. It's a floating floor, no glue, clicks together, easy to install just make sure your subfloor is smooth and level.

Yes sir, a Weim/Husky mix and a Golden.  They're 70 and 50lbs respectively, and growing like weeds.

I've never seen a house with the wood-grain tile, does it look ok in large spaces?



Yeah, I'll be doing it myself with a couple friends who have flooring experience.

The reviews on HD.com for the TrafficMaster products are stellar; and good lord this stuff is about 60% cheaper than what we budgeted... Might buy a box to see how we like it! Thanks.

I don't have wood grain tile but am considering it to replace the wood floor.  But that will be after I try sanding and refinish with polyurethane

Look at faus laminate. Just installed 1200 sq ft in our downstairs. We did a tile pattern. Easy to install and went through 4 saw blades on the sliding compound miter saw and table saws. Home Depot  online sells it under a different name. Lifetime warranty.

I'm not sure on how much you're willing to spend or how much square footage you have to cover but stranded carbonized bamboo is very tough and durable and can easily take a good beating from a large dog(s) with no damage at all.  The only thing that seems to harm it is water--for a long period of time.

I did 300 sq ft in my house three years ago and there's not a scratch on it.  You may or may not like the texture (it's very smooth on top), and you may find the good grade ones out of your price range.  There were people here on ARF who said bamboo was shit and I'm here to say otherwise.  I guess people who are unhappy with theirs bought regular bamboo, not the stranded carbonized variety.  There's a reason they cane people in Asia with this mess!

You can certainly do a hardwood floor, just have to be selective about the wood species.   Some are much harder than others.   I have two 80+ pound labs and just put down a 3/4" x 4" Tobacco Road Acacia, holds up well.

That bamboo looks awesome.
I can't believe it's bamboo!
I want to install some immediately.
Where did you get it? Brand? Pricing?

Double tap!!

It's a Lumber Liquidators product made by Morning Star.  The product number is 10015491.  It is 9/16 x 4-3/4.
They may not have my exact one anymore, but they do have similar.  Mine is stranded carbonized and if you go in they likely will put a piece of this beside red oak--it will put BIG dents in red oak.

I paid approx $1750 in materials and $800 in installation (installed by a LL contractor).
$250 of my floor costs were molding and quarter round.  $1300 was the actual floor boards.  I paid $150 for a pad (floor is floated).

I should also mention, this stuff CAN be sanded and refinished--just like wood.

If you go bamboo make sure you get the stranded and not the horizontal layed stuff.  the cheaper stuff cannot really be refinished.  Or more accuratly no flooring guy will touch it.  We have had 4 guys out in the last week and they would not even give a quote to refinish.

don't have a better picture anymore.
these were individual tiles that looked like wood.
more durable for the dogs.