Is there a reason you don't want to go with solid hardwood? That would be the most durable of all. If I had to do a floating floor, I'd pick engineered hardwood, just because I don't like the look of laminate.

We put down engineered hardwood (Mohawk Santa Barbara) in our family room several years ago. We had been assured by the flooring store owner that it was extremely durable, which was our concern because we have two dogs. He claimed to have it in his own home and it had shown no scratches from his Labrador Retriever. We noticed the first scratches within 15 minutes of the floor being installed, and it has been a constant problem ever since. I still love the look of the floor, but if you are wanting durability, I would not recommend it. If we were doing it again, we would get wood-look vinyl or ceramic tile.

I've had a 110-lb lab and 2 Corgis (who love to run laps around the house) since we put in our hardwood floors 13 or so years ago. As soon as I hear toenails start to clickity-clack on the floor, I trim them - probably once a week. I don't have doggie scratches on the floor. Lots of other things have scratched the floors (I learned to clean the feet of Grandma's walker when she came over - too late), but not the dogs.

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...

FWIW, I had laminate that held up much better than my current engineered hardwood against scratches.

Old laminate was in for ~8 years. The only dings/scratches were from things that SHOULD scratch or dent a floor. (Dropped a glass sugar bowl which broke, someone dragged a ladder across the floor with a nail under it - those sorts of things.) The old floor suffered through the antics of 2 80 pounds labs just fine, including occasional pet accidents.

New engineered hardwood has been in a year. It already has 5 times the scratches that my old floor did, and I don't know where most of them have come from. My dear sweet old labs are gone. No kids, one small dog, we don't wear shoes in the house....it's like gremlins come out at night and scratch the floor just to screw with me.

I know lots of people say they hate the wood-look laminates. My opinion (worth what you paid for it, ha-ha) is that my former laminate looked just fine, and it held up better against normal life.

I have no experience with water leaks, so can't speak to that component on either floor.

If durability is your primary concern, I would go with a good laminate. After all, what strikes you as more durable, plastic or wood?

I know landlords that use nothing but traffic master allure in their rental properties. No personal experience myself.

Steph2000 - You have probably made your decision, but in case you haven't, you may want to look at Pergo XP Extreme Performance laminate. I was at Home Depot the other night and saw it on display. It looks more realistic (to my eye) than many laminates, and when I tried to scratch the sample piece with my keys, it would not even make a mark! I wish it had been available when we bought our Mohawk Santa Barbara....

I second gilmoregal. I am putting in Pergo Max (almost the same thing as Pergo XP). I have tested all kinds of laminates and flooting bamboo floors and the two that faired the best were Pergo Max and a Lampton laminate from BuildDirect. I did 5 tests on each piece (I connected two pieces to make a seam): 1) Hammer drop from my waist 2)set of keys dropped from my waist 3) Kitchen knife drop from my waist 4) Scissor scratch 5) Water spill between the seams left overnight.

The only thing that damaged the pergo was the scissor scratch (and with some light buffing you couldn't even notice) and the knife drop which made a tiny dent. The water did NOTHING to damage the pergo which surprised me a lot.

We have a laminate kitchen in a beach house. It prexisted our 2002 purchase. Still perfect. We installed $1 s. Ft laminate, click, in 2003 in the rest of the house and it has a couple of minor scratches. The house is not occupied much, summer house, but it gets lots of sand. Lots of kids. Very sturdy. Maybe they made better laminate at the time but it has been great for us.

I think I will do pergo for the bedrooms in a newly purchased house. I don't get the appeal at its price for engineered.
we have still perfect hardwood floors in our 1960 house which are original.