I haven't pulled the trigger on flooring for my remodel (small ranch in Alaska, cement slab on grade). Not because I haven't found flooring I love, because I did (garden walnut engineered flooring by Kahr's), but because I'm just not sure which way is the right way to go for our modest house in a modest neighborhood in a wet climate where water makes it inside regularly via melted snow or rain tracked in by us or the cats. We also love dogs and we love them big and I have a partner who tends to come in and out of the house in his work boots... I've been willing to go to a laminate or LVT, but they look pretty plasticy in the color range I like. Our situation is further complicated by the fact that we need to run the flooring over holes from our old heat vents cut into the concrete so it seems we need thicker options?

What I know is that I want a medium brown wood look floor throughout all the public spaces, including the kitchen.

So, I go into yet another flooring store last weekend and the guy there recommends I consider strand bamboo. He took a board and slammed it like 15 times as hard as he could on the sample and it didn't leave a mark, let alone a dent. He said it's been left in water for 3 days and doesn't show any effects at all. He compared it to regular bamboo, where just dropping keys from the waist leaves a dent.

I was kind of blown away... Are there downsides to strand bamboo?