Thanks for your opinion. Speaking of pet accidents, carpeting is the worst kind of flooring for us to have.

Tigressa waterproof carpeting is a lot more pet friendly than wood that lets urine seep between the cracks into the subfloor.

Nature's Miracle is my best friend. I have engineered hardwood throughout my condo and we've had some dog accidents. My floors are five years old and look as good as the day they were installed. I agree with you. I would NEVER do carpeting with a pet.

As for bamboo, you don't say where you live, but if you are in a very humid climate, I would avoid the bamboo flooring.

There is no way I would put my cat boxes on my hardwood. If there is a chance of pee on the floor, I would be tempted to avoid all of the above. I would go with a more waterproof surface. Cork is great underfoot, but with pee? Engineered hardwood and bamboo are natural substances at the surface and can discolor from exposure to pee, as well as have grooves between planks where liquid can go.

If you are talking about cat puke, that is not as much of an issue and easier to clean off any surface other than carpet.

A good engineered wood floor isn't going to be much cheaper than solid hardwood, if at all. We had an engineered wood floor installed in most of our main level (hickory). It has resisted dents and scratches in the year of ownership with three active boys dropping stuff on it, but it wasn't less expensive than the solid hickory options we were looking at. It was pretty much the same price. I guess we paid for its durability.

All of the above can scratch and dent. I am not sure of the durability of cork or bamboo. We looked at bamboo and heard great things, but it made a difference how it was cut (I think stand cut was best?). I would avoid the $1.99 bamboo at Lumber Liquidators. You will get what you pay for. That probably lands you in the price area of hardwood.

I agree with the vinyl suggestion. I have seen homes with the Luxury Vinyl Tile that looks fantastic. I don't know how it stands up, but it is relatively inexpensive, should last a decade or more and is resistant to denting, scratching, pet accidents.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their views! Those are great points to consider. Will check out Nature's Miracle for sure. We were going to visit Lumber Liquidators, but now I wonder if we should stick to mid-priced brands. The main issue is the cost of installation.

Cpartist and Handmethathammer: What are the brands of your engineered hardwoods?

We live in Portland, OR and have a typical PNW climate: hot and dry summers followed by mild and very rainy winters. However, we don't seem to have high humidity indoors in winter. With the forced air heating, my skin and hair become dry in winter, and the windows never fog when we cook. Before, I lived in a rental apartment and in winter the windows fogged when I cooked.

Our litter boxes are in the laundry room and master bathroom, which have vinyl floors. One cat is prone to puking indoors, and he prefers to do it on the carpet! When I see him heaving in the living room and quickly move him to the kitchen, he dashes back into the living room and unloads there. He never pees outside the litter box, though. The other cat doesn't puke but sometimes marks indoors. Not often - perhaps once every two or three months. Last year he favored a solid wood cabinet in the dining room. Luckily, cleaning it with lemon oil polish and then rubbing with mayonnaise removed the discoloration. Makes me wonder if mayo could work for the flooring too... The last couple of accidents were in the master bedroom.

I'm thinking of putting washable runners and rugs in the bedrooms and dining room to protect the new flooring. IKEA seems to have inexpensive woven cotton runners, and there are some indoor/outdoor rugs that can be rinsed off. If my kitties puke or pee on a rug, I could just wash it.

Lana I have no memory of what brand I used. My floor is an exotic; Ipe but for the life of me I can't remember the brand. It was five years ago.

Natures Miracle is available in pet stores. It has even taken red wine out of a white silk couch at a friend's home.

My wife used a lot of Natures Miracle. I'm the one who has to pull up floors and sees the result. It's no miracle. But pet owners like my wife seems to like it because she can pretend it resolves everything and she doesn't have to train the pet.

For untrained pets (zoo) concrete floor is best. Tile and linoleum next. Carpet by far the worst, first thing I rip out of a house and never replace. Area rugs OK.

For bamboo and other engineered flooring it really depends on the product. For years there was basically one kind of bamboo, flat grain & vertical, blonde or caramel, is basically the same aside from looks. Today there are many kinds and colors. I've used the flat/vertical/blonde/caramel products in several homes including rentals. I like the aluminum oxide finish but it's not magic. I don't think this type holds up any better than say oak or any other hardwood. You don't notice the dents, scratches, dirt in oak or these kinds of bamboo. So I don't see any real difference.

I have black stained bamboo mixed with blonde and see everything on the black and almost nothing on the blonde. The blonde has just as many dents, scratches and dirt, just don't notice it.

I installed one floor of strand bamboo. That's pretty impressive. Hide problems and each little strand is enclosed in a resin so it looks to me like it would have no problem with moisture. I only used one product so FWIW. It was a commerical product, don't know if that matters. Couldn't do a floating floor, was suppose to be glued to the sub floor which I will never do because I'm going to the poor dude who will have to pull it up someday. I router in groove so I could lay a strip of copper and screw it all together. But I assume they have click strand bamboo today. It's a completely different type of material from the other bamboo. Can no longer just lump all bamboo into one type.

The deal with all types of strip flooring is urine gets down and behind it. I think if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind living in pet urine then you're going to be happy with any floor. Flooring doesn't really fixes that problem.

The engineered floor we went with was a Hallmark Hardwood. The installer noted that it had some nice, long boards and very few they couldn't use. It has held up well, but I only had it a year. http://hallmarkfloors.com/hardwood-flooring/

Lana,

Based on your needs and price constrains, I'd recommend a good laminate floor, ideally water resistant or a nice vinyl plank.

Check out IVC floors, they sell them both (the laminate and the vinyl plank) and they are both super good quality.

Here is the link http://www.ivcfloors.com/ and no, even though I'm a pro, I'm not trying to sell you anything. I just happen to have used their products long enough to know how good they are.

All great comments certainly. To comment on bamboo, it can be purchased in a wide plank engineered floating floor so an easier DIY, if you attempt, and should be cheaper to install if you use a professional as it will be quicker installation than a staple/nailed down hardwood.

Great scratch resistance if right company is chosen, not all bamboo is created equal unfortunately, there are 1500 species of bamboo, look for Moso bamboo it's 160% harder than oak. The natural colour variation will satisfy you not wanting it too show much. They do have some hardwood look alike patterns so would avoid anything real dark. It will last a very long time. We like using Teragren products but if budget is a concern it might not be the best choice but I definitely would avoid a cheaper bamboo floor and would move to one of the suggestions above at that point.

One thing to keep in mind if you are doing a sheet vinyl in the kitchen, if it is adjacent to any of your other rooms you are doing you will want to check the height of the floor against your sheet vinyl so it can be a smoother transition.

$12 a square bamboo and a difficult install isn't going to work for someone that thinks $5 a square engineered that will be damaged by pet urine (as will the bamboo) is ''too expensive''.

Vinyl is the ONLY floor that exists that won't be damaged by pet urine. Or that new waterproof carpet and a Little Green Machine or other hot water home carpet cleaner.

I have dark scraped bamboo flooring in a bedroom, about 6 1/2 years old. Forgot the manufacturer. The floor show a lot of scratches and the area by the bed (where I put my feet to get in and out of bed) is worn. I do use Bona hardwood floor polish, but apparently not often enough. But I do like the floor. Remember that bamboo is a grass and staining chip marks doesn't work the same as for wood.

I have cork in the kitchen. Previously reported on my experience with APC cork. The finish layer is coming off. I'll be replacing it with vinyl sheet flooring.

HTH.

I bought Cancork flooring, pre-engineered. It's advertised as DIY, but we had a professional install it. Even so, we had problems with hollow -sounding when we walk on it (which could have been solved with a subfloor, but they didn't tell us that, and a DIY wouldn't know) and also with the polyurethane peeling off, even though we followed manufacturer's instructions, and the distributor is not helpful. You do save money up front, but if something happens, make sure that your dealer is willing to stand behind their product.

Blaming a poor install on the company that made the product, when it's the installer that is at fault, takes a lot of gall. All subfloors are required to be FLAT, and it can take a lot to get them that way. That's your installer's fault for not doing that. It only involved actually reading the installtion requirements. "Hollow sounding" is 100% due to inadequate prep. Topcoat peeling is also due to improper installation. When the floor is subjected to flexing due to failing to fill those birdbaths, it's only a matter of time before you get damage to it, and that includes some peeling of the topcoat.

Many thanks to you all! Lots of food for thought, and so many good insights. We're now inclined to do the floors in lighter color, whether wood tone or bamboo. Don't think we'd do cork.

An acquaintance of ours praised Allure resilient plank flooring by TrafficMaster. Apparently, there are two designs - GripStrip and interlocking. I looked at Allure samples at HD and some looked quite nice. When I Googled it, the reviews were very mixed. However, it wasn't always clear what kind of design the reviewer was talking about. Any thoughts on TrafficMaster Allure flooring?

Sophia Wheeler--no, it's not gall. Cancork promoted this as a DIY floor. We checked each step with them along the way. We hired a local general installer because there was not a specialist in the area, and Cancork said that was fine. The subfloor was within specifications. We checked that and, again, OK'd it with Cancork. Cancork told me at the time that they didn't tell me about adding a cork underlayment because "most people don't want to do it because of the expense, so we didn't think you'd want to." As for the peeling, it is not in one of the birdbath areas. The peeling is starting from a few very small spots (like 1x2 cm) in one area of the floor. The floor was prepped properly--exactly as per specifications by Cancork before applying the poly, and they specifically said only to vacuum carefully and then run a damp microfiber over it (no cleaning product) before applying the poly. They warned me against scratching the floor or abrading it before applying the poly. In fact, we had to prep it in sock feet to keep any abrasion from happening at all. I understand that things happen, but within 6 months, when we did everything as per Cancork's instructions and now they tell me that we didn't do it properly--that is truly gall.

If you have to explain industry standard practices to a contractor, then you did NOT hire a ''pro''. Improper installation is still improper installation and is 100% on the shoulders of your installer. Take your issue up with the person who is the source of your grief.

Adhesion of any coating requires primer or abrasion. SOP. Any floor, gluedown or floating,requires a flat subfloor. SOP. A floating floor requires an underlayment. SOP. Any failure to ensure that those things happen is installer attributable and should be covered by your professional flooring installer's warranty. An experienced pro floor installer would not need to be instructed on SOP. He would be explaining the required prep steps as part of the reason for his bid being higher than Handyman Hal.

Sophie Wheeler--I don't think you understand. I hired someone to do the work that was promoted as "DIY" by Cancork! I did not hire a "pro" because Cancork sold me a DIY product! Cancork guided us through the entire process, and we followed their instructions.

Green Designs--I trust your word that coating adhesion requires primer or abrasion and that is why I'm upset with Cancork--they said it did not, and this is their product. I am not a professional, and I followed the instructions of Cancork who promoted a DIY product which is why I didn't hire a professional--not because I was cheap, but because I found what I wanted through Cancork and thought it would be fine as a DIY project. We actually had Marmoleum that was completely adhered to the concrete and Cancork said that was an adequate subfloor.

That Traffic Master Allure looks like what my BIL is putting in his basement. He is installing it himself, and he is not necessarily a handy guy. It is great for his basement, because it is easy to clean and water won't destroy it if his basement floods.

It seems to tick many of your boxes for easy clean up, DIY installation, probably not as prone to scratching and denting as the other options. I don't know if it looks more realistic than laminate, from what I saw in person. You will have rugs covering parts, so there is that. Not sure if it will last decades either, but you never know. It seems brand new on the market, so it is the latest in flooring.

I have a black lab and used to have cats. I installed bamboo, but I did a lot of research before purchasing. I went with Plyboo bamboo primarily because I wanted a high quality bamboo without the infamous off-gassing type usually sold at Lumber Liquidators. Plyboo is 100% formaldehyde free and the adhesive is eco-friendly as well. The cost was just under $5/square foot, that was a few years ago. Like you, I had considered engineered wood, and I really loved the Hallmark brand but it was mucho expensivo so I passed. As for scratches, the Plyboo I installed was flat grain, it is about the same hardness or a bit harder than red oak...it does scratch but so will any hardwood. The minor scratches really don't bother me as they're not that noticeable unless I ask someone to get down and look for scratches, lol. I went with both amber and natural, in different rooms, they each are very beautiful. As for spillages, I have had absolutely no problems or water marks, everything has been easy to wipe up even if dried, but then again, I have not had much in the way of pee or puke on my floors...so no experience there.... :)

Just completed a $35,000 kitchen remodel. Changed cabinet configuration only slightly and had fabulous contractor adapt 40 year old macassar cabinets but all new appliances, lighting, ceiling delivered AC and quartz countertops. We designed around the existing Kentile solid vinyl floor because it was perfect after 40 years, sanitary for incontinent pets and of better quality than we could buy at any price. Solid vinyl is the way to go and sheet LVT (luxury vinyl tile, a euphuism if I have ever heard one) is the second best thing...