Chicago, one son (with 40 million friends) and two Irish Wolfhounds. Tile is the only way to go. BTW, don't panic when they track in mud...just wait 20 minutes and vac it up after it dries.

I am struggling badly with the exact same thing with my new build in New York. I really want to do the whole first floor with the wood look tile but can't quite get over the 3 weaknesses of it... unforgiving hardness, cold factor, and acoustics/echo factor. So I think I am just doing the wood look tiles in the mudroom and kitchen area, and real hardwoods everywhere else. I just stumbled upon the finest hardwood place, Hudson Company. All reclaimed wood and beams. The really wild stuff that I never knew where people get the stuff from. I found the pot of gold!

Also, I am not sure that the radiant heat will necessarily make the tiles warm to the touch. I have radiant heat at the office and the tile floors never feel warm to the touch. I believe it to be a big misconception in peoples minds that the floors are toasty warm just because of the radiant tubing.

I have radiant heated floors. My bathroom has had it for 25 years. They are quite warm to the touch. They are also easy to clean up, and do not cause any more sound echo issues than do wood floors. As for being hard, that is a myth that wood floors are in any way "softer" than tile. The only soft surface flooring is carpet and some types of vinyl.

Sorry LWO. I have to disagree with you. My back and knees feel the tile flooring in the condo we're renting right now almost daily. I never had that problem on my wood floors in my condo before we sold it, and when I'm in NY I don't have a problem with the wood floors there.

Tile is definitely harder, colder (without radiant heating) and more unforgiving when it comes to dropping things. However they hold up like iron compared to wood. And yes radiant floors are toasty warm.

As for wood look tiles, my guess is within the next 5-10 years you'll be able to date a house based on those wood look tile. 5 years ago it was a new and fresh look. Now that everyone and his mother is doing it, it's a fad and overdone.

Hey up there? Please do NOT mix wood look tile and the real thing? Guaranteed fail.!!! If you want the look of wood and easier care and a more forgiving feel for your back, Do LVP ..........everywhere.

Or stick to a sand on site oak hardwood floor that will outlast all of us, and can be refinished if necessary. Plenty of dogs and kids and dirt here in NY and the hardwoods have survived them all.

What's more important to you, aesthetics or livability? With 2 small children and large dog, tile will make clean up much easier. Real wood, gorgeous but up keep will be more difficult. With either one you'll have rugs to soften any noise and help keep kids and dog from sliding.

we are installing wood look tiles in our new build, in a mountain town, with radiant in floor heat and I'm so excited! We have five kids and are also doing an indoor pool so I didn't want to deal with real wood floors. It will work fabulous with the in-floor heat. They are being installed as we speak (type?).

My first two houses were a 1927 craftsman with original maple floors and my second was a victorian/farmhouse/craftsman with original oak floors. Those floors held up under kids, dirt, snow, etc with no problem and looked fabulous even after 20 years when I sold the second house.

I have radiant heating in my baths. It is fabulous! You do have to kick the animals out of the way to use them in the winter though. My 20 year old almost blind little pup can safely lose control with no effects on it too.

So many things to consider when building a house. I appreciate everyone sharing opinions and experiences. We have a bit of time before finalizing our flooring choices, so we will see where this adventure takes us!

Just when I think I make a decision to go with real hardwoods, I go back to to thinking doing the entire first floor in wood look tile again. Im spinning around like a drunk on a merry go round trying to figure this one out. The idea of having to upkeep the hardwood with staining and refinishing every so often is very unattractive to me.Plus, Im not sure the kitchen is a good place for hardwoods. I like to live as maintenance free as possible with a strong product that can withstand just about all abuses a floor generally gets, which I think the wood look tiles would provide.

The whole trendy fad factor I believe in not going to play out like some have stated on this forum. If you look at the market, you can sense they are really going all in on wood look tile. I would be shocked if this is something that fades out in 5 years. There are too many strong qualities, and technology is making the laser imagery on the tiles as stunning as any real wood equivalent.

I can't wait to be able to somehow make a decision on this. The negative with wood look tiles that I am most concerned with is the coldness.

We live in a house that has all tile with 4 young kids, and it is a huge echo chamber. One cannot watch TV (and hear) in the same room where someone else is trying to have a conversation. If 3 kids are talking at once in normal voices, it becomes really hard for my husband and I to hear each other as well. Also, as soon as it gets wet, it is so slick. And I worry about the baby falling and splitting her skull. :) Just my two cents. I would do wood in a heart beat.

Although, I guess we did flood once from the laundry room, and it was like nothing happened. Took 30 minutes to clean up the water and we were good to go... so I guess there are pros.

The idea of having to upkeep the hardwood with staining and refinishing every so often is very unattractive to me.

I lived in my 100 year old house for almost 20 years. When we moved in, we pulled up 35 year old carpet, refinished the floors and when we moved out 20 years later, the floors looked as good as when we moved in.

The whole trendy fad factor I believe in not going to play out like some have stated on this forum. If you look at the market, you can sense they are really going all in on wood look tile. I would be shocked if this is something that fades out in 5 years. There are too many strong qualities, and technology is making the laser imagery on the tiles as stunning as any real wood equivalent.

Like those funky kitchen cabinets with the melamine fronts with the wood pulls. If you looked at the market then, you could have sensed that they went all in on that cabinet look

Or how about chintz? That was a look that was meant to stay. With lots of matching wallpaper. If you looked at the market then, you could have sensed that they went all in on the chintz everywhere look.

Or shag carpeting? If you looked at the market then, you could have sensed that they went all in on the shag carpet look.

What about wood paneling in the 70's? If you looked at the market then, you could have sensed that they went all in on the wood paneled wall look.

Oh wait. Avocado Green appliances. If you looked at the market then, you could have sensed that they went all in on the avocado green appliance look.

Or more recently, how everyone wanted travertine backsplashes for their kitchens. If you looked at the market then, you could have sensed that they went all in on the travertine backsplash look.

Every one of those trends, the market was going all in on and look where they are now. The point is, trends start with the designers. After that, they rise for about 5 years and then start trending down. Especially once the HD and Lowes crowd is buying it. We're past the 5 year mark.

CPArtist is correct about the ease of 100-year-old wood. However, unless you're able to buy reclaimed wood or age your own floors for a dozen years, you won't get that durability. Choosing a very hard wood helps, but only so much, and most of those are darker woods. Then, you have to choose a finish that can be spot-repaired. Many of the most popular finishes can't.

If you go with hydronic floor heat, wood is a poor choice for many reasons. I almost fell for the hydronic hype myself before realizing the serious draw backs.

I think many wood floors will become far less popular and more dated as people discover how delicate so many of the floors will be for the first 20 years. Some also really show every speck of dust or are overly elaborate--like "hand scraped" that was such a fad 10 years ago.

I think wood look tiles are going to be a permanent product. The ability to make tiles with such good patterns at such dimensions with such tolerances at a reasonable price is pretty new, so yes, they're a "fad"--but I think we should expect some form of wood look tile to be in style 20 years from now.

Honestly, as stupid as the name is, I see luxury vinyl tiles being the biggest thing for the next 15 years--with increasing numbers that aren't trying to look like stone or wood. We will see.

My ankle is bad enough that standing in one place for any length of time on EITHER tile or wood is not remotely comfortable. So I put a floor pad near my kitchen sink that I can shift to the prep area when needed. I would have purchased this no matter what my flooring material was.

I am given to understand that tile is preferred over wood if you are doing radiant heat.

On the other paw, yes, the entire house in tile will need for you to consider acoustics when designing.

At any rate, I did wide plank pine in a warm tone everywhere but the baths and kitchen. Since pine is soft wood, I opted for a weathered wood look tile in the Kitchen, and more conventional tiles in the baths (radiant floor heat just in the baths).

I grew up in northern Ontario, Canada. My dad built our home and installed radiant heating under tile throughout most of the home except the 'adult' areas (formal living room and master bedroom). The house was always cozy in the winter and took the beating of 5 kids and always looked great.

The wood style porcelain tiles look like wood and there is minimal upkeep (damp mop) and no resurfacing, no loss of shine.

Make sure you look for a 'full body' porcelain. Full body will not lose color if it is nicked.

Vacation house at the beach has tile. I have to wear shoes indoors after a few days. I have no foot problems ever at any other time. I have hardwoods at primary house and never wear shoes.

When the tile is ready to be changed... Ha. When it has been around along enough that I can swallow changing it (5 year old house now), I will do laminate. I have laminate in a basement - on slab with a fairly basic underlayment and that doesn't do what the tile at the beach does.

The other issue with tile is grout lines. That is our issue at the beach. Despite sealing them, they discolor at various speeds so the color is not uniform throughout the house.

Current build - no tile anywhere except shower.

Spend money on insulation and not radiant heat. Most places in NY benefit from a/c anyway at some point. That is MO of course. Just because you have experienced poor forced air designs doesn't mean it is all bad. The upcharge for radiant heat and then tile to compensate is probably $20 a sqft. For that cost, you could build a near passive house and spend pennies to heat it.

Wouldn't it be ironic if you spent all this money on radiant heat and tile and then had to wear shoes because the tile bothered your feet. Note it takes 2 days of living for the beach to bother me....

In our beach house we have wood look tile and it looks fabulous there and it the right product for the use. Mainly summers and it is easy to clean sand from. Our main home has hardwood throughout and we have only refinished it once in 17 years. And that was by choice since we wanted to stain it darker. Both homes are in NJ. The hardwood has held up very well, although we do not have pets and its only the three of us. I would not want tile in my main home for this climate.

One concern you have is "coldness". I'm assuming if you do real hardwood or wood look tile that you would be using area rugs? That will help! I'd go with wood look tile. I've had hardwood with one big dog and his nails really did a number on the wood; scraping off of the top coat and actual GOUGES from the 'omg someone is at the door' running.

news for those with sore feet on tile... you will eventually get sore feet on wood, too. its just a matter of time.

i have a pair of "sneakers" i only wear indoors. my back and feet have never been so happy since i stopped going barefoot or stocking foot in the house. not to mention great traction on the stairs.

I've had hardwood floors for 15 years, along with twin sons (now grown), and dogs ranging from 35 to 115 pounds. We trim the dogs' nails regularly (every week or two - as soon as I can hear the nails clickity-clacking on the floor). The worse damage we have on our floor came from my mother'in-law's walker, when she had a rock in one of the pads.

The hallway from our bedroom to the bathroom is wood, and even during late night trips, the wood floor does not feel cold underfoot.

I do have a preference for real wood - I'm not a fan of wood-look tile or laminate, though I certainly understand why so many people like them. We are looking at replacing the carpet in our family room, which is below grade, and I'm leaning toward floating cork, which seems to be the best of all worlds - soft, warm, not fake looking.

Actually, I'd do Luxury Vinyl Tile instead of tile. Less expensive. And easier to pull up if you ever decide to change to something else. Plus when it's down, if you get a good brand, you'd be hard pressed to know it's not a wood floor. Especially since, unlike tile, there are no grout lines.

If I weren't going with wood on my floors, my second choice would have been LVT or cork.

Just as a point of consideration, I had radiant heat put under the floors of two rooms on my first floor, as we have a very vertical house that is hard to heat and cool evenly. The heat makes the floors toasty on our bare/socked feet, but (a) does not warm the actual room perceptibly, and (b) doubles our winter electric bill -- doubles it! so that's a thing to keep in mind... (Net effect is that we use it only when exterior temps are in the single digits and the first floor is actively uncomfortable! a few days per year.)

Electric radiant is a floor warming system. Hydronic radiant is a home heating system. Not the same thing at all. Any floor electric radiant that doubles someone’s electricity bill is not installed correctly. It adds only a few cents a day to run.

Radiant of either kind does suffer from the lag in response time due to thermal mass. It isn’t an instantaneous change the temperature from either electric or hydronic. The larger the amount of thermal mass at a set temperature, the longer it takes to change that temperature. That is why radiant is so comfortable though. It radiates heat, just like the sun does.

Open concept homes with hard surface floors will be loud, period. It matters not if the floors are tile or wood. It’s hard floors and a giant echo chamber. Close off a few rooms, or add some baffling from wing walls, ceiling treatments, and cased openings, and the noise is reduced. Add rugs, drapes, and cloth upholstered furniture, and the noise is reduced further still. Carpet the open concept like the old 60’s MCM original open concepts, and it is quieter still.

Wood floors on a crawl space are “softer” under foot than tile because of the minute deflection from the framing. It has nothing to do with the wood itself. Glue wood to a concrete slab, and there is no deflection for wood. There is no difference in walking on either tile or wood permanently fastened to concrete.

As a few posters mentioned above about abnormal electricity bills and radiant heat not installed properly

Colder climate + single level home ? if SOG even if insulated from below id plan ahead for a thermal break ON top of substrate instead which eliminates the mass of crete making your radiant heat pull amps watts and overheat as it trys to hard to please the thermostat until the *SENSOR(@cte) fails. The cost of heat in cold climates over SOG is almost always a waste(lifespan) w/o a thermal break and you dont want a slab pinched between the 2.

In regards to hydronic it can be used soley as floor heat climate zone and conditions providing

uh, what is SOG?

Electric radiant cost. Few cents - crazy talk. I have a monitor on mine. It is a 1.5 kw system and it has to have a 25% duty cycle to make a difference. That is 9 kw a day or 90 cents. This is for a large bathroom. A large area of electric radiant could double winter electric bill in the winter. Now it does provide some useful heat but as you say, not comparable to radiant heat.

A few cents a day won't heat a floor.