We had hardwood which was fine until one of the dogs became incontinent! Karndean might be the answer for you.

I am not a hardwood or flooring expert, but we have 2 large (100lb+) dogs and a cat and we are Realtors so we see a lot of clients and friends with this same challenge. Some of this depends greatly on the dogs (cats, not so much an issue) and how often you trim their nails, how active/hyper they are, how big they are, etc. Tile would be the best bet and least maintenance, but tile is more the style in the Southeast and California - not sure what your area of the country is and what the more prevalent is style wise - that's something to consider. The moister your climate the more you should probably consider doing tile. They do have some cool tile now that is designed to look more like the grain of wood and can be done with very little grout lines. Back to hardwood or laminate - I really like the newer laminate products available now. They are more durable and resistant to scratches than actual wood. They have some many cool gran and plank size pattern choices and distressed looks to choose from, that I would say to go that way. There' sleds maintenance for sure with laminate, less expense, and less maintenance. If you do still want hardwood - (we have hardwood with a ebony, really dark, stain - you could certainly see our dogs' scratches from just normal back and forth (ours are not that hyper, but they are big and we rarely cut their nails), but the dark stain seemed to help not make it AS obvious. Now we are at 8 years old with our floors and we are wishing we had a cool distressed laminate (wouldn't make any sense to change them out cause they,re just not that bad still for us), but it isn't as much about the dog scratches (that is part of it) as it is about the water/slobber marks that we don't catch in time...it's the moisture that jacks up hardwood the worst...laminate doesn't have that issue. Anyway, that's what we've seen. If you still do go hardwood, I don't think there is anything sealer wise that makes it as durables a GOOD laminate but you should talk to the floor guy about which woods are harder - don't go with a soft wood - of course harder usually means more. Lastly, you could also consider stained concrete or a bamboo floor. Both are more resistant to moisture and scratching for sure, but they are a little more on the modern side depending on your taste. Good luck.

It sounds like you should be looking at commercial grade products.

What about porcelain flooring that looks like wood? It is the newest form of tile and is very popular! It holds up extremely well to heavy traffic, cleans easily and most importantly looks just like REAL wood. You can check out our products at www.cancos.com under "Albero" series. It is definitely indestructible! Good luck with your project!

We have a condo in Texas and our main living area is on an upper level. We wanted to tile the floor and it is concrete but they have used a different method of pouring the concrete than we've seen before. We have been assured that tile will work unless we have movement on the floor, which we do seem to have as when we walk the floor shudders a bit. This in addition to the floor not being level, in addition to not being able to get workers here to do the job has caused us to consider something else. Yes, we have done the hardwood and scratches occur always. We are considering the Marmolite but are wondering if it will put people off for resale. Most people don't know anything about it but we love it. Do you think we should go that way?

Self leveling concrete then underlayment then whatever floor you install.