Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - wood hardness

We are building our home and I'm doing the research on wood floors. I think we're going the Engineered wood route,and I want to get a floor that will be as dent resistant as possible. We have a dog, and I'd like to see as few scratches as possible. I've learned a little about wood hardness in solid wood (ie., pine is soft, hickory is very hard, Brazilian Cherry is even harder) and am wondering if this hardness hold true for Engineered Wood or not.

Also, is there a place where I can find a fairly broad listing of wood hardnesses?

Thanks............
kris

You are wanting two seperate things here. The hardness of the wood will have very little to do with the scratches your dog's claws will make. All woods will dent if something heavy is dropped. Also, finishes will scratch. Engineered woods tend to have a very good finish that resists scratching. However, they also tend to be semi to high gloss finishes which show scratches much sooner and make them appear worse than they are. With a sand and coat floor you can put a satin finish on that will hide a lot of the scratches until they get really bad, then all you need to do is buff and recoat the floor and it is new again.
To be honest, I wouldn't worry about the hardness of the wood too much. Stay away from walnut, alder, and amer. cherry and any other wood should be hard enough for your needs.
Look up "Janka scale" and you should find some lists of woods and hardness.
Later
Bryan

Duneslider hit this on the head... definitely two different things. I have 3/4" oak with a glossy finish which makes scratches stick out (due to the way light reflects, not because the wood is scratched so that the scratch has penetrated the stain) but a satin finish would have helped reduce that.

Janka scales are nice, but with the newer engineered wood that is being farmed out to china, from some big name companies, only the top layer of wood or called the wear layer is actually the species you bought, the core of the plies are a totally different species of wood, and some are using rubberwood, which is extremely soft but more stable as far as moisture goes.

Unlike the days of old, where all the plies were the same species of wood.

Take a look at Mannington Brazillian Cherry, compared to a WFI or Kahrs Mega Strip Brazillian Cherry. You will see the Mannington is still 3 plies of Brazillian Cherry, while the other 2 are bi-species laminated with finger board core plys, meaning gaps are purposely left in the middle core.