Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Debating Hardwood flooring..

Hey,

We have a 12 year old house. We need to replace the carpet. My wife has brought up the idea of wood flooring which we could do ourselves.

Here's the deal:

1 - I am not opposed to wood flooring - but have it in a dining room/office and have destroyed it with my roller chair. Absolutely a mess. But this may be result of a crappy brand of wood flooring - I do not know.

2 - We are capable enough to do the job.

3 - My question though is this: IS there a wood flooring that could withstand 3 kids, 1 dog, and the usual traffic a young hectic family produces? (I saw a thread that didn't speak very highly of Thomasville flooring.)

4 - Is there a huge cost differential between wood flooring and carpet? Is one vastly more expensive then the other? (our own labor installing wood vs. a subcontractor installing carpet plays a role) - my thought was that if it was apples vs. apples - we could buy a higher grade wood and install ourselves.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!

Most good oak or maple hardwood flooring will withstand "normal" traffic. Now, your chair isn't normal, so you have to address that in some way, either by a hard runner or a piece of low nap carpet in the area.
If you are going by the prices quoted at HD and others for the installation of hardwood flooring, you need to multiply that by 2 to 2.5 in order to get an actual picture of the cost. Sure, they will "lay" the flooring for $3 /sf. What is not covered in that is removing your carpet, padding, staples, putting down an underlaymnent, undercutting your jamb casings, providing reversing strips, furnishing and installing transition molding, installing shoe molding.....all that is a BIG extra cost, so be aware.
So, yes, you could very well beat commercial pricing by doing it yourselves. Just be aware of the pitfalls and added labor. You said you were capable, then let's have at it! Let us know if we can help further.

the wood IS going to dent. no way around it. we have TARKETT GENISS from HD. my "test" was to roll a office chair (my dining room chairs are like office chairs) on 2 box's worth layed out on the floor. 1 year later, the wood is holding up NICELY. only wife and i.
young kids and large dogs on wood = ouch. but if its solid wood, then it can be refinished many times.