Real Hardwood vs. Engineered Hardwood when real hardwood already in part of house?

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cvf6231

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Our home is about 6,000 square feet. On the first floor, the initial 1/3 of the space, which includes the front entry, formal living room and formal dining room, is composed of beige unfilled travertine in a versailles pattern. The next 1/3, which includes the kitchen, breakfast room, and den (all open floor plan) is done in a rustic alder wood real hardwood flooring. The remaining 1/3 is carpeted master suite and a carpeted office.

We have been pretty unhappy with the real alder hardwood flooring. The house came with it, and because it's so soft, it is extremely prone to scratching and dents. We are probably going to refinish it but have been holding off because we know it will just start over getting scratched.

Anyway, we want to replace the carpet in the office with some sort of wood flooring. The office is completely separate from the area with the alder wood, so there are no real limitations in terms of continuity. I will say that the stairs in the home are done in a real hardwood (I think oak) and the entire upstairs is carpeted.

We looked at some engineered hardwoods, and we really like that they seem to be more durable than the real hardwood and we can get exactly the color and texture we want without having to experiment with stain color and wood types. They are also cheaper and less messy to install than real hardwood.

We talked to one guy (who sells real hardwood) who basically said that in this market (Tulsa, OK), it is considered gauche to have anything less than real hardwood in a home worth more than $750k. He said for resale, buyers will expect real hardwood in our $1M home. We don't have any plans to sell since we just bought, but we don't want to make a short-sighted decision. We also are considering having the entire upstairs replaced with hardwood flooring in the future, so we will want some consistency with whatever we choose for the office. Any thoughts?
 
Instead of talking to the flooring guy, consult your real estate agent. They will have an un-biased opinion of how the market will react to engineered flooring.
 
I never pay any attention to what others might find gauche. Put in what you like and what you can afford I say. Especially if you have no short term plans of selling.
 
Like yourselves anyone buying a house for that much money will find things to change to make a house a home. The floor didn't stop you from buying.
 
buyers tastes change pretty fast. what is in today will be something else tomorrow. install whatever will make you happy and not worry about what someone may like down the road
 
I installed engineered hardwood because I had hydronic radiant underfloor heat and it's more stable. Most people that saw it thought it was "real" hardwood. It could be refinished 3 times but it held up well.
 
This is a pretty interesting videos out different flooring options. It covers all the basics: http://youtu.be/CLlC5Lxr4E0

Basically in my experience the engineered flooring has come a long way. It shouldn't be confused with vinyl planks because it's actual wood. Usually it's just layers of wood pressed together like plywood. Biggest difference really is that you can only refinish engineered wood once (maybe twice?) because the top layer is only so thick.
 
A quality plywood backed not cheap pressed board, partical board backed engineered wood floor is more stable, should never cup like real wood can, as far more layers of a super hard finish, can be walked on the same day it's installed, no dust, smells or waiting to reinstall the furniture.
Plus the top layer is real wood, so of cource it looks like solid wood flooring.
 
Thanks for all your advice. Sounds like a lot of people are recommending engineered. We are going to talk to do some more shopping. Will let you know what we decide!
 

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