House: 10-year-old climate-controlled home, well insulated
Location: South-central Pennsylvania
Subfloor: Weyerhaeuser Edge Gold Flooring 23/32" (looks like OSB)
Radiant Heat: No
Below Floor: insulated garage over master bedroom, climate-controlled living area beneath rest
Avg Interior Temp: 68-70* F
Interior Humidity: (awaiting hygrometer)
Kids: 3
Dogs: 2 (110 & 70 lbs)

I successfully installed maple flooring in my previous house, and I'm looking to install something in my "new" house now. I'll remove builder-grade carpet, check floor for squeaks, tighten any loose areas, check subfloor for appropriate humps/dips and correct as necessary with sander/planer/roofing felt etc.

From what I can find, I think Hickory might be my best choice. I also want something in a wider style than the narrow planks I used in my last house.

I've read up on a lot of the information on UptownFloors website, as well as browsed through their products.

I feel pretty sold on an "engineered" floor compared to "solid hardwood"...I like the product that I'm seeing from Ken. I'll also be visiting a local showroom as well.

The "Country Lifestyle" line has caught my eye in that it's already partially distressed and not perfect, so that I won't be freaking out every time a dog or matchbox car goes crashing across the floor.

I have the Bostich MIIIFS stapler, but looks like I'd have to get the Bostich MIIIFN for cleats based on the recommendation of UptownFloors, and recommendations I see for Hickory.

One thing confusing me is the recommendation to glue down wider planks, yet, they will be on top of asphalt paper or Aquabar B? Or am I totally missing something there?

Any other considerations I should keep in mind shopping?

Thanks.
- Dave

Another method for installing wide planks is to fasten the tongue end of the butt-joints instead of glueing both ends down. I think this would work to make the flooring more secure using either staples or cleats with underlayment paper.

Thanks Pete, I'll take that into consideration.

After visiting one store so far, wife has really taken a liking to Acacia. It's a beautiful wood...but it's a weird wood in that there are so many varieties and hardness ratings to it. I don't know if it would be "too much" to do the whole upstairs in, but I do think it's beautiful.

Also paralyzing myself looking through various manufacturers of hickory.

Further research I learned that the hardness rating is kind of out-the-window when it comes to engineered flooring, because that applies to a solid wood. With engineered, true "hardness" partly comes down to whatever your core layer is made up of.

I'd like to think though (and I could be way off-base) that a wood with a higher hardness rating, all other things being equal (finish, thickness of veneer), that the harder would will still be "more resistant" to the abuse a kid for example would put a floor through. Think, say, dropping a matchbox car etc.

There are big Leaf and Small Leaf Acacia and one is harder. You are differences in hardness for engineered wood, but the hardness of the surface is what you need to be concerned with during use, along with any surface coating.

True, but don't get obsessed with this hardness thing unless you're looking at soft hardwoods. Hickory works great in disguising dings and dents due to the variegated color in natural or lighter stains.

Maybe I'm just getting old and frustrated. It drives me near nuts when I get calls about hardness. My typical response goes like this...

I got into this business in the late 80's and nobody talked about how hard a hardwood floor was. It was made to walk on and not prized like a fine piece of furniture. It's also the most abused interior building element in the home. Thankfully the majority of my customers are over 50 years of age and understand the facts and reality. Not the younger generation (can't afford my product anyway) that just stepped out of a big box store with promises and marketing poppycock.

Tried to post a few images from Google Photos, and then re-hosted on IMGUR, but I'm getting an error:
It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image.

I will just post the link to the pics of my current floor so you can see the concern I have and where I'm coming from:
https://imgur.com/a/KUEp3B7

I love the amount of work and detail you've put into the Uptown Floors website, and the videos of each flooring.

I am 42 (under 50, sorry haha), and have experience with two hardwood floors.

1. What I installed in my former house, using a ton of help form this forum. I used maple. I noticed it had a lot of "indentations" in the floor from the kids and dogs. Not really "scratches", but more just "long dents" running everywhere. I'm hoping to avoid that with my new floor.

2. Whatever cheap stuff the builder put in this house has gotten destroyed over the last 9 years. The wear layer is well gone in a lot of spots, and you can see that the softer wood has started to chunk out from the kids and dogs. I'd like to avoid this as well with my new floor.

So I don't really know what the answer is. I know a couple things people do, like no shoes in the house, Roomba vacuums to clean every single day to pick up any dirt that may be rubbed around like sandpaper...but we're an active household with 3 lively kids and dogs, full sports schedules etc. Looking for something quite resilient.

I know I'm driving my wife crazy as well because her extent of shopping is "I like this color" whereas I'm analyzing the construction, wear layer thickness, wear surface coating etc.