I had posted a while back about Cork floors. We got some samples of the AKC flooring from a local vendor, and we've determined cork just won't be hardy enough for our three-dog-two-teens-lazy-housekeeping lifestyle. Which was a shame because we LOVED the look of it and the ease of installation and relatively low price was very appealing.

Now...we need to decide what type of floor to go with. We live in Florida and have a concrete subfloor and the aforementioned dogs. We are also on a limited budget (who isn't). Can someone recommend a product that is....

easy to care for
relatively inexpensive
a good DIY project for some fairly handy homeowners
sturdy enough for our busy household
can be installed over a concrete subfloor (I know this is somewhat iffy given that we want to DIY)

Any suggestions? We don't really like the look of laminate, and I know tile is probably the most reasonable choice but it's so cold. Ideally I would love something that looks rustic already so that any wear will just blend right in. Our total budget for 1500 square feet downstairs is $10,000 (preferably less as we have other remodeling projects we need to tackle). We can consider carpeting the bedrooms, tiling the kitchen and entry -- but like most modern homes all of the main areas open up to one another and we don't want the look to be too piecey. HELP!

Score and acid stain the concrete www.acidstain.com or www.scofield.com and purchase nice big, or small area rugs for the winter time.


Or a handscraped hardood, or distressed hardwood.
Anderson, has some nice prefinished engineered handscraped stuff.

Actually, we looked at acid staining, but quickly figured it wasn't a DIY project given all of the chemicals involved. I did removed the linoleum in my kitchen and paint the concrete to look like slate -- looks FABULOUS and has been surprisingly durable even though I didn't seal it, and all the naysayers said it would peel up and look like crap after only a few weeks. Well, it's been a year and nary a scratch even with the dogs and the chairs around the table scraping across it. Used five different colors of concrete paint and a sea sponge and ruined my knees forever. But again...it's cold and by that I mean cold in a style sense, not just temperature, so I wouldn't want that look throuhgout the entire house.

What about the "Master's Touch" you have on this site. It's cheaper than the Anderson products and looks DIY friendly. Any reservations about using this product in our environment?

This is probably heresy but what about a good quality laminate. I saw one installed in a home that had bevels between the planks and a fairly convincing wood look with a graining texture. It would be less expensive than a decent quality hardwood, very durable, and easy to install. Any "real wood" floor will get tore up by the dogs unless you keep them outside most of the time or keep "booties" ( Soft Paws )on them. Or get a heavly distressed floor already. But then it will cost more than a laminate.

Alloc makes some pretty impressive fakes. They make a fake bevel that would fool me from a standing position.

parque wood is low cost, easy to maintain and repairable by screening and re-coating. Probobly lower cost than laminate.