Oren wrote:

I presently have all tile and enjoy it with area rugs in a slab
foundation home.

Some things to consider is pets, color, etc.

Large dogs can leave nail marks and scratches in wood. Water damage is
a problem with wood, say a flooded hallway next to a bathroom. Easy
cleaning for wood.

Not very easily. Laminate - and hardwood planks - are coated with Aluminum
silicate or Cobolthorium-G, I forget, but it's the same stuff used on jet
fighter windshields. I've tried to damage scraps by scraping them with nails
and rasps. No discernable damage. I also tried soaking the scraps in a glass
of water for over a month. The amount of "swelling" or other distortion was
well within the limits of my micrometer to measure (~0.001 inch)


Carpets really are nasty over time. Never again after all the years of
having carpet.

I'd suggest you get some samples of wood and carpet from a store and
take them home. Scatter them around various rooms and see which you
prefer. (hallway and bedrooms look good using wood.

Remember, too, that the floor, like merchandising shelves, should not be the
object of the visitors' attention. In a retail environment, shoppers should
be looking at the merchandise, not the shelving. Likewise in a home, a
visitor's eyes should be drawn to the furnishings, wall hangings, and the
naked blonde passed out on the couch, not the floor or the bare walls.


Start with light to medium colored samples. I've seen "black" hardwood
flooring that looked awful to me and you can see the dust easier.

Yep. A black floor, like chartruse shag, will overpower everything in the
room.

Laminate is essentially wallpaper over a dimensionally-stable base then
covered with the above mentioned clear finish. As such, the variety is
almost limitless. You can go wrong with basic black.