My understanding is that engineered wood floors can handle moisture better than solid wood and can be floated, glued or nailed. I'm not sure about Laminate. The store where I am planning on buying my wood floors had a water-main break (after a drunk driver drove through their store front) and completely submerged their show room. According to the sales person all but their Anderson Piazza had to be removed. I looked at this floor but it was out of my price range. Nevertheless, the floor looks great-even after the flooding. I'm guessing that the place wasn't submerged under water for days though...

Thanks, Susan.

I really don't expect anything to survive the flood as it is 4 - 7 foot dunk for a few days.

I really am asking for suggestions on something that can float on the floor, but not feel so cheap as the shaw, yet not be expensive to buy, as I may be throwing it away next spring.

Why would you not use tile that can simply be cleaned and still be fine?

I have tile on the part that is on concrete slab. Unfortunately that won't work for the area that is pier and beam, which is most of the house.

The only reason they say I must float the floor is due to the difficulty of removing a glue down or nail down floor after the flood.

I may have to do that anyway though, because I hated the last floating laminate floor.

I've been looking at several engineered Anderson products. One is Appalachian Southern Vista in Sand Dune. It is lightly distressed and scraped. I don't like a lot of scraping. I took home boxes of the Shaw and agreed with you that they seemed cheap and not very good quality. There was a lot of splintering on the underneath side of the boards. I know Anderson is a good company and supposedly their engineered ranks up there with the best. Anderson bought Shaw though-so I wonder how that might affect the quality. Anyway, to make a long story short. I just ordered a box of the Southern Vista to see what the quality is like. The price is very reasonable at 4.29 a sq ft and it can be floated (although nothing is reasonable if you have to replace it a year later!). Good Luck.

We have flooded with engineered floors before. Because engineered floors are hard wood, they ruin. You need tile or laminate. This has been our experience in flood-prone New Orleans.

Thank you Susan, that Appalation Southern Vista looks nice. I think we have decided to go with the mannington lockSolid. They say it will survive a full flood and can be simply taken up, washed, and relayed. I will just have to find a color that does not show the scratches so much.

We liked the country oak, but it does not go well with the cabinets and other wood.

Thanks for the info babs, although, I know from experience that laminate won't hold up either.

I have to get this decision made very soon. What to do, what to do.