Mirage Old Hickory in natural.

hollysprings - thank you!! This was very helpful! I really like this ... but not sure about it being an engineered vs hardwood.

Engineered IS hardwood. It's only wood propagandists that would have you think otherwise. It's more suitable to a wider range of temperature and humidity swings, as well as concrete subfloors.

GreenDesigns ... thanks for your correction. I meant to say it was not solid hardwood. I do love this floor and am sending for a sample. I do tend though to really like site finished solid hardwood.

Miruca - we just had a similar floor installed in our house. It's 5" solid clear grade hickory, unfinished as of yet. For reference sake, we're paying about [EDIT: only $8sf - fuzzy math] installed and finished with a 2-coat hardwax/oil hybrid. We chose hickory bc we're hard on floors (dogs, etc) and it's one of the strongest, hardest woods we could afford.

What greendesigns said about humidity swings and concrete subfloors is important - we researched this quite a bit before going with the solid hickory. Some sites say hickory is more susceptible to cupping, others say its less, either way the engineered product would mitigate that if you have serious humidity challenges. I think the wider planks compound the problem, too.

FWIW we have 8" pine subfloors and a finished basement so it wasn't a big deal for us. I did buy a bunch of hygrometers and am monitoring the humidity in the house carefully, at least for the next couple years.

This post was edited by Swentastic on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 12:53

Swentastic your floor is gorgeous! Thank you for all the information. Our install will be for a MIL space above a double garaged ... which has me wondering whether humidity swings would be an issue. The garage is currently not heated but I plan to have it heated as part of improving the space above it.