mmmmmm... N.A.walnut.....

I worked as a hardwood flooring designer/estimator for years in my previous pre-mommy life and like so much else, much about hardwood is preference, expectations and perceptions.

We had hardwood on the upper floor in our previous house, prefinished, natural grade, 2.5" width. We racked the floor and had installer friends do the cut and install so that I could put the prettiest burled boards in the doorways and other noticible locations. I loved it. We had natural grade maple downstairs and while maple is CONSIDERABLY harder the floors were 'marked' about the same when we sold the house. The only bruising I saw was where the futon was continually put down in the den. When I say bruising I mean a slight compressing of the wood surface with the finish moving with the wood. Walnut will 'bruise' slightly deeper than say maple if something is dropped on it but the finish is going to be about the same for scratches.

Now having said that, I don't baby my wood floors at all. I expect wood to get a worn in look. My big thing is with natural colored woods, the color goes right though so if you do get a scratch or gouge it's easier to repair.

pre-finished vs site finished---prefinished is a much quicker and easier install. There is the option of removing any boards that get severely trade-damaged (or owner damaged). I have pre-finished. There will always be a micro-bevel.Some people can get past this, some can't. Walnut is a fairly stable wood so in your climate there would be much less shrinkage at low humidity (I'm in Alberta--similar climate) Remember the wider the board, the more the shrinkage will be noticeable. Site finished floors are lovely if you can get a great finisher. You end up with more options. Have you seen how walnut changes color? That is also something to educate yourself about. Unlike many woods, it lightens instead of darkening like say, cherry. The NWFA (national wood flooring association) has a good website and any information you're reading or being told should line up with the information on that site. They hold the standard for Janka tests.

Again, if you have your heart set on walnut, I would go for it. I would put it in again in a heartbeat and it's going to be much more stable than most if not all of the South American dark wood counterparts.

How big/how active a dog? We had a 35 pound young dog on ours and most of the nail marks on the floor were to the base of the stairs where it was maple. She'd come flying down the stairs and skid.

Keep the dogs nails trimmed and you should not have a problem.

We've just installed American Black Walnut flooring. We fell in love with walnut and agonized over how it would stand up vs our love of the wood. But we went for it anyway.

We did go for a low sheen finish and character grade to get more variation in the wood. That should help hide the day-to-day denting. The flooring store recommended that we go with a hand scrapped version however we really didn't want that look. We know in the end we'll have dents etc, but nothing stays perfect forever, right? In that vein, our cabinet installer has put a few dents in with the cabinets he's installing and they aren't all that noticeable since the colour runs through. (Our cabinet installer is also our floor installer so he's replacing the board he dented, thankfully.)

Disagree, brickeyee - We trim our dog's nails regularly and they still do a number on the wood floor at the top of the basement stairs/walkway to the regular stairs. Plus, sometimes when you trim the nails the ends of the nails are very rough for a day or two.

If you have big dogs that run a lot, you will end up with some scratches. It happens, mostly in high-traffic areas where they run a lot. It probably also depends on the finish.

krycek1884---have you ever tried using a mini-mite dremel with a sanding attachment? We started doing that with our last dog on the vet's recommendation and now do our 90 pound greyhound with it too. He literally lays on his back and gives you a paw, doesn't phase him at all and it keeps the sharp edges down. You can get them shorter than cutting that way too. Some people have had luck with a product called softpaws (rubber nail sheathes) as well.

I agree though, stair landings are almost always the most obvious place for nail marks.

Jeff, we also had a natural grade (generally one above character) lots of color. You get more burls in lower unsorted (for color) grades as well as longer average board length.

one of the reasons we built new, rather than buy was because i wanted american walnut floors. and though the install is not complete, they are total gorgeousness. BEAUTIFUL. we're finishing them with waterlox. our GC was talking about blasting them with a coat of polyurethane and i almost kicked him where the sun don't shine.

Thanks for your thoughts and advice. Mikomum, thanks for your link to the NWFA. I have a big labrador. She is seven years old, so not as active as she once was.

Does anyone have recommendations of other types of wood floors they are very happy with?

idrive65, Adorable model, what is your Dogs name and breed? Do you have to keep the toenails trimmed, how do you keep them short? We have two miniature poodles and a Collie and are concerned about adding a hardwood floor to the Kitchen. Even though we think that it will look great with the white cabinets and be much more comfortable than our hard tile floor! Is this White Oak barn wood a hard or soft wood? Your floors are beautiful, where did you find these and are they expensive? We live in the Mid-west, are these rare? Thank you for sharing! roseofblue

cute dog! we are putting in mirage maple - it's toffee in their new sweet memories series (awful name ... nice product). it's double-stained and a little knottier than your normal formal maple - so it should hide some of the scuffiness in the kitchen. our contractor was thrilled when he saw that the bottom side was milled so that every board will be very flat. i'll post when it's installed next week.

We just had prefinished, solid oak installed on almost our entire first floor. The finish is called saddle oak, which is not as dark as walnut, but not golden at all. It has some kind of aluminum oxide finish over the stain and you could rub a penny on it and it won't scratch. I like it so far. We only have a Westie, so her nails aren't much of an issue.

idrive65, Adorable model, what is your Dogs name and breed? Do you have to keep the toenails trimmed, how do you keep them short? We have two miniature poodles and a Collie and are concerned about adding a hardwood floor to the Kitchen. Even though we think that it will look great with the white cabinets and be much more comfortable than our hard tile floor! Is this White Oak barn wood a hard or soft wood? Your floors are beautiful, where did you find these and are they expensive? We live in the Mid-west, are these rare? Thank you for sharing! roseofblue

Aw thanks. The pup is supposedly pure Labrador retriever, but we got him third hand and he's a mighty skinny specimen for a lab. I don't trim his nails as often as I should because he hates it, I do it badly, and twice I've cut him (ouch!) so he runs and hides when those clippers come out. I may try the dremel route mentioned upthread.

White oak is a hardwood but not as hard as many imported species, of which there are quite a few between Hickory and the one imported that I listed, Jatoba. (Ipe, used for decking, is 3684 and considered fireproof!) Upstairs we mixed white with red oak and antique chestnut. In one area where dh wheeled on office chair back and forth (!) you can see wear on the chestnut, a little on the red oak, and none on the white oak boards.

According the janka scale:

White pine: 420
So. yellow pine: 690-870
Cherry: 950
Red Oak: 1290
White Oak: 1360
Hard Maple: 1450
Hickory: 1820
Jatoba (aka "Braz. Cherry") 2350

I agree with all who say the finish matters. The aluminum oxide finishes on pre-finished floors is very durable. Others have site finished with waterlox which is easily touched up as needed, you can search for photos of ccoombs floors for photos of beautiful waterloxed oak floors. My dh owns an flooring company that sells only antique remilled products so he made the floors for us. We actually kept a lot of boards that might be culled for a customer because I wanted a "busy" floor. Thankfully it matches the dog hair and hides the scratches very well!

We put down red oak, either plank or parquet, on our living room level and the bedroom level (not yet in the kitchen) and it's been all but bulletproof. Last week a five-pound Hex dumbbell fell from the top of my weights rack, about a four-foot drop to the floor. I cringed as I watched it fall, anticipating a huge gouge and lots of sighing and drama from DH when he eyed the damage. Not even a dent.

We do have a couple of scratches in the finish in various areas of the house, but the wood itself has remained pristine. I'm planning to cover the most heavily-trafficked areas with runners or throw rugs.

idrive65, your labrador is beautiful. Thank you to everyone who gave advice.

we have ordered wide plank (5") white maple for our entire apartment incl. kitchen. In the showroom they had a bunch of different woods installed with different finishes and we really liked the tung oil finish because it was so easy to maintain. The salesperson showed us how you could handle scratches by just wiping on more tung oil with a rag. I am planning on having a rug under the dining table because with our old floor this is where the boards got worn down the most: from the chairs.

If you like walnut take a look at Brazilian Walnut. It is one of the hardest woods you can get. I just had it installed on my second level for the hallway and two bedrooms and it is gorgeous. I have Cumaru (Brazilian Teak) on my first level. In the last three years there have been scratches but not from my two dogs. The scratches have been from me. Moving furniture or little rock chips under the vacumn wheels.

Here is a link that might be useful: Janka scale

Kate (or anyone) can you tell me why you use Waterlox instead of another type of finish? I'm not sure what I should be looking at. Will be putting walnut on the whole first floor. I'd like low-sheen and not have to re-do it very often.....any thing else to be concerned with?