Hydronic heat is only suitable with narrower solid if the tubing temperature is run extra low. The whole system has to be designed around it, with the increased spacing and the mixing valve factored in to allow the temps to be cooler. Hydronic is already less responsive to rapid temperature changes than traditional radiators or forced air systems. Lowering the temperatures takes it to such a minimal temperature delta that you will be feeling cold for a hour or so if a rapid cooldown outside occurs. Or, you'll be sweating with the windows open if you have a big temperature rise. That occurs a bit anyway with radiant heating, but it can be perceived as worse with low temp radiant. Doing the loops at a low temperature also affects how the system "feels" to humans as well since the foot zone isn't as warm. It's much less of a benefit for the greatly increased cost over forced air, since comfort is the main reason that it's chosen. It's not a budget choice to begin with. We were only able to include it in our shop project because we did the install ourselves. And, the finished concrete is the finished surface, so there is no insulative effect between the heat and the people like there is with other materials like wood and carpet. The more of an R value that a material has, the more of an impediment it is to radiant heating. That's why traditionally radiant was confined to concrete or tile floors. Engineered will always be the better choice with in floor heat over crawlspace, and the ONLY choice for slab on grade. It expands and contracts less, and is far more stable. You cannot tell a good quality engineered wood from solid just by looking. It will look the same, and wear the same. Better quality engineered flooring has more core plys, and uses species ply instead of pines or firs. It's never a cheaper choice than solid, just the right choice for the conditions, like slab construction or in floor heating. As far as an oil finish, there are many many different types of oil finishes out there, and most are not very protective, which is the first function of a finish for a floor. Some of the factory oil finishes with polymers can be almost as durable as regular polyurethane. They aren't very DIY "repairable" though. An expert can repair even an polyurethane finish because he does the whole board, which is one separate piece. Poly remains the best choice for the most protective finish. Really, your issue is more a lifestyle adjustment problem than a finish problem. People with pets needs to accustom themselves to trimming their nails. Weekly. If you hear them clicking on the floor, the nails are too long. And, rugs should be at every entrance to the home, where outside debris is trapped. Those rugs should be changes/washed frequently. And it's a source of a lot of debates back and forth over the years, but those who are a shoes off inside the home family do have less wear and tear on their floors as long as they wear slippers or socks. Acids and oils from bare feet is just as bad as outside dirt when it comes to damaging your floors.

Does anyone have country/rustic maple or birch flooring? I was in a flooring store the other day looking for character grade hickory and spotted BSL in rustic maple and yellow birch and they had similar contrast between light and dark. I was wondeirng what it looks like in a room since BSL doesn't have any pics on there site. thanks

This is our boxer pit mix. He is the sweetest, suckiest baby ever. Extremely well behaved. Listens to any command in a heart beat. He's almost too well behaved. We used to sit him in the kitchen when we first got our pup and would do our training with her. Every command we gave her, he would dutifully do in the kitchen. Sit, lay down, roll over, get up. Over and over again, even though no one was even looking at him. He loves most people. However we DO keep him away from kids, because he was never around them growing up. My boyfriend got him when he was 15, and had no siblings or friends with siblings the dog was around. We just dont know how he would be if a little one pulled his tail, or grabbed his face. So we don't tempt the unknown. Once again, though that isn't a breed thing, its a socialization problem. Pitbull or not, I probably still wouldnt feel comfortable leaving any big dog alone with small kids, if they'd never been around children much. A touch mischeivious, however. He likes to crawl his old bones onto the couch when we leave the room and then much like a little kid when you come back and ask him just what he thinks he's doing he gives you an "Im not quite sure what you mean..I didnt do anything" look. He IS a touch cranky, however we've chalked it up to old age rather than breed. He did get agitated by the pup sometimes and he would 'go after her' snarling and baring his teeth but he's never ONCE actually touched her. He just likes to scare the bejeezus out of her when she's annoying him. He pretends to hate the cats..but he cleans them and lets them clean him when we aren't looking.

Thank you for sharing your story golddust. I guess I failed to mention that I, too, am a dedicated dog owner, have always had a dog and can't imagine my life without one. Also, I'm probably a little more paranoid than the average person about dog attacks. My oldest child (he's now 13) was bitten in the face by our own dog (shepherd/samoyed mix) when he was just 8 months old. The dog had always been very protective of him but still, we never left them alone together. She had been somewhat aggressive with other dogs and with children outside our family and I'd had some concerns about that. She had never ever bitten anyone before. I'd even told my DH that I wanted to discuss giving her up. He didn't want to and I felt guilted into keeping her when my instinct was telling me she needed to go. My little boy had just learned to crawl. We had a laundry closet with sliding doors in our hallway. While I was standing there doing laundry, he crawled behind me down the hallway and grabbed the paw of our sleeping dog in our foyer. She bit him once, in the face. But that's all it took. He ended up with over 100 stitches and had to have plastic surgery. He nearly lost an eye. The dog's tooth hit the side of his nose, down by his nostril and slid up and diagonally across to the corner of his eye, slicing his entire nose wide open. His eyelid was slit open at the crease, his eye brow was split and he received multiple puncture wounds. The dog had to be destroyed and it nearly destroyed me. I suffered many months of post traumatic stress disorder. My son's scars have faded a lot and thankfully, he has a face full of freckles to camoflauge them. But maybe by sharing my story, you can all better understand my fears of this dog. It's not just that she's a pitbull. I would likely react this way to any dog with the same behavior but I'll admit, the pitbull part does make me that much more nervous. I wish to God I had listened to my instincts back then. The guilt of getting rid of our dog against my husband's wishes would have been a million times better than the guilt I will always have over the injuries to my son.