Amtico or other durable flooring

I am about to build my first home and am trying to do a little preliminary research on flooring. In my past two homes I have had hardwood floors but with my two great danes they don't hold up well at all so I was looking for some other options. But I am on a budget of $7 per sq/ft installed.

My first thought is to use one of amtico's www.amtico.com distressed wood vinyl planks which run about $5.20sq/ft for the material but needs a perfectly smooth APA Plywood sub floor to be installed on. My QUs for Amtico are: because I'm building the house from the ground up could I use APA Plywood during construction instead of having to do and pay for two sub floors and woudl I be able to do eitehr option and stay in my $7sq/ft budget? My other question is what are people impressions of amtico? Is it durable and will it stand up to great danes?

My second option is to use a very hard hardwood such as Brazilian Walnut. I like the fact the Ipe turns close to black naturally so if my dogs scratch the floor then the scratch will turn black in time and match the rest of the floor. I have found it online for around $5sq/ft but does installation cost more due to its hardness? Also what are people impressions of ipe? Is it durable and will it stand up to great danes, or will it looks worn and tired after use?

My last thought was to use a hand scraped hardwood so that any scratches or blemishes would add to the character of the wood?

Are there any other types of flooring that I should look at or does anyone have any advice or tips.

thanks Mike

What about oiled and waxed hardwood? It's repairable, but needs a little upkeep to make it really shiny. It will get white marks if it gets wet, but they can be buffed out. Urine left to sit for an extended time (days, not hours) will make dark marks (we love them, but....) Polyurethane is much harder to repair so toenail scratches and etching from dog barf are hard to remove. I had wanted Fritztile, but we had a bad experience with the dealer (the company however was very helpful) and wound up not getting it. Commercial VCT is inexpensive and easy upkeep and popular in the MCM restoration world. My parents' laminate has done well with two middle-aged Irish setters and visits from an elderly collie and standard poodle puppy, but I saw one house that had a lot of scratch marks from an English bulldog. Tile is easy upkeep particularly with Spectralock or other epoxy grout.

JX,
thanks for the sugestions... I think the Fritztile will be too expensive I found a web site selling the materials for around $7 sq/ft which it my total budget. I think I would also like the warm look of wood to make my miniaml space look cosey so I am leaning towards Amtico but I just saw that Armstrong has a Luxury Vinyl Tile which I hope is like Amtico but slightly cheaper... http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/luxury-vinyl-floors.jsp

While looking up VCT I came across this web site which list a bunch of different flooring which I will look into...
http://archrecord.construction.com/products/ProductFocus/0510flooring-1.asp

thanks

When you walk into the flooring retailers, go to the commercial section. Have a look there first. I have ended up there after dismissing concrete and tile from consideration for our new house. I have been pleased with what I've seen, though dogs and floors never get along real well.
Aside from concrete, what do kennels and groomers use in their facilities? Maybe something will provide a look that you like...

Brook,
what products did you see and like when you were looking and what look/feel were you going for?

We wanted concrete, but we couldn't be convinced that concrete over a subfloor would age well and resist too much cracking...
Tile was our next choice, but I felt like we'd really lose the look of a simple, smooth surface.
So our current leading choices are Forbo Marmoleum or Armstrong Marmorette. Both are true linoleum products, so we'll need to strip and rewax from time to time. They are sold primarily as commercial products and secondarily as residential.

[url href=http://www.forbo-flooring.com/framework/DesktopDefault.aspx?menu_id=2462old_menu_id=2462ssm=1]forbo[/url]
[url href=http://www.armstrong.com/resflram/na/linoleum/en/us/collection.asp?lineId=355]armstrong[/url]

Karndean Vinyl Flooring or Armstrong are the choices i suggest you other than amtico

If you are comparing prices, I suggest you visit this site so you can get free quotes on your area. Here it is http://www.myinstalledcountertops.com. Good luck!

Walter E. Smithe is a great furniture location - check them out!

 

Have you thought about adding a clear coat finish to your flooring? http://www.garagefloorcoatingofmn.com has some examples of amazing work that these companies can do to strengthen any floor. I would suggest it for a more modern look instead of oiled or waxed.