We are ripping up some carpet and putting down some engineered wood flooring (concrete slab foundation in home).
The problem is we have pets and kids and I do not want a floor that gets overly scratched and damaged. It needs to be a very hard and durable wood. So far, tigerwood, kempas, and Brazilian cherry seem to be at the top of the list. The tigerwood seems to have some UV coloration issues, but looks nice. The kempas is hard to find. The cherry is more expensive.
Anyone have opinions on these 3 woods that might help out with my decision?
I'd be more concerned about the finish on the wood than the wood itself. The finish on top is probably thicker than the veneer on the wood. The better manufacturers are using very tough finishes on them. Brazilian Cherry is one tough wood though. I'm not familiar with the others.
I put down tiger wood, but the real stuff, not the engineered flooring. It has been very resistant to claw marks, and I have 4 dogs. It has only been down for a couple of years, so I can't tell you about long term durability, but it looks good so far.
I have low-E glass in my windows, so UV is not an issue.
You're on the right track using the engineered wood, due to the fact that you're on a concrete slab. In order to be able to nail down 3/4" flooring, you would have to put down 2x2 sleepers first, raising the floor a total of 2 1/4" above the concrete slab, and it's unlikely you would have the room to do that.
Your concern about the scratching is understandable. The newer prefinished floors have the same type of finish as laminate flooring, ie. they will have aluminum oxide in their finish. Does not make them scratch proof, but it's actually better than the older urethane finishes. (Does make them very difficult to refinish, because sand paper is made from aluminum oxide, so they can't be mechanically sanded down, have to be chemically sanded. As your better grade of floors will have 25 year warranty on the finish, it's not likely you'll ever have to deal with that.)
Laminate flooring is the most dent resistant, as it is the densest. However, each of the wood varieties you mentioned is actually harder than oak, and makes a great floor. A wood floor will dent (read: acquire character). If you object to that, go look at some of the newer laminate floors, as they will be more indentation resistant, and the newer graphics are great, especially some of the newest Armstrong laminates.
Tigerwood will darken with age, just like American Cherry does. This is not considered a defect, just be aware that that will happen. I happen to think that is one of the things that makes it beautiful. Any one of those species will make a great floor.
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