after watching my daughter and her husband agonize over the way their expensive timber floor has not held up well after 3 years, I would recommend tiles/wood look tiles with under heating. Their beautiful warm expensive floor looks like it always needs a clean and polish, not from neglect, they have cared for it well. One of the boards now has a slight and painful moan when it's stepped on :-( I grew up in a completely wood floor home and although it looked wonderful, my Mother hated it. ....and the mats ! Wood is a lot harder to maintain than tiles ,(no matter what the die hards say) the modern wood finishes are much better than they used to be.... But a piece of wood is rather arty no matter what it's used for and it does demand to be loved and cared for.....and if something goes wrong it's a lot more expensive to fix than sand and cement. Ultimately you have to be happy. BTW underheating tiles is warmer than timber :-)

Hi Luke, thanks for your reply. Yes, there is existing plumbing but we need to create a gradient somehow on the wood floor. Concrete floors can be ground to create the gradient but need to come up with some other solution with the wood.

We currently have a deck on the first floor over the garage. It construction is wood with a water proof membrane over, that is now leaking, with carpet that is used on boats over the top. What would be the lightest and best floor covering to use when we re do the deck?

Hi, what is the best direction for laminate flooring? Is it ok to have different directions? currently it is all in same direction, but was thinking in Rm 2 where there is only a small section it would better if it is perpendicular to hallway direction? Also, maybe having the open plan kitchen, living, dining flooring perpendicular to hallway from doorway.