best type of wooden floor for entrance hall?

[clangermum]

We have a long narrowish hall (chalet bungalow so it goes right to the back of the house). It's OK for light, so I'd quite like a dark(ish) wooden floor [and maybe wood reflects back more light than carpet anyway?]

We have carpet at the moment that we inherited with the house, and it takes a real pounding as the hall gets traipsed through to get to just about every downstairs room. We're past the buggy stage but I'd like something that can take a beating and even improve with age, if such a thing exists. We've not got as far as replacing any of the cruddy carpets with wood yet so I really have no idea, other than that as it's not likely to be redone for a veeeery long time we're probably not looking at laminate. Or is that not true these days?

If it worked well it would be nice to continue it through other rooms later on.

Absolutely no idea on price either.

What has worked / not worked for you?

And are there visual tricks like placing boards on a diagonal so it opens up the space?

TIA

anyone?

we've oak but this does scratch. in a different room we have slate which looks really nice and seems to be pretty tough but its a bit cold on the feet. we were told (by an expert floor layer) that you should have the boards either going towards the light, eg into patio doors or going away from you in the main place you look thats longest - eg paralel to your main long bit in the hall. I've seen boards that go diagonally as you describe online in a house for sale and i thought they looked horrid and would have had to rip them up.

I'm not sure I'd have wood in the hall, it is really likely to get ruined by people coming in with heels, little stones etc.
I think a stone floor with underfloor heating is the way to go.

We have a mahogany floor. It is made of squares which are made of strips which go in opposite directions in adjoining squares if that makes sense. When we got it one rather sniffy salesman in a posh parquet floor place told us this type of wooden floor was cheaper but very 1970s

It does "dent" and ours has loads of little round indentations from DD and her friends tottering in in their stilettos after nights out but somehow it doesn't matter. It still looks good.

It has been down almost 15 years and we can have it sanded off and resealed if the imperfections start to annoy us.

parquet flooring my parents had that in there old house, and you are right it didn't look too bad with my heel marks in it.

We have solid oak flooring from Howdens. It cost a pretty penny but we did the hallway, living room and dining room. It does have a few small dents and scratches on it but to be honest you don't notice them unless you really look for them.

We have solid bamboo flooring - its quite a dark brown, highly polished and although it looked great when it first went down, and reflects the light brilliantly, it has scratched more than we anticipated. Its not noticeable unless you really look, but it definitely isn't as hard wearing as I wanted. Have to say though that I think wood floorings would be my preference to tile / slate / carpet - looks so much better in my opinion. Also agree that laying flooring diagonally seems strange to me.

Be careful with wood strips in places like the hall as its an area which needs a good wash over and the water seeps down the gaps and eventually it will weather them and some warping. I was told by a woodworker that I shouldnt get the floor wet at all - no good here then.

Parquet flooring looks great. You get what you pay for. I would recommend a tile in the hallway and prob will replace this flooring eventually.

I have a wooden floor her throughout in a bungalow and its been wrecked by the children, big gouges, chips and it gets very gritty too so it gets pitted. It needs continal cleaning too due to the dust, tumble weed, grit and dog hair. The sun has faded it near the south facing window.

If you go ahead buy the very best, thickness is important. Dont go near any DIY outlets either. It has to be fitted by a professional. Costs are subject to the sqm of your hall - you can work this out yourself. I'd go for solid wood over engineered if you dont have damp walls or underfloor heating. Lots of quality companies on the net.

Thanks for giving me lots of ideas - it's wide open again now! At least I have more information though.