I can only give you my experience. I've lived for over 20yrs on real hardwood floors. And every time I stand on any kind of laminated plank it looks and feels like cheap plastic. There is just no comparison to actual wood flooring. Timber absorbs vibration, feels pleasant underfoot either barefoot or shoed. It looks real, because it is. Timber planks are 20mm thick, laminate ones are 5mm. Laminate flooring looks like a printed piece of plastic because, well it's very similar except for the top 2mm of veneer stuck to it. It may fool us in brochures and magazines but I've never once been fooled by laminate in person. They can give it all the fancy names they want like 'engineered' but at the end of the day it's all the same stuff. Laminated veneers on cheap plywood. But not one person on the planet has ever fooled that it's a real floorboard. Does timber scratch? Absolutely. So don't put a piano finish on it then. Stick with satin and matte finishes. It shows up the marks a lot less. Does timber dent? Absolutely. But those dents become part of the character of the home over time. I recently lived in a home with floorboards over 100yrs old. They had dents everywhere and yet those boards just looked lived on, they didn't look terrible. Does timber suffer water damage? Yes of course. But before you worry about it, go and check out the thousands of 100yrs old hardwood homes sitting on flood plains in this country. Every single one of them has been underwater more than once in it's lifetime. The original boards are there, strong and unfazed. Unless you plan to flood your home for weeks on end the occassional spill and overflow won't damage the timber at all. I'm a quality over quantity type of person so of course I'm going to rate going with the lifetime option over the rip it out every 5yrs option. If I had the money for hardwood I would not even consider plastic planks.

Having experienced a leaking shower, a step down sounds like a welcome added precaution, which seems rarely done. Supposedly if there is no hob or atepdown there is an angle, and obviously the whole thing is supposed to slope towards the drain anyway, but BeachBathrooms' earlier comment about capillary action rings true. It became obvious very quickly in our other shower that water was creeping across the grout outside the shower so whatever was meant to be done either wasn't or wasn't correctly done. Then there's the modern hotel bathrooms I've experienced where the water simply splashes out too easily. All in the name of style.

electric underfloor heating is great for bathrooms (and laundry, mudrooms, entry and hallways when it needs to be left on for weeks at a time and not much good for a ten minute shower) and is preferable to anything visible like hydronic heaters that take up wall space but your voids will suck most of the heat upstairs ..our reverse cycle AC has been much more economical to run than the whole floor electric slab heating that we had in our previous house (supplemented with a wood burner and gas log fire in our cold climate) but we made sure that the void over the stairs was able to be blocked off to zone heat downstairs with separate heating upstairs but having lived in different areas of Sydney i'm wondering why a new built well designed house with great insulation would need more than modest supplementary heating that can be more economically provided with AC

Every month seems to bring new flooring products to market that claim to be water resistant or waterproof. But how do you know which products are suitable for wet areas in your home? And what rooms are considered wet areas? Selecting the Best Flooring for Kitchens, Laundries & Wet Areas Which types of flooring are suitable for use in wet areas? So long as your floors are properly waterproofed in accordance with the NCC, Flooring 2 You’s range of Hybrid flooring is suitable for installation in bathrooms, laundries and toilets in domestic homes without floor wastes (Not to be installed within the shower or near a drain). Our hybrid flooring is completely unaffected by moisture, and 100% stable when exposed to topical moisture on a regular basis. Hybrid planks are composed by creating layers that are resistant to water and scratch-proof that are made to last: The top layer is treated to make them stain and scratch proof. A decorative layer gives it the look of timber. The rigid core is innovative that provides stability, especially against changes in temperature and water, including heating that’s underfloor and windows that are north-facing. The last layer is the acoustic backing that helps with noise reduction. When it comes to other areas of the home, other products are also suitable provided the proper maintenance precautions are taken. For more product specifications, care and maintenance information, please refer to the respective product pages. https://flooring2you.com.au/selecting-the-best-flooring-for-kitchens-laundries-wet-areas/