Bicycle Mechanics - road bike wheels

I have an old road bike in the garage, i want to make it into a commuter but it needs new wheels.
Where i live the streets are covered in potholes and im pretty rough with my other bikes (all mountain bikes).First questions is: can anyone tell me what i should look for when byuing a new set of rims, i need something strong (that wont break the bank). Second question: can i buy some cyclecross rims instead, will they fit on a roadbike.
Thanks

Can you tell us more about your old road bike? Many of them had plenty of clearance for wider tires and rims, but others didn't. If the bike has 27-inch wheels now instead of 700's, then you've got lots of room to work with. So more information will help, and pics are even better.

cyclocross rims will fit with no problem since they are essentially the same as road bike rims. Some are slightly wider, or with a higher spoke count. The biggest difference between road bikes and cyclocross bikes as far as the wheels is the tires. As lawkd said, you didn't give us much information to go on with your bike, but if the frame is a touring style, it will probably fit fairly wide (38mm perhaps wider) tires and still possibly have room for fenders. If the bike is more race/performance oriented, 25mm may be the biggest you can fit. For rims, look for at least 32 spoke, though 36 would be better. If you're a big guy, you might even want to look for a higher spoke count (tandem wheels and heavy duty touring wheels are available in up to 48 spoke). A boxed rim, like the mavic open pro, or a deep v shape cross section, like the velocity deep v, will make for a stronger rim.

A really good, and less expensive option is the Alex Adventurer rim (36h rear, 32 h up front). You may be able to lace them to XT hubs and have a good, tough wheel set. A higher end solution would be Mavic A719 rims, again laced up to XT hubs. You'll need correct spacing, but if your frame is steel, you can most likely cold set it to accept 135 spacing on the rear wheel. Good luck...

You'll need correct spacing, but if your frame is steel, you can most likely cold set it to accept 135 spacing on the rear wheel. Good luck...

That would be like moving your mouse pad over because you ran out of room. It would be a lot simpler to just take a 5mm spacer out of your XT rear hub.

That would be like moving your mouse pad over because you ran out of room. It would be a lot simpler to just take a 5mm spacer out of your XT rear hub.

That's correct---IF his frame is spaced 130, but he didn't say. He only said it was an old road bike.

Alex G6000 rims are deep V, 17 mm internal width, so they are strong enough to take the potholes and can take 28 or 32 mm width tires.