Hi Karen,
My understanding is that the cork floors work well with roller chairs in the office. So it should work with your situation too. It is also warm and comfortable to stand on. The price is from $3.00 to $6.00/sqft. It can be installed just as laminate floorings with click loc system. Here some cork floor pics installed in a kitchen to share with you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ipocork Lisbon Onyx Cork Floating Flooring

Thank you. I did look. I should have added in my first post that I was looking at white to grayish colored flooring. I can't afford $600.00 to replace the floor. ( $3.00 x 200 sq ft. ) that is just not in our budget. I was hoping to find something that would work for about $200.00 or less. I know the VCT tiles would be $164.00 from Home Depot. $200.00 is about our budget. Maybe I am just dreaming that I can solve this and still eat. (grin)

But thank you very much for responding. Karen

You're looking at VCT as an industrial choice. It can also be a designer choice. And it will be MUCH more durable than cork. Just be sure to have it properly top dressed by a pro, but you can DIY lay it if you're handy and the sub-floor is flat.

It also comes in many glorious COLORS! Even the box stores will special order them for you at not much upcharge. You can do a solid pomegranite red, or cinnamon brown, or an apple green. Or a pattern of all of the browns or greys, or a stripe or checkerboard. All kinds of options are before you!

Thank you. I never thought of mixing the VCT tiles. What did you mean by "properly top dressed by a pro"?

When I wrote , I was wondering about, other flooring choices for his chair such as plank vinyl or laminate. Or any other flooring that would work under this chair and the heavy use. My top budget is $200.00.

Lowes told me plank vinyl would work well. Home Depot said no. Lowes told me laminate would not work. Home depot said it would. That is where I became confused and came here hoping someone had experiences with both and a roller chair.

Thank you. Karen

Vinyl plank in your price range will burnish easily from the weight of the chair rolling back and forth across it. Laminate in that price range will also not be durable enough. The cheapest and most durable choice in your price range is porcelain tile. It would be a "forever" solution. If you upped your budget a bit, you could put electric warm wires underneath and it would be warm instead of cold in the winter.

As for VCT, yes, it's durable. They roll forklifts over warehouses with it on the floor after all. But, it does need to have an acrylic top dressing. For home use, probably one coating and buffing would last 5-8 years or longer if you don't use a bucket full of ammonia to clean it. In a commercial situation, they usually have it cleaned and buffed every week, and stripped and a new topping done every 6 months to a year. You might be able to find a DIY acrylic coating at a janitorial supply company that you could apply with a sponge mop. It might not be a "perfect" application, but it would probably be fine for home use.

VCT comes with a light wear layer. The Armstrong commercial-grade VCT in my basement has been there for over 30 years of frequent family use, and all that's ever been done to it is a damp mop and a broom once in a blue moon...So you don't really need to strip, seal, coat immediately in my opinion. maybe down the road when it visibly starts dulling. Mine has not needed it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Armstrong Standard Exelon Imperial Texture Commercial-Grade Vinyl Composition 12

Thank you for all your answers. We found a tile from Vaylasa locally (60 miles away) that looks fairly durable. The gentleman uses it in his carpet store. I had to up the budget by 50.00 , but I figure that can be called peace of mind. He told us he never put a poly on it and it has been there for 30 years. So that is what we are going to buy as soon as I have saved the extra 50.00 and tax. Karen