Well, so far it seems you're doing pretty well with your research and observations.

Homogenous sheet vinyl, solid vinyl tile, LVT and any other product rated for commercial use will certainly be durable, but not indestructible. Installed on a concrete slab, they will give you just a very small gain in comfort. They are resilient materials, but somewhat 'solid' in their construction.

Someone who works in the condominium/high rise market may have some ideas for you on how you can use vinyl and achieve a more resilient result.

Have you considered products in recycled rubber or cork? Solid cork, although maybe not as durable as vinyl, is more resilient and can be refinished, much as wood flooring is refinished. Rubber can be had in 1/4" or greater thickness and is the kind of product specified for exercise rooms and such.

Also, I used to market a cushioned sheet vinyl from the Tarkett corporation of Sweden. It was called 'acoustafloor'. I don't know what is available in that line today, although I did just finish installing acoustafloor in my wife's pastoral parsonage in Pine Plains, NY.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Glenn
Sohm Flooring Consultants

Thanks, Glenn, for your thoughtful and informative comments.

Frank

I'd go for the acid stained concrete, with a little scoring to give it a big format tile look. The urethane topcoats will scratch though and gloss is just like a gloss wood floor, it will show every scratch. Satin or semi-gloss is a much better choice if the area/room is to be used and not just a showcase room.

I have Amtico light cherry planks in my kitchen. I had it put in over 2 years ago. I had vinyl before, first sheet vinyl and then vinyl tiles. The vinyl I had before got nicks and tears and was hard to clean.

Amtico vinyl is extremely easy to clean and I have no nicks, tears, or gouges. It is soft and comfortable to stand on. It fooled my brother(the wood snob), he thought it was hardwood. I don't worry about water.

I can tell it isn't real wood, but it looks more like real wood then laminates do. It does have repeats. I really notice them the first couple of days but for some reason after that I had to look for them.

I do have a few light scratches that I can see when the light hits it right, but I think real hardwood would have more.

My floor is on a slab and it took two days to prepare the floor. It took half a day for the men to lay it. The prep is vey important.

If you get Amtico, make sure you get the micro bevel. When my floor was first delivered someone had ordered it without the bevel and it looked terrible. The bevel is very slight and doesn't catch dirt and really adds to the look.

Thanks your your posts.

We are in decision mode. The Amtico web site is very impressive, although more information is available in the commercial section about the same tiles that are in residential.

Unfortunately, they closed their NYC showroom 2 months ago, but we will look at the samples they sent us tonight.

I've heard good things about their wood planks, (happyladi, your description is very helpful) and we will consider it for the master bedroom suite, if we ever finish the basement.

However, this is the basment rec room, and a chance to use a little imagination. So we are looking at Amtico's Innovations line, which is aimed squarely at us 'urban sophisticates." Our motto here is "Let vinyl be vinyl."

So we are looking to us Zinc Stud to form a platform around the stairs for the bar area. That platform, if we like the samples tonight, will then lead to a visual pool of water using the Aquatics line, whose reflections change as you walk on it supposedly as if on water. So the idea is that the treadmill and the foosball machine will be floating on water! The reality of this idea can never be as good as the imagining of it, but it might look ok.

I'm with you, floorguy, on acid stained concrete, although I would "let concrete be concrete" as well and not use scoring to imitate stone. However, DW does not want a concrete floor, and she has not complained about getting the foosball machine or the 70" rear projection TV, so who am I to argue, especially with the Amtico so urban and so cool.

So we are looking at Amtico's Innovations line, which is aimed squarely at us 'urban sophisticates." Our motto here is "Let vinyl be vinyl."

So we are looking to us Zinc Stud to form a platform around the stairs for the bar area. That platform, if we like the samples tonight, will then lead to a visual pool of water using the Aquatics line, whose reflections change as you walk on it supposedly as if on water.

I got samples of some of Amtico's line -- Zinc Stud was one of them; the etched glass was another. Fabulous stuff, and I only wish the budget would have extended to let me buy it. I haven't seen the water, though. I think the idea of "interactive flooring" is pretty neat. I wonder if anyone would sell a "mood floor" made of the same stuff they made mood rings out of? :-)

I have 18" square Centiva Event, color Mesa. Got it for the terra cotta color and because it is durable. The floor store I talked to in a high end area told me they quit carry Amtico. As soon as anyone heard the price and compared it to a similar look, they never when with Amtico. I like that this is warm(ish), doesn't break anything dropped and water damage will not be a problem.

downtowner, I think it sounds wonderful. You might also check out Karndean.

Here is a link that might be useful: Karndean

We built a new house and were sold on the Mannington Adura luxury plank floor as being one of the best on the market. It is supposedly treated with scratch resist technology. We moved into the house in September, 2006. It's just my husband and me and we are very, very particular about the care of the house. Unfortunately, we have found that the Mannington Adura floor scratches more easily than anything we have ever seen. We thought we protected the floor against everything by putting sliders on all furniture legs, always taking shoes off at the door, etc. But the floor still is already very scratched up in the dining area. Considering that we rarely use the dining table and the house is only 5 months old, we are extremely disgusted with the Mannington Adura product and do not have one good thing to say about it's durability!

Could you please post pictures of your Adura? We are currently planning to order about 1000 square feet of it (the LVT planks) in a couple of weeks. It would be very helpful to see pictures of what you do not like about it. The reviews are SO variable here--some people like it and some people hate it. Based on my research and taking home multiple samples, it SEEMS to be the best choice for us. Our dealer has a plank he has let people take home and "abuse"--with Goof-Off, gun black (?), permanent marker, cigarette "burns" etc. Nothing affected it except paint stripper. I took a key and scratched it REALLY hard and there were some extremely MINOR scratches that were only visible in certain light and looking at it right up close. I also tried to scratch it with the dogs' nails and the edge of a quarter. That is what really sold me on this brand--how little that plank reacted to all the things people were trying to do to it (it was a leftover plank from part of that showroom floor that had Adura planks installed on it). Oh, and the showroom floor looked great as well. [I am not questioning your experience, but would be very interested to see photos due to our plan to spend a lot of money on this stuff. Thanks.)

OzziePuppy

How did you go with this flooring? Did you go ahead with it? I am looking at putting the Adura wood plants down and was told it would not leave furniture impressions, was scratch resistant and would not fade. It is probably just as expensive as real wood but I understand survives better from occasional accidents by small dog.

Were most of the Amtico luxury vinyl planks realistic? Is it still looking good? Do you have animals? I have not liked any of the vinyl planks I've looked at, but the stores just have a tiny thing to look at. I don't think I've seen that brand anywhere that I've gone yet. What kind of prep. is necessary. I'm a single woman and not handy. I have a 30 year old home with cement under my carpeting. Thanks so much.

Missylin -- Just passing along a brand to check into if you haven't already. We've been impressed with the Earthwerks line. The woodgrains look very realistic and they offer quite a variety too. The product also seemed to be pretty scratch resistant to our 'test'. :)

Thanks so much, M2day, I have read about that line online, but have not seen it in a store. What kind of place did you find it in? Maybe I can find their website and do a store locator. Is it very expensive? I'm a retired single teacher, so if it's too expensive.... I read about one type that is made in America. If this is it, that would be good. The person said that the ones made in China, who knows if they are poisoning us like with a lot of other products. Yikes. That's one reason I was thinking of hardwood- more natural. Til I read it does not mix well with animals.

Hi Downtowner, I'm wondering what floor you went with and how it's working out for you. I need a new floor for my kitchen and dinning area.