When I said "with a laminate product" I meant "with a high quality vinyl product."

Thanks for your reply. We are strongly considering the Mannington Adura Planks which, I believe, contain limestone, and also have a coating that contains aluminum oxide. I am currently in the process of ripping out the carpet and pad and preparing the subfloor. The Adura Planks (as I am sure you know) come in two versions--the Loc'n'Go and the glue-down planks. The thing about the glue-down planks is that according to the installer they would be glued down to an underlayment, not to the subfloor (an underlayment that rolls out--not the plywood kind), so he said BOTH kinds would actually be "floating." So it doesn't seem like there would be much difference in the end result (correct me if I am wrong here) whether it was professionally installed or not. There are some parts that I have concerns about (undercutting doorways, for example) but they are willing to come out and do things like that for me given the size of the order. Does gluing down the planks prevent any expansion or contraction? They said it is extremely minimal--just have to allow 1/8th inch at the edges. When you say there are a ton of things that could fail, what in particular are you referring to? I appreciate your input and comments.

However, the underlayment for the glue-down "floating" installation would definitely be more stable since the underlayment is stapled to the subfloor. On a Loc'n'Go installation the entire floor would actually not be attached to anything.

This is a message to Ozziepuppy or any one who can help me decide what to do. I, too, have a large area 1400 sq. ft that I would like to do in vinyl and I can not decide what to do..sheet? planks? I have looked into Congoleum Airstep Plus, Mannington, and Karnderan. This is for a concrete basement that has no moisture issues. Ozziepuppy, what did you end up doing and are you pleased with your decision?

I put a high quality, floating floor in my apt kitchen in NYC to help with pet wear and tear. NOT the best option. If one piece needs to be replaced (and with pet accidents it bubbles very easily), you have to undo a whole section because they are interlocked. Also, they just don't look that great, no matter what we paid.
So when it came time to make the rest of the apt floor look decent, we switched to vinyl planks from Lowes. Sounds gross, but they're actually amazing looking.
Our apt was built in the 1880's, (the original floor was long destroyed and removed before we got it),and I found a dark gunstock in a wider cut that almost matched our neighbor's original floor exactly. You ready for this? 98 cents a sq foot! If one gets damaged you peel it off (with some effort) and put a replacement.
Echoflooring is sooo right about batch colors. Get it all at once and mix up the boxes as you lay it. We have a bunch of mixed ones for replacement and haven't used one, not one, but I know we have them.
Lowes will recommend their sealer,but we didn't use it. They self stick just fine. One or two spots came up after we were first done and someone on line told us to use a hairdryer to reheat it and lay a book on top overnight. Worked like a dream.
Our apt in NY is 800 sq ft and our current tenant is a photographer with two rescue cats and she loves the floor. Even with her keen eye, we had to tell her they were vinyl and how to replace it if she had a pet accident. She was blown away!
I will try to post a picture of our NY apt floor for you. To be fair to our tenant the photographer, I took the horrible quality pics w my cell, not her! LOL!
Choose wisely for your space and go with your fave, not what everyone says you should do, incl me. And pls do remember the color batch issue echoflooring brought up. Good luck :)

Here is a link that might be useful: NYC vinyl plank floor

MrsBungaloonie your photo link isn't working. Are these the planks you used (Armstrong - link below)?

I would really love to hear more about a floor like this. We currently have engineered hardwood in our condo and it's beautiful but we are moving and the new place has carpet - which has to go due to allergies and pets. I prefer hard floors, but we don't want to invest in a very expensive floor for the new place, we want reasonable attractive and durable preferably wood look.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lowes Armstrong planks

I used the 'Allure Vinyl Planks Cherry' And love them. I have had no issues with them. They have held up amazingly with my 3 kids, and big American bulldogs. People who come over to my house think its real wood. Anyhow, maybe look into it?

Here is a link to my house blog if you want to see what it looks like. I have this flooring all over my 2400 SF home.

http://wp.me/1MmG7

Tinan, another option to the Vinyl planks is a floating cork floor. I have wood , sheet vinyl and now cork in my house. We put the floating cork over a cement slab. Its warm and durable. So far it has performed better than wood. The brand is We Cork. I did look at the Nafco Vinyl planks which the same floor place sells, I will probably end up using planks in basement.

I don't like the look of cork, prefer wood grain rather than the speckled cork look. Thanks for the suggestion though! I think we will go with the vinyl planks either glue down or floating, there are some with aluminum oxide layer to help reduce scratches. The Allure planks look great! Those are Home Depot, similar to the Lowes products I think.

One question remains - what do you do with stairs when using this kind of flooring throughout a 2 story townhouse? I thought maybe of putting the vinyl on the stairs too and then putting a carpet runner on top to disguise the fact that it won't look very authentic on stairs. The stairs are currently carpeted and likely just base wood underneath. Any other ideas?