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

Amen, Glenn. I started when I was 12 helping Dad on weekends and evenings when Mom worked. At 15, I helped during evening weekends, and summer vacations (and getting paid!) when he went out on his own. At 17, I went to the Armstong School of Resilient Installation to learn all that I could, which was before certifications. They confirmed shool completions back then but didnt "certify" as they do now. All my life I have been taught on the job and Dad pulled me aside when other co-workers and his bosses did things inappropriately to save time and cut corners, telling me this isnt the way you should do this, but we do what we have to when we work for someone else. Every facet from pattern scribing inlaid resilient sheet in a room full of pipes and old radiators, all the way down to professionally and expertly installing vinyl/rubber cover base corners. Nothing was too big or too small to do right. At 21, me and Dad had a falling out in business. He had his own busienss now doign commercial and residential subcontract work and was becomming like so many others we laughed at and despised for doing shoddy work to make a buck, then I went out on my own. I am not maligning my Father. I love Him and he taught me pretty much evrything I know, but I couldnt do the work he was asking me to do anylonger when I knew it wasnt right. He had changed. Business had changed him. Money and time was becomming more important that job quality. Business certainly isnt easy, but a time comes when it's either right or its wrong, with little middle ground. Whhen professionals hit that crossroad, then take the wrong path, it changes them, and each time they elect that improper path, it makes the next crossroads easier and easier to take the wrong path, until the day comes that money and time means more than giving people who trust use with their work a professional job. I am an advocate of installer and buiness educataion no matter how they go about obtaining it, whether that be on the job, through a mentorship, union apprentiship, manufacturer or distributor training session, or certification. If certifications are the only way they can get proper training, they shoud go get it. Consumers need to step up and make a fuss when anything isnt exactly how they want it to be. We live in a low cost wallmart and home depot world, where as long as the price is right, they can live with almost anything. As an employer, I instill in my men and women the same installation and customer service values my Dad originally instilled in me, and I demand that on every job. I believe much of the talent has moved to the commercial spectrum too. Its where the money is at. Interesting you should say that (about commercial work getting the good men). When I left Dad, I went all commercial for about 10-11 years before we started opening up stores. Did alot of traveling and made alot of money. Now we bring those values and quality to the residential sector. In the end if something isnt done right, it doesnt matter why.

Go for it. The worst case scenario is you have to lay new plywood. Plywood is normally nailed or screwed down. That is much easier to remove than a thin, nasty top layer of luaun or some other bunk. Of course this could be complicated if the person who put down the plywood was a DIYer who used glue. That makes for one HELL of a nightmare if you have to remove the top layer of plywood and some ding-dong used glue between the layers. I would watch hours and hours and hours of youtube videos. Take extensive lecture notes while watching. Review your notes 3-4 times before you lift a floor scraper/heat gun. Turn off the water to the dishwasher, remove the appliances and then start removing the old vinyl. Give yourself plenty of time. Lots and lots of time. You'll need lots of breaks and a swear jar....but other than that, this should be doable. Remember to find out how to get rid of ALL the excess adhesive. That can often require some heavy scraping and a sander. Any excess adhesive left over will prevent the new product from being glued into place. So you need to remove 97% - 100% of the old glue. You don't have any height to play with so going over it with feathering compound is a no-no in your situation. That means you have to MECHANICALLY remove ALL the adhesive residue. If you find you have more glue than you have time/energy, go ahead and remove the layer of plywood (hopefully there is a layer underneath....there are some really bright bulbs who think a single sheet of underlayment is "good enough") and drop in a new layer. It costs more money...but it can be faster. If you go this route, please do NOT use glue between the sheets! It is killer on the next guy/reno. Just screw it down as per the screw-placement indicators and move on.

It sounds like you have a busy house but not a 'destructive' house (ie. 4 toddlers and multiple pets). I believe your house/family can 'handle' hardwood. You've lived with laminate before, so LVP isn't much different. It looks very good (as good as a good laminate). LVP rarely is allowed 'underpad' so the NOISE aspect is going to increase. Here is where LVP and laminate differ. A laminate can have a great underpad to help reduce noise transfer. LVP CANNOT! Oooops. There goes the bedroom concept. Hardwood (I prefer solid with site finishing) can have underpad like 6mm cork to reduce noise transfer. That means hardwood and laminate have MORE in common than laminate does with LVP. Even though laminate and LVP have the same GRAPHICS they are two VERY DIFFERENT products. If I had to keep budget in mind, I would purchase HIGH END laminate (like Patricia has = out of Germany) and use a HIGH END underpad. I would then use the laminate upstairs and down...and leave a carpet (or a runner) on the stairs. Remember: resurfacing the stairs to bring them to code will be the SINGLE MOST EXPENSIVE part of your renovation. The stairs can eat $10K all by themselves! Nope. I am NOT kidding. And remember: a narrow strip hardwood (2.75" - 3.5" wide) in red oak in character grade can be as little as $5/sf. Installation + finishing will add another $5/sf. The EXPENSIVE part of solid hardwood is when you try to get 'trendy' with them. Wide planks = very expensive. Special stains = super expensive. Etc. You can have a solid hardwood floor for roughly $10/sf. The stairs would be extra.