I've been reading and researching flooring options. We need about 2000 sq ft for our older home. Here's my take: warranty, veneer thickness layer, overall thickness don't matter as much as **can you protect your floors from water**. Water will ruin any wood floor.

As someone who just moved into a home with 15 yr old, glued-down 5/16" engineered oak flooring, the worn coating and scratches are annoying but don't compare to the RUINED flooring caused by water leaks over the years. This water damage absolutely cannot be repaired, and after 15 yrs there's a good amount of it. Near the porch leading from the pool, under the old freezer, in front of the kitchen sink, in front of a window, and a few mystery ones we can't figure out. (dog pee??) I feel a 25 yr warranty is useless unless your floor will stay dry for all that time. I don't know who made this flooring or what it's wear layer warranty was, but in the end it didn't matter.

Now we're looking at paying many thousands just to scrape the old stuff up, (or more likely just lay new flooring overtop) after just 15 years. Note that even if this stuff had been solid, it would still be ruined. I sure wish there had been floating floors back then, and the original owners had had the foresight to install it.

A 25 yr wear rating sounds better than 15 yrs, but what are the chances we'll be able to protect the floor from water for that long? Slim. I believe in recoating rather than refinishing (so the veneer layer isn't that important) and right now, a clic-together floating floor looks REALLY attractive! Easy to take up and repair.

We're looking at a floating Kahrs 1-strip or a BR-111 product, with a 10-15 yr warranty. If we're lucky enough to be in this house long enough to worry about needing to replace it, we'll do it. Clic-clic and up it comes! Clic-clic and down new stuff goes! No miserable scraping, sanding, cursing.

That's my rant of the day, having just spent 3 hours removing 5 sq ft of the old stuff, before I gave up. The clic together products may sound a little more hollow, but I'll take that anyday over what we're dealing with now. And it's a good DIY project too since we're trying to save money. That's my position and I'm sticking to it. : )