Most of the name brand manufactures I've looked at offer different grades of sheet vinyl from budget price to top quality. The length of warranty (5 year, 10 year, 15 year, etc) determines price range. Its really a matter of finding the pattern you like in your price range. You can go to the different manufactures websites and request brochures of their flooring and that can help cut down on the shopping legwork. Just be sure to look at it in person in a store as they do look a little different than the brochures. For a floor that may see a lot of traffic and abuse, I think the low gloss or ultra low gloss finish will show the least wear over the long haul. Plus they're not supposed to be waxed - just sweep and mop.

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.

When I was appraising in California I saw some very elegant modern homes with sheet vinyl -- high grade -- in the active living areas, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Vinyl was definitely out of style, pushed out by bad design and cheap versions everywhere, but these people were in the know. As it happens, none of their floors looked like anything but vinyl--two solid color as I recall, and one two tone with a large swirl design, as if you could waltz following the swirls. My true love, which I've never forgotten, was a simple solid cream with a highish-medium gloss, which looked spectacular with sun flooding in through sheets of glass and views of the city beyond. It was also cushioned and wonderfully comfortable to walk on. Perfect for a home. IMO, quality vinyl is a sadly underused flooring. That the material came to be seen as synonymous with tackiness doesn't mean it can't be fine. Linoleum's also a great material. Both have real virtues, but definitely different. Sorry I don't have a brand to recommend, Byzantine, but I just wanted to note that not all noses wrinkle at mention of sheet flooring. At least it would be easier to find specialty-market stuff without a good decorator now if necessary.