Our flooring was installed by whomever the builder used for installation. I have a couple of minor scratches, but they were likely caused by something my 5 year old daughter dragged. We have Gemcore Onyx Huntington. We did the same - felt pads under all furniture and chairs. It’s very hard to tell when there is a scratch due to the texture. We do have some buckling and I’m 100% convinced it’s either installation error or a result of the new construction house settling. The buckling is isolated in areas and doesn’t seem to have processed over almost a full year. They’re coming out to assess Wednesday. We do love the floors and have them all throughout the house. They are low maintenance and super easy to clean. It’s a bit deceiving because you can’t tell where dirt is unless it’s a very light piece of something, like paper.

OK....so here is what I WOULD DO: Pull the carpet and lino BOTH and FIND OUT what's underneath. Carpet hides the WORST subfloors (both in prep and in materials) on the planet. Builders KNOW they can mess up the subfloor because carpet will hide everything. So....once carpet and line are GONE...I would then choose an installation material BASED ON the subfloor material that is in place. Example, if you have PERFECT PLYWOOD (which is EXPENSIVE....so I HIGHLY DOUBT IT) then you can think about peel and stick vinyl (which will be cheap, cheerful and require replacement rather quickly = 5 - 7 years). If you have PERFECT CONCRETE SLAB (again...HIGHLY DOUBT IT) then you can think peel and stick. See above. Now back to reality. The chances are you have bad subfloors. As in laun or fibre board or OSB (oriented strand board = looks like the plywood has been made from potato chips). If this is your substrate, peel and stick will NOT STICK. That means you NEED TO LOOK at floating (click together). The price will go UP because of the price of the locking system (royalties, manufacturing machines are expensive, etc) but the INSTALLATION will be faster/easier. Or you have horrible concrete (lumpy, pitted, sloped, etc.) and you need SERIOUS repairs on the concrete. That type of repair isn't going to come cheap. And it is a gut-wrenching DIY project. And vinyl is great for dogs....but PLEASE WORK with a product that is NOT MATTE. We have dozens of threads with people CRYING over their matte finished vinyl....and HATING IT. And NO, the finish is not defective. Which makes them even MORE upset....because there is no warranty covering "angry". And just for fun, a rental unit will have a different life expectancy for flooring. Rental units have a 7 year life cycle for flooring. Yep. That's sever (7) years and the floors need replacing. So....choose what YOU LIKE today. Get it as tough as your budget can allow (high-end laminate in the living spaces + decent vinyl in kitchen/bath/laundry) and then realize it will only survive a few more years (2-4 years) as a rental floor. That's it. And LAMINATE (especially the high end one's) are EXTREMELY tough. They are STUPID-EASY/cheap to install as DIY and require LESS PREPARATION to the subfloors than vinyl. Because rental property is in your future, don't think anything beyond "seven years".

The Pergo with the Wet Protect can offer the 'light spills' protection that most people are looking for. They will not survive (nor is the warranty offered for) big things like plumbing events or flooding (like a river over flowing it's banks). Most people who want to use vinyl are looking for protection agains "everyday" spills (like the ice cube that escapes under the dishwasher and melts). The Pergo Wet Protect product will give you that. It can also handle sunlight and a direct sunlight pooling on the surface (infront of a window/sliding glass door) that vinyl CANNOT handle. Your situation will dictate what you *need. I prefer a high-end laminate over a mid-range vinyl. People have better reactions to the "livability" of a tough laminate when compared to the restrictions vinyl will impose on the house hold. The $2.99 + $0.60/sf = $3.59/sf. That's a $1/sf less than the vinyl. Depending on your square footage, that is a significant savings. The labour costs to install = equal. And vinyl does NOT like/allow the underpad....which can make them louder/less comfortable to live with. I would take the Pergo any time.

@V M sorry, just seeing your post above. We are just now finally breaking ground on our home so I don't have pics of the flooring to show you from my house. I will come back and post when I do but that will be some months from now. But we are paying, I think, 15K for our Multi-Length Rigid Core SPC floors in color Sandhill. Our house will be 2975 sf and this floor covering will be throughout the home, except in 3 of the full baths and the utility room. I'm not exactly sure how many square feet that leaves but hopefully you can do some rough math. Everything goes through my builder so I don't have an exact price per square foot to provide you. I also am not sure if this includes labor to install.