Coretec seems to be the choice of many people so probably call them to get a good idea for your situation. We have a really old vinyl plank in our walk out basement with big dogs in and out of a doogie door to a dog run yard all day in all kinds of waether and they still look great after 11 yrs They were kind that were installed with a glue strip along each the sides and when they were layed looked like all one piece we did dri core for a subfloor . The new vinyl planks are very attractive ans so practical IMO .

Do you plan to put the LVP in as a gluedown or a floating floor? I would look at the installation instructions and see if the product you choose can be installed over hardwood.

Generally, prep of a floor is most important when installing vinyl plank. You want your floor to be flat (not level) up to 3/16” in a 10 foot span. Your installer can help you with the flatness. We chose a SPC floating floor because we have a bunch of kids. We are in the process of installing it, and so far, it’s been great.

A rigid plank product like CoreTec will offer many benefits. Just remember: vinyl does NOT like "wood finishes". That normally means SOMETHING has to be used underneath to separate the wood from the vinyl. CoreTec Plus has the cork underlayment attached which is enough to keep the two products from touching.

A floating vinyl floor will make the most sense over the hardwood. A glue down option is available over the slab portion...but it is hard to find a floating vinyl and a glue down vinyl in the same visual (appearance). This gets awfully tricky if you want glue down.

As for "scratches", you have already stated you are hard on floors. A vinyl floor will take abuse a SNICK better than hardwood - but not much more. The "wear-ability" you describe (biggest concerns is the finish scratching and wearing away color) is appropriate for porcelain tile.

When it comes to vinyl, I would EXPECT scratches. There is no way around this unless you move to porcelain tile. And if you have old, large windows that do NOT have UV block on them then I would also expect colour changes because of the heat/UV exposure. Again, nothing will prevent this other than porcelain tile...or a massive upgrade in windows (if you have that on your "to do list" then I HIGHLY recommend you do it BEFORE you get new floors....it will save you THOUSANDS of dollars of heartache).

And then there is the 'matte' or low-gloss finishes that are currently trendy...they are VERY difficult to live with (regardless of material...they all have visual issues that MANY homeowners complain about afterwards).

Vinyl can do MANY things....but it will still scratch and it will still change colour if you have lower grade/older windows in the home.

So to be happy with LVP we should be looking for a gloss Finish it sounds like? Even though it may look more like plastic I would take that over looking dirty all the time. The “dirty look” issue seems to span brands.

@julieste Thank you, yes, that is probably what I was meaning, not a high gloss but a satin gloss, just not a Matte. The people with Matte seem to have the most complaints with footprints and scuff marks etc. Do you mind me asking what brand and color you ended up with? I feel like I have been debating about this for ages and ages too! It's such a huge commitment doing the whole house.

Five years ago we put Flooret in our basement and have been quite happy with the product. I would have installed it again, but in the interim they changed their product line, and I don't like the appearance of their new lines.

We just bought a second home and chose Karndean Rigid Core French Oak. I haven't seen the install yet or lived with it, but we intend to use it on both the first and second floor; we'll just recarpet the stairs. https://www.karndean.com/en/commercial-flooring/products/scb85-french-oak