so air is coming out of all the spots with red arrows. There's water where the blue arrows are. The teal duct tape is what I put over the old tape last night (all I had on hand) and now there's condensation on the tape. We have 2 zones and last night zones 1and 2 had green lights and today zone 2 is red.

@Ana Gutierrez: It’s least worth your time to research engineered wood. It’s not as expensive as people think and many handy homeowners are able to install it. It also goes over some types of existing floors. It looks the richest, especially if a medium brown is your preference. Laminate floors are the least durable and the worst in a wet climate. Any flooding, even a little, will ruin it. Luxury vinyl tile gets great reviews. The better products look more like wood than laminates. All of these can be bought in planks that are not hard to install. Tile, as was well pointed out, is ridiculously expensive and hardest on your back. Most vinyl will survive the dogs pretty well. I know a family with two Rhodesian Ridgebacks who installed luxury vinyl in the bedroom and bathroom of their twins’ suite. The mother wishes she had a reason to put it around the whole house. Do your research. Ask questions at flooring places so someone knowledgeable can answer about durability and dog-nail scratching. You can shop for bargains after you get all the information together. Don’t go to big box stores yet.

The guidance for floor colouring/materials is pretty easy to deal with when it comes to different levels in the home (assuming it isn't a split level). The upper level of a home is often a different material or a different colour. That is both normal (to see) and allowed (in design circles). The stairs, as you have pointed out, should match the 'main living space'. You already have that. So you are already set up to do what you want with the upper level. The LVP looks to be a 'tone-on-tone' type of colour compliment. I'm in favour of that idea. I find it looks a bit more sophisticated then a completely different colour upstairs. But I digress. You will want to be aware that LVP/LVT does NOT like underpad. That means if you want/need noise reducing underlayment (like cork or felt) then you cannot use vinyl. You just can't put a pad underneath and hope the noise goes away. Vinyl is a different beast. I'm a fan of nice laminate. It has a great deal to offer a home without deleting your entire bank account. A nice/high-end laminate will cost (about) the same as a low-mid grade vinyl ($3/sf). A high end laminate (as you know) will out perform a low or midgrade vinyl. Always. The ONLY place vinyl 'wins' is in wet/splash areas such as bathrooms, entrances and kitchens. Everything else is the domain of laminate, etc. If you are not sure of how much noise you are going to have to live with (once the upstairs is covered in vinyl) then go ahead and pull up the existing floor (is it carpet) and then live on the subfloor floor for 2x weeks. That will give you a VERY good idea how noisy vinyl can be. Sorry - long story short: your CHOICE of colour is very nice. I like it. Tone-on-tone is a great way to deal with a different level. Just be aware of the limitations of the material.

Thank you Angel. The first flood came from frozen pipes in the ceiling. They were installed too close to the foundation, we had -50C cold snap, and burst when they thawed. It was the line to the laundry room and we didn't even notice the hot water wasn't working, since we wash using cold water. We fixed that issue by moving the pipes into the heated living space, under a small bulkhead (basement ceiling). The last flood came up through the septic system. We have a 45-year-old house and an unusual (for today) septic system. A second tank holds fluids and then it gets drained (underground) into a mound back in the woods. The pump in that tank had failed but we didn't know. Then a toilet ran all day while we were working outside, and grey water came up in the laundry room and flowed out from there. The house does not have a backflow valve. Water wasn't deep - maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of water, just enough to soak the underlay/floor. Good times. At least there were no floaties, thanks to the water running all day and flushing out the lines. We now have a hydromatic pump out there, and we will be installing a wifi-enabled alarm system. Preferably one with a big flashing light! We don't have a back-up pump - hopefully the alarm system does the trick. Thanks for suggesting it, though. I'll mention that, and the battery back-up, to my husband. We definitely don't want to experience that again. We waited 6 years to reno our basement, and we've now refinished it twice in the last 7 months. Hopefully the third time's a charm.