My build is almost ready for flooring. In late winter I ordered a box of Republic Great Oregon Oak to lay out. It is stunning...BUT...I noticed the repeated pattern. Out of 9 pieces of flooring, I had just 4 patterns. So I called the manufacturer who was not super sweet. They said they only had 4 boards in the Great Oregon Oak collection. I have not spoken with my builder as to what he could make of that, and it's been almost 6 months so I will call Republic Flooring back and do more research, but I am surprised that one would go to such expense to make such a beautiful floor product and then only make 4 boards. Hoping that either someone posts that the 4 pictures/boards is no problem at all, or, that Republic Flooring added some boards.

Alexandra, would you please post more photos of your flooring and more angles of your kitchen? Also what are the paint color of your cabinets, walls, trim. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the floor samples look almost identical in color, except the last one is a bit darker. I don't think you could go wrong with any of them! #3 is probably my favorite because it has less grain.

OK, so let's get our terminology working here. There are two thicknesses that *seem to be getting in the way. The term 'mil' and the term 'mm'. 1. 'mil' = 1 THOUSANDTHS of an INCH (very small...wear layer thickness) 2. 'mm' = millimeter = 1 thousandths of a METER (1 meter = 3ft) = very close to 1/32 of an inch Great. Now we have a definition of 'mil' vs 'mm'. The LifeProof (sold ONLY at Home Depot...ahem....Home Depot...) is 7 mm thick (the website says 6mm or more). That means it is more than a 1/4 of an INCH thick (it's almost 1/3 of an inch...but that's a weird thing to see). As vinyl goes, that's a middle of the road thickness. The 12 mm THICK vinyl is the SPC stuff like CoreTec (the mineral core makes it thicker). And 12mm is almost 1/2" (it is SUPER close to 0.5 inches). OK...now on to wear layer. The wear layer is what I was talking about with 12mil vs. 20mil. That is the MICRO COATING (super thin....thinner than a piece of paper thin...can't be measured using a hand held tool using the naked eye). That's where I was going with the statement '20 mil' wear layer thickness. First thing's first...please work with a reputable independent flooring company. Home Depot sells toilette paper, paint and chewing gum...and in the back they sell flooring. For me this isn't a place to go shopping if you have many quality requirements for look/feel/wear. If you can by Christmas lights and lawn gnomes at the same store where you purchase your flooring, you might be looking in the wrong place. To be clear, a FLOATING FLOOR is what causes the feeling of 'hollowness' underfoot. That's why the subfloor needs to be flattened to within an inch of it's life! A flat subfloor = a solid feeling floor. Wood can be used in basements so long as it is floated (ahhh....again with the floating = can still bounce and feel hollow under foot). You can have wood so long as you have humidity CONTROL (humidistat built-in to the Heating/cooling system because A/C doesn't always cut it). But again the floor would need to be floated and that is the BIG issue. Floating = hollowness (when done POORLY). So...here are your options: A PERMANENT floor (such as tile, carpet, sheet vinyl, glue down wood, etc) will give you the FEEL you want (solid feeling without being hollow). A permanent floor gets tricky in a basement setting where ground water is an issue. But it still can be done. As Patricia points out, you can use something like DriCor underneath and then nail down the wood. That is totally acceptable. This decision is best done before doors are hung...but it doesn't have to be. Please get out of 'big box' stores and go shopping at your high-end flooring stores. They will not deal in junk. And for a quality vinyl/floating floor product you will be looking at prices that are 2-4 times HIGHER than Home Depot.