You know, it's funny that someone posted on this thread just now. Just two days ago, I ended up accidentally dropping a plate from normal carrying height in the kitchen. The plate shattered and ended up scratching two planks. Well, one of the planks is more like a gash, while the other one has two surface scratches. Not bad, but still kind of annoyed. My original floor installers will replace the planks for me with my spares whenever they install some new baseboards in my garage in July. Other than that little incident, my floors have been pretty durable over the last year with no real issues, although I did freak out once when my bug guy dragged my stove out from its spot to spray. I told him to not do that again. I did, however, send a snarky e-mail to Mowhawk, telling them that they probably shouldn't market a floor as "scratch resistant" while conveniently excluding scratches from the warranty. It is what it is, I guess. I still haven't done my upstairs yet, which probably won't be until next year, but rest assured, I'm going to always make sure I have extra boxes of planks at all times. Better to overprepare than underprepare. As for the creaking. I still have some creaks in a few spots and do notice some "play" in certain areas around the perimeter, but these are typically in areas that I never walk on.

@James Podobea Yep, sounds like we (& prob many others) are in the same boat. I just did a round of repair endseam gluing the other day, so I don't have many pics, but have attached one plank gap that recently emerged. Notably, the creaking occurs consistently on one end of each plank end; reinforcing my conclusion that this is not [just] installer failure, but genuine defective product/design. In our case, putting weight (stepping) on the north end of any plank-to-plank end seam produces a creak. I don't recall wether the 'north end' corresponds to the 'tongue' or the 'groove' segment, but once you know & test it around the house, its incredibly reliable. I've found that gluing the end-seams with tongue & groove glue has been a [tedious] repair solution that has worked with decent success —for now. It stops the creaks, and prevents gaps from periodically forming. The catch, and the "for now" part, is that it will presumably limit your ability to repair/remove isolated sections of the flooring in the future, because it effectively binds entire plank runs together into one piece. This is essentially a post-hoc method of gluing the end-seams of your flooring planks; the 'high traffic' installation directions provided by the manufacturer. Notably, I/we are finding this is necessary in not just high —commercial level— traffic areas, **but in ALL installation areas**. ...a properly functioning plank interface **should do this on its own**, but *that is NOT the case with our Evoke Surge flooring (circa 2022).* I can't provide any guarantees that this will 100% fix your issue, but it has worked wonders fixing the creaking & gapping in our higher traffic areas (in & around kitchen counter/seating, and living room walkways). Repair Tools & Supplies: • 1 'medium duty' suction handle from Amazon; the type used/sold for lifting heavy glass & mirrors (as pictured) • Titebond Tongue & Groove wood glue. (the key is a waterproof glue with a strong-yet-flexible bond. There are various grades of Titebond available, going with the purpose-built version seems safe. I bout a two-pack online, and *one bottle* should be more than enough) • Rubber mallet • Small block of wood; a piece of 2-by-4 about 1/2" shorter than the width of your planks should be perfect. • Start gluing end-seams *in the middle of a run* in which gaps/creaks occur. The suction handle is capable of sliding one plank reasonably well, but once you bond multiple planks together the accumulated friction will become too much. • Attach the suction handle to the last plank in the run —closest to the wall • Gently tap the end of the suction handle with the mallet to shift the plank toward the wall. ...you don't want/need to SMASH it, just tap it along, 1/8" or less at a time **until you've created a 0.25–0.5 inch gap between the end plank & the next one**. This is your *"working gap"* • Move along the run and shift the working gap to the middle of the run • Apply a bead of glue along the exposed tongue of the working gap. You don't need to "fill" the gap, and you don't necessarily want the glue to seep along the side seam. • Attach the suction handle to the plank on the wall-side of the seam, and stand/squat on the plank on the "mid-run" side of the seam. • Gently tap the end seam until the top surface of the boards are juust about touching, but don't smash them together. • With a *dry clean cloth*, wipe up any excess glue that oozes out of the seam as it comes together. • For the final 1/32–1/64th (just barely visible) gap, use the wood block to apply slight pressure to one side of the seam—the tongue side— as you apply the final mallet taps; not your whole body weight, but just enough. • Wipe off any excess glue with a *dry cloth*, then a slightly damp cloth for the final clean-up. ...per the glue instructions, any additional water applied (by over wetting/wiping during cleanup) will decrease the strength of your bond. • With some practice/experience, you'll figure out just the right amount of glue to effectively secure the seam without too much ooze-out. • **BUT its better to err on the side of ooze-out** and clean-up, rather than *unknowingly* not have enough glue in the seam to create a strong bond. ....this is the kind of thing where "you only get one chance to do it right" • Work your way along the run from the middle to the wall, then repeat in the other direction. • Think through any doorway or cabinet obstructions that might be present. You may need to start gluing a run at these 'captivated' planks, then work your way to the wall. The process is LOUD, cumbersome, and you'll also want to be able to not walk on the area for at least 24 hours while the glue cures (*definitely no walking for the first ~1-3 hours after gluing*). Its really a pain in the but to apply this repair over any large area, so working through 2-3 of your most problematic/noisy runs at a time is probably the best way to go. ...this piecewise approach is also why its important to not let too much glue ooze into the side seams; you don't want adjacent plank runs glued together. Example of an emergent gap between plank ends...these arise throughout the house quite regularly: Here's the glue and the suction device I've used with some success to deal with the creaks & gaps

I had Mannington Restoration as the laminate in a prior home (builder spec). It looked great. My only complaint was that it felt very "hard", which I know it's crazy to think wood would be softer but that was my only complaint. I would gladly put laminate in again but they can't emulate mineral streaks yet. Give it a look. The beauty of laminate, if you find one you like, is that the install is super cheap because it's click/float, so no glue or nails and thus much less labor. The ones I linked to all have 24 hour + water guarantees. You may end up saving so much money that you can afford to get new flooring in 5 years when your tastes change!

@jessica did you have your baseboard already. The options for me is they pull the baseboards and then put them back after on top of floor (with the gap under the baseboard) or they leave the baseboard pull out current floor from under baseboard but then when they put new floor they will need a thin baseshoe molding to cover the gap. Did you or anyone have this issue