[alpayton]

It is my understanding that there were some changes made to laminate flooring in the very recent past that made it a VERY muchso better product than it was when it first came out.

I replaced the carpet in my den with laminate flooring. Middle grade with texture. It was around 1.80 a foot. My laminate is not shiny so it doesn't matter as much on the streaking from mopping. I have to figure out the right stuff to mop with though because about a day after mopping, I walk across the floor and my tennis shoes act like they're sticking to it for some reason. They make the sounds like there's something on the floor and I know there's not. It's ridiculous. I use Murphy's Oil Soap on it. It does a good job cleaning it. The laminate I have is a click and lock style as I saw the guys lay it and it has a pad under it to help cushion it from anything that would fall on it. All of my tables, chairs, etc have felt pads on the legs or corners as to hold the pressure points off of the floors so not to make "divots". Another thing they advised me of was metal pads on the bottom of furniture. If you scoot them across the floor, the metal will heat up and cause the plastic coating on the laminate floor to melt! SO it will leave a mark. Permanently. My dogs and my kiddo have spilled everything known to man on this floor and they have definitely been hired by the company to do the pee test to see if pee can ruin the laminate. Not one single spot can you see. And let me tell you...my dogs are the best employees, cuz they're hiding their spots EVERYWHERE!