Buying guide for vinyl flooring for new construction

I always wonder what authorization the specialist companies have that sell such floors and also optionally install them? Didn’t they have satisfactory answers for you? I have had good experiences with full vinyl so far (also in wet areas / office). The rigid test piece was pretty bad regarding scratch resistance, which certainly depends on the manufacturer and type of floor. I have always had impact sound insulation separately (check the data sheet to see what is permissible regarding density and thickness). Dogs are always "noisy" on vinyl with their claws! So far, I have only installed click/glue vinyl myself, but I also know fully glued material (usually only 2-3mm thick instead of 5-8 with click). Fully glued recently cost about €70 per m² including material and installation.

Yes, dog claws are quieter on vinyl than on laminate or parquet

Parquet also discolors when it comes into contact with dog urine (which can always happen as a puppy, during illness, or when he is old) so parquet was definitely out—

We will definitely lay the floor ourselves, so that’s why it will be floating

I have read that rigid is supposed to be very scratch-resistant, even compared to solid vinyl (because it has the hard core)

But rigid is supposed to be louder than solid vinyl because it is harder

Choosing the right floor is not easy and it stays in for a long time, if you make the wrong decision you can be annoyed about it for a long time :D

Attached is what ours looks like, the invoice states:

Repac solidDryback 25-05 Mountain XL Oak Brushed
Natural for gluing vinyl flooring

Light texture, scratch-resistant (even dragged furniture over it, nothing happened)

definitely looks good.
This is for gluing; as a layman, I wouldn’t trust myself to do that, so I would rather install it as a floating floor.

What do you think about the PVC-free design flooring?
Basically, it’s also vinyl where only natural plasticizers are used.
Should you definitely choose such a PVC-free design floor, or is a regular vinyl floor from a well-known manufacturer enough (where nowadays no health-hazardous plasticizers are used anymore)?

Is the PVC-free and Blue Angel mainly just marketing, or does it really make a difference?

It was more as a reference because, for example, it didn't say exactly what kind it was, and I also didn't find anything about it on the manufacturer's site.

Where do you want to buy the floor? We were at Hammer, and there the people can actually explain the differences quite precisely.

We have already been to Laminatdepot near us

they couldn’t explain or advise properly.


We would probably buy it on the Internet with free delivery.

I wanted to first find out which type of vinyl is best for us, then look at which manufacturer is good and offers good value for money, and then where we order it from.