Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Laminate Floor AC4 vs. AC5

Hey guys. This is my first post so bear with me.

Situation:
1) 1886 house with uneven floor on second floor which I am having professionally levelled by a vinyl installer (30 years exp. and HIGHLY recommended) at $0.85 / sq. ft plus materials. Size 720 sq. ft. He is considered an artist. Is it worth paying the professional?

2) Will live in house for two years then rent out as apartment. Have decided on Laminate as option. choices for floor are as follows,

Pergo Select - AC5, HDL very durable at $3.00/ft
Alloc Origianl - AC4, also HDL with snap and lock system at $2.86/ft
Alloc Domestic - AC3, DPL with Alloc system $2.50/ft
Kronoswiss Silent Step - AC4 with system that pressure glues ends together $1.49/ft

Will the AC4 systems last through renters?
I am torn between the options because the Alloc system can be assembled/disassembled countless time so I could replace bad boards as needed if the get hurt.
If the AC4 won't make it, why not go Domestic?
Or better yet go for the Pergo with the higher resiliancy of AC5?
If AC4 will make it through then the price of the KronoSwiss is the best option.

Finally, the premise is that I want a floor that will last five years without needing to be replaced, hence the AC4 vs. AC5. Can anyone help?

Go with the thickest 12mm boards and they have a A5 rating:
KronoSwiss
Swiss Solid
$1.99 per sq.ft.
At a price that is very reasonable.

http://www.floorshop.com/Store/Subcategory.cfm?Swiss%20Solid&subcategoryID=4299&categoryName=Laminate%20Flooring

has the details.

www.ifloor.com has better shipping prices than the above site, but the above site claims to beat any competitors final costs. By how much I am not sure of.

I had no idea ac ratings went up to 5.....what's up with that?

If you buy on ac ratings alone, it would be like buying a car on gas milage alone.
Now that your educated on ac ratings, get educated on core, tounge and groove, density, pressure, and such. you will be a better consumer.

And I also thing that locking mechanism stinks...compared to Quickstep's.

Are you saying that the quickstep sytem is better than the Alloc system? I have no doubt that the quickstep locking system is more efficent than the Kronoswiss system, but at what price and what durability? If the only quickstep floor I can find at a mid to high commercial rating costs $6.00/ft, then I have entered into the real wood floor level of flooring.

Kronoswiss only uses high denisty fiberboard, fyi. And though quickstep and Uniclic are the most touted of locking systems, I have a problem.

I am a poor student and though I am aware that you get what you pay for when it comes to most things in life, there is no reason to buy a pateneted product from anyone, but the creator company or you might spend additional money unnecesarly.


So, I am calling FloorShop today (after 11:30am EST) to find out two issues:
1) Why there color line doesn't match kronoswiss Silent Step's color line
2) Why the Solid Swiss only has 2 color choices

I will take suggestion on Quickstep flooring ideas, by all means, but remeber that they will undergo STRENUOUS conditions, and if I need to replace them after one year of use anyway, I can purchase AC3 rated junk from build direct at $0.86/ft. and install anew after each tenant.

The question remains how durable are laminate floors?

(PS In case I forget, thank you all for your help and quick response)

Usually branded products are better for a few reasons.
For instance, Quickstep invented Uniclick and Uniclick is superior to any other tounge and groove. Now Quickstep sells that ability to use their tounge and groove technology, but nobody QC's their planks like Quickstep. Quickstep bought a 2.2 million dollar Japanese machine that checks EVERY plank in 4 locations, if it is thicker or thinner than a thickness of a sheet of paper, the plank gets tossed. Nobody else does that even if you see UNICLICK on someone else's box.
Plus other brand manufacturers put bells and whistles on their products that other manufacturers do not to keep the cost down. Such as a laminate backing as thick as the face laminate so it is dimensionally stable.
Or specific core's that are patented because they may be more water resistant.
Or the tounge and groove has wax on it to make a tighter and easier fit.
Or a few more kraft sheets are used to stabalize the plank.

Only a branded full service manufacturer is willing to raise prices for these sort of things because they will service their product regularly.

Laminate is soooo huge, that everyone and their dog is making laminates now in darn near every country in the world.

Can you buy a laminate online, that is not considered a major brand and still have a good floor? Yes.
Will buying a high quality brand named product give you more of a chance that the product will perform to expectations? Yes.

I have been in the business for 8 years, and I have been a consumer for 25 years at least, I myself will pick either Wilsonart, Quickstep, Allock, Witex, Armstrong, or Mannington because I have RARELY if EVER gotten a complaint that came down to manufacturer defect.