Flooring for a Basement

Q: I have wood floors in the basement. As I have an art school it has very high traffic. The wood floor has lasted for about 8 years and it is already damaged. I have been told that laminated floors will last longer, it will resist scratches from moving chairs and eventually could be clean with water if watercolor or other liquids spill on the floor or dust of pastels falls on the floor.
First, I would like to know which would be a good laminated to install in the basement.
Second, Can the laminated floor be installed on the wood floor or do I have to remove the wood floor.
Sincerely
Luis Meade
A: One thing that I will mention is that any wood floor will scratch over time. There are several things you can do to prevent scratches on your floor, especially from furniture. Before you install a new floor, I would highly suggest you get some furniture cups for the furniture in your studio. This will help prevent a majority or the scratches you are running into on your current floor.
If you wish to put in a new floor, rather than refinish your current floor, it will be fairly easy to install a laminate floor right over the top of your existing floor. One thing I will suggest here is to make sure you get a decent underlayment, as you will not want a weaker underlayment between these two floors. Also run the laminate floor perpendicular to the current wood floor you have installed as this will make the floor more stable.
As far as which laminates to look into, I would suggest one that is rated AC4 or AC5 as these are built for higher levels of traffic and abrasion. Floors like Pergo Select, Westhollow Vise-Loc, and Quick Step Perspective all fall into AC4 and AC5 rated laminate.