We have floating floors over a concrete slab. I love them, so much warmer than tiles would be. DH put bits of felt over the bottom of all the furniture so it wouldn't scratch when it was moved. However we have been dragging the high chair (with wheels) across it and there are only a couple of little scratches there.

Ours has a gap all around the edges which has a timber skirting board over it to allow for the expansion of the boards, looks just like a standard skirting board.

We have it in the kitchen, family room and eating area. The family room has a big rug over it as well so there is somewhere a bit softer for DD to play on. The stuff in the kitchen has coped just fine with the extra bits of moisture that is dropped on it there.

My sister has some that are fairly new and she is still in the paranoid about scratches stage and only washes the floor monthly because she is worried about the moisture ruining them. I figure that something like a floating floor (rather than polished pine boards) is specifically designed to be used as flooring and if by walking across it with shoes on (rather than socks) scratches it then it was poor quality in the first place.

I'd recommed measuring the area you are looking at and going and talking to some flooring people. Have a look at the different ones you can get and find out how much they would be. Then call some floor polishing people and find out how much for that - might help make your minds up if you have an idea of the cost.

Also the nice thing about the floating floor is that it can go down in a day or two depending on the area - pollishing boards will be messy, smelly and have the areas out of actions for ages.

Also, our boards have coped so much better in the 6 years they have been down than the carpet has!!!