I did a search and found some good information here about Luxury Vinyl Plank flooring. But I still have some questions and would appreciate some advice.

Background: My house is only a few years old. It's a rancher with a basement in Colorado. The main floor has Luxury Vinyl Plank over an OSB subfloor. We have been in the house almost two years and so far we like the vinyl plank flooring. The problem is the basement. It currently has cheap, contractor-grade, wall-to-wall carpet. I could live with it for a while, but last year we had epic rainfall one night and some water got into the basement from one of the window wells. I'm pretty sure I solved this problem, but ever since the carpet got wet, my wife's cat refuses to "dump" in the litter box. She only dumps on the carpet in the area where it got wet. She never urinates on the carpet. She urinates in her cat box. Makes no sense to me, but I don't know much about cats.

First, if anyone has any suggestions for preventing a cat from dumping on carpet, I'm happy to hear it . I've tried every product I could find and none of them made any difference. So, I'm ready to rip out the carpet and install...

- Vinyl Plank Flooring. Is there a difference between "Vinyl Plank Flooring" and "Luxury Vinyl Plank Flooring", or is it just different marketing?

- My basement floor is concrete. As I said, the house is only a few years old, so I wouldn't expect the concrete floor to be too rough or uneven, but I suppose I won't know until I rip up the carpet.

- I'm currently looking at the Lifeproof brand from Home Depot. It gets good reviews online, but there are also a few comments about it not fitting together as it should. Maybe there was a bad batch because almost everyone else gives glowing reviews.

- There are multiple thicknesses of the top layer. Is it best to get 20 mil or thicker? The thinner stuff is cheaper, but I'm concerned it might not wear very well. (There is a local home builder who is notorious for installing vinyl plank flooring which is so cheap and thin it almost immediately starts peeling up.)

- Based on my initial research, it appears I'm supposed to put some type of underlayment between the concrete and the vinyl plank. But what? One video I saw showed the guy laying down a thick rubber pad followed another pad with foil layers. Is all that necessary? We are typically pretty dry here in the Colorado Springs area. Not sure if that makes a difference.

- My basement currently has a home theater area. On the opposite wall there is roughed-in plumbing where I plan to install a popcorn and coffee bar. I use the basement for movies and entertaining.

Thank you!