And his comments come from experience being in the thick of everything during the market crash.

So many variables, gotta have some thick skin for that potential roller coaster ride..

The fact that you can measure the thickness of the financial cushion you've built between you and poverty also helps lessen the sting of the years that you spend clawing as hard as you could to get somewhere.I think a lot follows from being clear on those two points starting out.

How thick of a layer did you do? 

JUST KIDDING the depreciation topic for reason has technical books that are 500 pages thick.

Would a plank with an underlayment handle it better (would increase thickness) ?

Luxury Vinyl Plank...HD carries LifeProof which is great, just remember is you are using in a rental, the warranty is null and void.You want something that is at least 4mm thick.

The bigger ones, are basically not answering their phones, or tell you they will call you back, but they have a big back log, and someone will get back in a week or so.So I have a huge tree branch sitting on half of my roof, with leaves and smaller branches so thick I can't even find the branch that poked through the roof, and the other side of the branch was sitting on an overhead high voltage power line, strained to the max. 

It seems to differ from your standard Luxury Vinyl Plank in that it has a thick core attached to the vinyl plank that gives it a more solid feel similar to laminate. 

Varying grades and material thickness.