# Floor coverings



## Thomas D (Jan 27, 2003)

What's the best floor covering for house with dogs?


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## Joe Dutro (Nov 20, 2007)

I would like to hear some input to this as well. My wife and I are about to tear up the carpet in the family room.
Joe


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## Paul Fix (Jul 5, 2009)

We are in the process of having laminate (Pergo type) flooring installed in our kitchen and dining room. We have 3 retrievers that are in house dogs. We installed Pergo 4 years ago in our family room and bedrooms and it has held up like iron. No scratches from toenails and we house broke a new puppy about a year ago with no damage to the floor. Now that I have said that, let me say that we cleaned up any accidents right away and our dogs are very calm in the house, they are not running wildly and acting crazy. 

The down side to this floor is that it is slippery for the dogs. If your dog or dogs are calm this won't be a problem but if they want to run in the house they will not have a lot of traction on this type of surface and could injure themselves. Knock on wood (or Pergo) we have had no problems. Choose a good grade of laminate. The cheap stuff will scratch from toenails and looks like cheap flooring when it is installed. I installed cheap laminate about 1 year ago from Lowes in my dining room and we are now tearing it out. Don't waste your money.


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## Dick Langford (Sep 7, 2008)

I recently removed carpet in a condo I own that has dogs. I replaced with a vinyl flooring from Home Depot that looks like wood planks. You simply stick it on the floor. It has it's own sticky on the bottom side. I was skeptical about looks until installed. Looks very good. Should be indestructable by dogs. Easy to replace section if gets damaged. Less expensive than wood or laminate.


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## Matt McKenzie (Oct 9, 2004)

Tile works well.


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## Briogirls (Dec 16, 2008)

I installed a cork floor in my kitchen, and it has worked wonders, looks cute too, plus it is more insulated than pergo/wood or tile


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## flatcoatfun (May 29, 2008)

In my last house we ripped out carpet and put in large tiles (so less grout lines) I loved the tile, hated the grout lines since they were always dirty. Solution - use dark grout. No matter what people tell you - you can seal the grout but it will Not help it stay clean with dogs. 

New house - wanted to put down the new tile that looks like wood planks. Need to get the more expensive ones that look more like real wood. You can lay it with very minimal grout lines. We were so excited until we ripped up carpet and saw we have cracks in the concrete foundation. The house is not all that old so is still settling. They have ways to work around this but we just did not want to go to that extra expense and always worry about the tiles cracking. 

So we went with Wilson Art laminate flooring with the beveled edges. Its very nice. It will show spots where the dogs have dribbled, slobbered, tracked dirt in, but clean up is with a microfiber cloth and water - yes water! Its amazing how all the dirt just wipes off. Its stunning when you clean it before the dogs come back inside..... 

Drawbacks - you do have to be careful with a Dyson vac - have to turn the rotating brush off and use the bare floor setting. I thought if the dogs could run laps and I could drop stuff on the floor how could a vac scratch it - it can! I did put one tiny scratch in the floor when I was doing a rug by a door. You do want mats by every door since they say the sand getting ground into the floor by the doorways could damage the floor eventually. 

Also you can Not use a scooba (robotic floor washing) on laminate floors. Roomba is fine. 

Dogs can drop their nylabones, run, scratch and never harm this laminate floor. It looks classy and is easy to clean. As someone else said - do get the higher quality laminate flooring. Don't use in bathrooms or kitchens or anywhere there is a lot of water as that will damage the floor. 

Hope that helps!


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## Waterdogs (Jan 20, 2006)

Tile by far


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## Golddogs (Feb 3, 2004)

Bamboo. Wears like iron.


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## Lady Hunter (Mar 13, 2003)

Painted concrete, then buy area rugs that can be taken up and sent out for cleaning.


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## Matt's Grizz (Apr 17, 2008)

I have pergo in my house. It's great and holds up nice for the 2 heathens I have that are pretty much in and out of the house all day. My girlfriend works from home so she leaves the back door open and the dogs are running in and out of the house all day. The floor never really looks dirty either. The only down fall for the dogs is there isn't much traction so it has costed me a couple screen doors on the back slider. Sometimes when my girlfriend gets back from the morning runs the dogs get excited and run through the house to get outside via sliding door. By the time they figure out the screen door is closed it's too late and the door is about 10 feet out in the yard. Now the only down fall for me is.......The girlfriend washes the floor once a week when she's doing the weekly cleaning thing. The house usually smells like wet dog after she's done. It takes about a half hour to air the house out. Other than that it's sturdy and really takes the abuse, and really hides dirt and dog hair because of the darkness of it...... If anyone has a good cleaning solution for this stuff let me know.....


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## J. Walker (Feb 21, 2009)

Something to consider is the other houses in your area and whether you plan on selling your house. I used to be in real estate and, sorry to tell folks, laminate flooring is often viewed as a major negative, not a positive, by buyers and appraisers. Many buyers view it as cutting corners and will second guess the entire house because of it. Like it or not, laminate is simply a thin, high-density particle board floor with a vinyl *picture* of wood or tile affixed to it. If you live in a medium to higher-end area, you're much better off with professionally installed and sealed hardwood or, as others recommended, tile floors. You can often go to your local housing supply surplus center and find really nice tile for the same price per square foot as laminate flooring. Another thing to consider is that while laminate flooring can be cheaper to install, there is often less margin for error. I was in a brand new 5,000+ square foot house in which the owners had laminate tile flooring installed in several of the bathrooms. Within a few days after heavy rain and high humidity, the floors bowed to the point that the bathroom doors could not be closed because the installers didn't allow enough expansion room for that type of laminate. Peel and stick vinyl tile is for useful in workshops and that's about it as it does not hold up. It will start to curl at the edges in very short order. I have a friend who has a flooring distributorship. I found it interesting that the house he bought for himself, a rental property, and his office (all of which he renovated) have hardwood and porcelain tile despite the fact that he sells only laminate flooring and high-grade vinyl tile. His business partner did the same thing when he totally gutted and renovated his current house if that tells you anything.


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2009)

Slate. Lot of traction, stays cool for the dogs to lay on after a hard workout.

Consider hickory flooring if you don't mind getting spendy but want a really hard, almost impervious wood floor.


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## Guest (Sep 10, 2009)

Ceramic Tile been down for 10 years looks like new


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## John Lash (Sep 19, 2006)

Expensive "finish guarnteed" for 50 years hardwood flooring, gets scratches from dogs tearing around...It doesn't scratch the finish, but dents the wood. I would say if your fingernail can make a mark on a sample it won't work.

I've seen bamboo flooring and it looks like it would hold up but I've never used it. I'm sure tile is the most durable but I haven't seen a tile living room...

John Lash


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## Jennifer Teed (Jan 28, 2009)

I'm installing laminate in my den tomorrow. I've researched it a bit to make sure that I got the higher quality kind. More resistant to scratches and such.

In the next month it'll be in my living room and bedroom... it's much better than nasty carpet. Plus it cuts back on my allergies.


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## doubledown (Dec 28, 2008)

A few years ago I bought a brand new house with pre finished hardwoods throughout much of the house. They were beautiful. Within the first few months, you could not find a spot that was not covered by thousands of scratches per sq inch (not an exaggeration, Coal did weigh a solid 95lbs btw). A year later when I sold, the first thing the buyers asked for in negoations was a $20,000 credit to replace the floors. I don't know what the best flooring compromise is when it comes to attractive and durable, but choose carefully.


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## Thomas D (Jan 27, 2003)

Still haven't made the move on flooring, but found this which was interesting. The harder the wood, the more it costs...and lasts.

http://www.jankahardnessscale.com/janka-hardness-scale-graph.php


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