Best floor for house w/ dogs?

[heidica]

So, I am sick and tired of the carpet and we are going to rip it up and get some sort of "hard" floor, but I am struggling with what kind to go with. Who out there has a floor that can take the daily "wear-and-tear" of their dogs? I want something that is tuff, easy to clean and looks good. I am realistic and realize that no floor is 100% dog proof, but there has got to be something that comes close. We have a 10 year old female mixed dog that we adopted 6 years ago and a 9 month old male vizsla. We have been finished with the housetraining issues for a long time now, but I have to deal with dirty paws coming in from the backyard and their water bowls. They don't spill the bowls, they just fill their mouths with water, turn head and dribble all over the floor. They are both still pretty energetic (that is an understatement when it comes to the vizsla) and they run around the house a lot. We exercise our dogs everyday, but they still have lots of energy to burn. Our house is 1 story, rambler style, with one big open room that includes the kitchen, dining "area" and living room. No separate family or den type room. Our house is about 1500 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath. We are going to leave the carpet in the 3 bedrooms and right now we only want a new floor in the main part of the house, which works out to be about 670 square feet. This area of floor includes the front door & entry area, door to garage (which is the main traffic area for getting in and out of the house), very short hall leading to master bedroom and then the kitchen, dining "area" and family room that I have already mentioned. So this floor will need to handle THE major traffic areas of the house, not to mention the dogs.

I don't know if we should go with hardwood, manufactured wood, laminate, vinyl/pvc, tile, etc. I don't want to break the bank on the new floor either, but understand that a good floor is an investment and want a quality floor. Any suggestions? Real life experiences?

 

[FreshTressa]

Our dog has been really hard on our hardwoods.

He did more wear on them in the 10 months that we've had him than they had in the whole 6 years before. It is superficial, but in order to look good, they would need to be refinished.

ETA: I would say that tile would wear the best, but you live here in the Pacific NW, and it is too cold for tile!!

 

[Diva of Dragons]

Hi!
We've had laminate (Pergo style) flooring for 5 years, with an 85 pound dog, and it has held up great!!!

 

[makinorlando]

I love my tile. We have 2 dogs and three cats. I have a combination, of new tile, and hardwood that was here from previous owner, and carpet in two bedrooms (it's going soon....) - of all the floor the tile always looks good! I damp mop them once a week, and sweep the main areas of the house daily (10 mins maybe) to keep up with hair and dust. The hardwood is harder to keep looking smudge free from all the little paws. We have a pool, so there are wet paws and feet coming in the house at any given time!

 

[golfgal]

I would say Pergo or other laminate flooring. You can get a laminate that looks like tile, too. Tile is great but just harder and colder. My in-laws have had Pergo in their kitchen for several years and a big dog and it still looks new.

 

[TheRatPack]

We have hardwood and for the most part as long as we keep our doggies nails trimmed they don't mess it up too much. We bring them in from the back yard through the back door which has linoleum, and the back porch has outdoor carpet so that dust off their paws before reaching the hardwood.

And on rainy days we've even taught my dachshund to come in and run straight to a towel we lay down for her and rub all over it to get the rain off of her LOL However, we still have to dry off our Yorkie....he just doesn't get it LOL

 

[Patty3]

I would definitely stay away from hardwood floors. We have a golden and hardwood floors and the floors are terrible. Less than two days after having this floor down, they were bad. We keep his nails clipped, but he is a jumper and after 1.5 years we could not stand the floors and had them refinished. It has only been about 1.5 years later and they need to be done again. I wish we had done tile.

 

[Pugdog007]

My hardwoods have held up great with 5 dogs. We've been in the house for 2 1/2 years. It probably depends on the type of hardwood and finish you choose. I have a low-shine finish on an oak with lots of different colors of wood grain polished in. Doesn't show dirt or fur at all. I can see where you could have problems with a high gloss finish on a solid color floor (light or dark).

My kitchen has all different colors of porcelain tile with black grout. Also held up wonderfully.

 

[sue1013]

I've also got hardwood in the whole house except for kitchen and bathrooms there is ceramic tile in those rooms. My hardwood is great.

 

[Dopey Sharon]

I would say that tile is your best bet. It's pretty hard to destroy, easy to clean and spills don't ruin it, but it's cold in the winter.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I would say Pergo or other laminate flooring. You can get a laminate that looks like tile, too. Tile is great but just harder and colder. My in-laws have had Pergo in their kitchen for several years and a big dog and it still looks new.

We have laminate that is not Pergo and our dogs ruined it in 1 month with their nails. We moved into a brand new house, with new flooring.

Tile is the only answer for foolproof wear and tear.

Come on guys...can Pergo really withstand my dogs playing ball in the house, roughhousing, etc???????

 

[Tigger&Belle]

Tile is the only answer for foolproof wear and tear.

Come on guys...can Pergo really withstand my dogs playing ball in the house, roughhousing, etc???????

We have Mannington laminate and there isn't a scratch from the dogs. We've only had ours since the fall, but had laminate at our old house and it was good, too. Our hardwood floor in our foyer has gotten scratched from the dogs. We are BAD about trimming nails, though, so if a person is good about trimming there would be less damage. We want to pull up the carpeting in our living and dining rooms and get the foyer refinished so the front of the house will all be hardwood, but we have to be better with the dog claws first.

 

[hydster]

We have Pergo in our living/great room and hardwood in our kitchen. We don't have a dog now but I do have 3 kids 1 of which is a holy terror when it comes to thinking of ideas to make me go insane. He has worn his rollerblades on my pergo, walked in ski boots on my Pergo and he even learned to ride his scooter on my Pergo and so far not a single scratch on it and it's been down 5 years. My hardwood in my kitchen however....totally different story! To get from A to B with my youngest he had to go through the kitchen with the rollerblades, ski boots and the scooter and my hardwood looks like total crap. We've had it refinished 3 times in the last 8 years and it's a pain and stinky thing to go through. We are getting ready to put Pergo in the kitchen and we just purchased a load of bamboo cork laminate for our bedroom. I can't wait to get rid of the hardwood.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have Mannington laminate and there isn't a scratch from the dogs. We've only had ours since the fall, but had laminate at our old house and it was good, too. Our hardwood floor in our foyer has gotten scratched from the dogs. We are BAD about trimming nails, though, so if a person is good about trimming there would be less damage. We want to pull up the carpeting in our living and dining rooms and get the foyer refinished so the front of the house will all be hardwood, but we have to be better with the dog claws first.

So no scratches from their nails? Do they run and play? My dogs play ball and roughhouse and they go sliding and then SLAM right into the wall.
They are just 1yo puppies and one of them is a ball/fetch junkie.

 

[JerseyJanice]

My vote is for tile, but here's a tip I learned the hard way--don't choose white tile if you have a black dog who sheds.

I have to vacuum at least once a day or we see tumbleweeds blowing around. Yuck!

 

[heidica]

My vote is for tile, but here's a tip I learned the hard way--don't choose white tile if you have a black dog who sheds.

I have to vacuum at least once a day or we see tumbleweeds blowing around. Yuck!

For us, it will be don't go w/ black or dark flooring because our older dog is mostly white and sheds like crazy No matter how much I brush and clean her (she even lets me vacuum her) she sheds like she is trying to make another dog

Thanks for all the responses. I guess I am a little surprised by all the responses for tile. Not sure why I am surprised, just am. Since I do live in the beautiful Northwest, cold tile would be a concern. Does anyone know if you can do that radiant floor heating w/ tile? What are the "maintenance" requirements for tile? Is there some sort of sealant you put on? How often do you do this? How easy is it to repair damage to tile?

I am not surprised by the back and forth comments of hardwood vs laminate and this has been a big part of where I struggle. Sometimes I hear how great hardwood is and there are barely any scratches from the dogs, then I hear others who say their hardwood floors are horribly scratched. I hear the same stuff about laminate. Seems like some laminate out there is undestructible, but then there are some that can get damaged without much effort.

In my original post I forgot to meantion we do have an 11 yr old DD, but she never seems to come up in discussion when their is "damage" to the house, it is always the dogs.

Also, wanted to add that our mixed dog weighs 35lbs and our vizsla puppy weighs 60 and probably has 5 more pounds to go. It does seem when I hear about floor destruction, the heavier breed dogs always seem to come up vs smaller dogs.

For those of you who have laminate floors and say they are holding up great to your dogs - what BRAND of laminate do you have? It seems like there are a million brands out there. Do you have the actual Pergo brand or a diffrerent brand? I guess I should also ask that of hardwood floors. What type of wood do you have? Lots of different types of wood out there, too. Thanks.

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

I have hardwood floors throughout 1/3rd of my house and am the mom to one very furry Golden Retriever.

Other than the hair on the floors, they're wonderful! At least I can see the hair and sweep it up. Goodness only knows how much of it is imbedded in my cream-colored carpeting in the other parts of my house, that my vacuum doesn't get up!

 

[FreshTressa]

It is not just the nails....my dog tracks in dirt from outside, so tiny you can't even see it or sweep it up...and it just dulls the finish with micro scratches.

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

Even within a brand of laminate, there are differences to the thickness of the top wear layer. The thinnest is 6-7, mediun 17,up to 27 mils or thousandths of an inch.

I'd guess with hardwood there would be differences in how thick and hard the top layer would be.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

So no scratches from their nails? Do they run and play? My dogs play ball and roughhouse and they go sliding and then SLAM right into the wall.
They are just 1yo puppies and one of them is a ball/fetch junkie.

They play there as much as much as in the foyer. Of course time will tell with the laminate, but I bet that the hardwood had scratches by a few months of having 2 dogs on it, though.

Before we get the hardwood refinished I will talk to them about a finish that will withstand the dogs better. Their nails are noisy on the laminate, but wouldn't be as much if we kept them trimmed shorter. The laminate is slippery, which might would discourage as much rough and tumble play (maybe not), but it should is entertaining to see the kittens coming running into the room and try to make a turn and slide into the wall...

I would imagine that tile would do a great job with not scratching, etc. I didn't want tile, though, because circulation, knee, and hip problems run in my family and I wanted something a little more forgiving to be standing on. It sure looks nice, though, and withstands a lot of wear and tear.