Hardwood Floors

[SillyMe]

We are trying to decide if we want to install hardwood flooring or ceramic tile in our dining room (it is a heavily traveled area). We have a coal stove and I was wondering if the heat would affect the hardwood floors...does anyone know if it would? We also have a dog and I'm not sure if it's a good choice for pets.

 

[GoodFairies]

I'm not a fan of hardwood floors, especially for high traffic areas. It stains and needs to be refinished every few years. Ceramic tile might be better, but it's a pain to repair and dark grout is a must for high traffic areas. I'd probably go with the fake wood floors.

 

[2MuchOhana]

With a dog hardwood floors is generally not the way to go! You can try something like a laminate wood flooring; but I think I would go with tile.

Jodi

 

[chrissyk]

It depends on how large your dog is. If s/he is a large/heavy dog, then you should go with a laminate or with that beat-up looking hardwood (not sure what it's called..."weathered" maybe?). We've had both sand-down and pre-finished hardwoods installed in our homes over the years, and I prefer pre-finished for a lot of reasons. We've also done ceramic tiles in some areas, and I like tile too. I much prefer any type of solid flooring to carpet.

 

[winniedapooh]

We have 5 kids, 5 cats-don't ask, and a St. Bernard and hard wood floors. They were pristine until we moved in 10 years ago. The ones covered with area rugs still look great the other ones, ummm faded etc. DH, in his new remodeling phase, put in a ceramic tile floor in our entry way to the garage. Not sure how it will wear or not but it looks nice. I would go with something stain and wearproof if you go with hardwood.

 

[DisneyArk]

We just moved to a house that has hardwood floors. I really love the way they look. But in just a few months they have gotten a lot of scratches from the dog running on them. I'm scared to see what they look like after a year.

I would choose tile. And as a previous poster said, choose medium to dark colored grout (dirt color). We used to have white tile with white grout and it was VERY difficult to keep it looking clean!!

 

[j's m]

We just moved to a house that has hardwood floors. I really love the way they look. But in just a few months they have gotten a lot of scratches from the dog running on them. I'm scared to see what they look like after a year.

I would choose tile. And as a previous poster said, choose medium to dark colored grout (dirt color). We used to have white tile with white grout and it was VERY difficult to keep it looking clean!!

We have white tile and white grout in our combo kitchen/family room and I hated it from the day we put it in. I can't wait to tear it out, I keep threatening my DH that one of these days, he will come home and find out I have sledge hammered the floor.

I have hardwood floors everywhere else, but no dog. I do love the hardwood.

 

[FroggyinArk]

for a hight raffic area , i would probably recommend laminate or such, hard wood does wear, and tile is cold on your feet

 

[SillyMe]

Thanks for all your input. It looks like we're better off staying away from hardwood.

 

[RobinMarie]

I keep threatening my DH that one of these days, he will come home and find out I have sledge hammered the floor.

Promise to take a pic if you do that? This just made me giggle!

 

[golfgal]

I'm not a fan of hardwood floors, especially for high traffic areas. It stains and needs to be refinished every few years. Ceramic tile might be better, but it's a pain to repair and dark grout is a must for high traffic areas. I'd probably go with the fake wood floors.

If your hardwood is finished with poly or something similar, it is pretty durable. I grew up with hardwoods and now have them in our home and never had a problem with stains. The finish on the floor should last much longer then a few years. My inlaws have hardwood and a dog and they are in ok shape, however, when they had their hardwoods refinished, my FIL ony put one coat of poly on them and it wasn't done very well. The guy that did our floors put 3 coats on and did an amazing job. We shouldn't have problems with them any time soon.

 

[Christine]

I have hardwood floors and two dogs. I have factory finished floors that have 7 coats of poly on them. My one dog has very thick nails and I have gotten some "dents" in the poly but it hasn't gone through to the wood. The other dog's nails have no effect on the floor. The floors they are making today are not the floors that were installed even 10 years ago. The finishes are very durable. But you *will* notice wear in heavy traffic areas.

As for the coal stove, it might affect the wood. I have a regular fireplace and if we leave the glass door open, the pad under our area rug actually starts to melt. It hasn't affected the floor, but I think it could.