OT: hardwood floors that hold up to dog nails?

[mymeme]

We are considering tile that looks like wood. I've seen it in some hotel lobbies and it looks and feels like wood. Just looked it up, it's called "Wood Tile".

We saw this kind of ceramic tile that looks like wood and thought it looked really good. Would love to hear from someone that has it. Anyone?

 

[pigletto]

Don't get Maple!!!! Although it is dense you can scratch it with a finger nail. My brother in law owned his own hardwood flooring company and we would actually do that to steer customers with pets and ladies who love high heels away from it!!! I have hickory and love it. Safest choice is something with a lot of grain or handscraped. Stay away from dark stains unless you plan to clean your floors everyday as they show every bit of dust, lint, fuzz. Also with super light woods if they do get a scratch dirt will get into the scratch over time and make it stand out.

Where the heck were you when I picked my flooring?

 

[jazz0007]

We chose our floor almost purely on what would hold up to dogs!! We had 2 german shepherds at the time (1 just died). We ended up going with "handscraped" acacia. It is SO beautiful. It is a very wild wood with every color you can imagine in it. It matches EVERYTHING.....black furniture, brown furniture...etc Because it is handscraped it already has so many variations in it you cannot see any scratches. We got so mad at ourselves because we dragged our piano across it shortly after installing it and scratched it pretty good.....I don't think either of us has ever seen those scratches again and they are right in the pathway most walked. Every person that comes into our house comments on our floors. I just really really love them. My only complaint is that the boards are beveled...and because it is solid wood it expands and contracts a LOT with the weather. So at times of the year there are some larger gaps between boards....which I wouldn't really care about because of the style....but it traps dog hair when it tightens up again!!! LOL Also....because it is SO wild it is very difficult to see where dogs have gotten sick on it! LOL I have stepped in that before because I simply didn't see it. Anyway, hope that helps!!!

 

[carrie1626]

My PERGO floor and 70 lb dog are both doing great!

 

[letsgoreds]

We chose our floor almost purely on what would hold up to dogs!! We had 2 german shepherds at the time (1 just died). We ended up going with "handscraped" acacia. It is SO beautiful. It is a very wild wood with every color you can imagine in it. It matches EVERYTHING.....black furniture, brown furniture...etc Because it is handscraped it already has so many variations in it you cannot see any scratches. We got so mad at ourselves because we dragged our piano across it shortly after installing it and scratched it pretty good.....I don't think either of us has ever seen those scratches again and they are right in the pathway most walked. Every person that comes into our house comments on our floors. I just really really love them. My only complaint is that the boards are beveled...and because it is solid wood it expands and contracts a LOT with the weather. So at times of the year there are some larger gaps between boards....which I wouldn't really care about because of the style....but it traps dog hair when it tightens up again!!! LOL Also....because it is SO wild it is very difficult to see where dogs have gotten sick on it! LOL I have stepped in that before because I simply didn't see it. Anyway, hope that helps!!!

OK, I'm curious what it looks like (sounds great!). Can you google image it and post a link to what the flooring looks like? When I do this, there are a bunch of different looking floors. Thanks!

 

[jazz0007]

OK, I'm curious what it looks like (sounds great!). Can you google image it and post a link to what the flooring looks like? When I do this, there are a bunch of different looking floors. Thanks!

This is the flooring we have....we installed it ourselves. If you look at the "customer" images under the main image they are a little more representative of what it really looks like! The main picture doesn't look wild enough to me. Handscraped Acacia

I should have also added how very rough our kids are on it too! Our house is built with a fireplace in the middle so you can walk all the way around it.....they like to get on my rolling office chair with the other one pushing and race around the fireplace........also love to set up block towers and ram cars and army trucks into them....etc etc.

 

[100AcreWood]

So I got two estimates today. Two more on Thursday.

The first guy insisted the only option was bamboo. He said laminate looks cheap and it would devalue my home. The second guy said I would hate the bamboo floors and laminate is not only great but high end laminate looks just like the real thing. He is quoting me for laminate and something called mirage. Anywho, this is getting confusing. My house is on a concrete slab so our options are laminate or glued down according to the last guy. Hmmm.

 

[Bnb0627]

Mirage is the brand name and from what I remember a good company, more expensive than Bruce flooring. Mirage has lines of engineered and laminate that would be good for concrete slab.

Jazz0007 I love those floors!!!! It makes me want to rip out my hickory and install it lol. I still have my whole upstairs which is carpeted and we were looking for a handscraped, this looks great!

 

[Bete]

but we trim our dog nails often and we file them; yes, I said file them.

Maybe, see if any friends with dogs have wood floors and see their results. Your relatives may be a good place to look, as well. See for yourself what looks the best under the conditions of a dog and so forth.

I don't think I would believe the sales person completely. They are going to persuade you to buy what they have, not necessarily what is best.

Our dog is in the kitchen half the time; so, I think this all depends on where the dog stays the most.

 

[labdogs42]

We love our laminate/Pergo floors. We have four dogs. There was no way I was putting in more real hardwood with that many dog toenails around! We have Oak floors in our foyer and they are so scratched from the dogs, it is insane. The laminate holds up perfectly and looks very nice. It doesn't look "cheap" at all. You can even put it in yourself pretty easily.

 

[Happyjen27]

I love those Acacia floors!! I've never seen them, but oooooh they are gorgeous.

I have oak. It does NOT stand up to the dogs' nails. Or the kids. It's a fact we accept, as we just put the same floors in an addition we've recently renovated. We will refinish it once the kids are older, and if we stay another 20 years after that, probably one last time before we sell.

Your home's location and other homes in the area will determine how much laminate could devalue your home. If you're in a neighborhood where hardwoods are standard, laminate may devalue your home. I can say that I've never heard of laminate ADDING value to any home, but, if you add hardwoods in an area that doesn't support that kind of an upgrade, then you'll be overimproving and risking money loss.

I wonder if these salesmen are getting more of a commission or upcharge on laminates vs hardwoods? I don't know about concrete slab and flooring options, but I would be tempted to call and get the truth from someone who doesn't stand to make a buck off of the advice they give. I don't know who that might be. Maybe a local builder or contractor or home inspector?

 

[Tabetha]

We had to pull up our carpets a year or so ago, and we went with Vinyl Plank Flooring. We put it down right over our cement floor, and installed it ourselves over a couple of days. No problems with the dog's toenails, nor the occasional accident.
It looks remarkably like real hardwood flooring but is so much more low maintenance.
We have the TrafficMaster Allure Hickory Resilient Plank Flooring.

 

[100AcreWood]

I like the handscraped look too but my dh likes modern stuff and would say it's too rustic.

So last guy (flooring through Costco) said laminate or bamboo. He claimed the bamboo would be very hard and I would be able to refinish it.

Any opinions about bamboo?

 

[LJSquishy]

I like the handscraped look too but my dh likes modern stuff and would say it's too rustic.

So last guy (flooring through Costco) said laminate or bamboo. He claimed the bamboo would be very hard and I would be able to refinish it.

Any opinions about bamboo?

Some of the strand-woven bamboo is supposed to be very durable, even moreso than hardwoods (such as oak).

 

[Cindy B]

We had a dog and he never scratched up our oak floors. Granted he was a small dog, but he never had an issue.

 

[disneyhand]

I like the handscraped look too but my dh likes modern stuff and would say it's too rustic.

So last guy (flooring through Costco) said laminate or bamboo. He claimed the bamboo would be very hard and I would be able to refinish it.

Any opinions about bamboo?

My flooring guy (very trustworthy) told me bamboo was really high maintenance. I don't have any other experience with it though.

 

[smokeyblue]

Whatever you get make sure you plan on getting many scatter rugs. My parents transition from carpet to laminate was hard on their golden retriever. It was very slippery for him to walk on (same problem with tile too). The scatter rugs gave him a lot more confidence in walking; almost like he knew he had a refuge if things were too slippery.

In the last year of his life he had a really hard time getting up if he was laying down on the laminiate/tile. My dad would have to bring a a rug over to him and slide it under so he could get up.

 

[100AcreWood]

We love our laminate/Pergo floors. We have four dogs. There was no way I was putting in more real hardwood with that many dog toenails around! We have Oak floors in our foyer and they are so scratched from the dogs, it is insane. The laminate holds up perfectly and looks very nice. It doesn't look "cheap" at all. You can even put it in yourself pretty easily.

We're going with laminate. Our options are limited because we're on a concrete slab so laminate makes more sense. I'm happy too because I hear they are low maintenance.

How do you clean your floor and how often do you mop?

 

[stacie_d]

Big Golden Retriever here (he's a big boy...about 100lbs)...with wood floors on the main floor. They are scratched up badly, but he's part of the family. We've tried to keep him off the wood stairs upstairs, but he has made a few trips up and down..scratches there too.

I, at one point long ago, dreamed of hard wood floors. Living with hardwood floors before and after a dog, I'm not a fan either way. Even without a dog, a dropped snow globe or dish or pan made a dent or deep cut.

I can refinish wood, well a couple times, and this is not our forever home. For my "forever home," I will go ceramic My falls might be harder but dog tracks will be smaller.

 

[Bnb0627]

There are spray cleaners made for hardwood and laminate floors, you spray on and dry mop, like a swifter but the mop cloths you wash in the washing machine instead of throwing away. You aren't supposed to wet mop them. I have laminate in my kitchen and that is where my dog stays at night and when we are working. I dont follow the no wet mop rule because I feel like the other way doesn't get them as clean so I use a gallon of water and spray about 5 sprays of windex in and mop the floors once a week. But I squeeze as much water as I can out of the mop before it hits the floor and work in small sections and immediately dry with an old towel so that there is no standing water on the floors. It's a pain in the butt but my floors look brand new and a lot better than the actual hardwood we have on the rest of the first floor.