I know this has been discussed before, but could we do it one more time, pleeeaassee? I would like the pros and cons of hardwood vs laminate flooring. Of course as related to having multiple inside dogs.

I love, love, love my Pergo. It's roughly a year old now and there is no evidence that 5 dogs run my house daily. It is holding up very well. THIS is the type we installed. It's even got a slight texture to it and looks great. While shopping for laminate, I discovered that there is quite a variance in quality out there. As with anything else, you get what you pay for. This type runs the same price as Pergo hardwood, but it does not show scratch marks. It's quite easy to install too.

Of course a downside to laminate is that it can't be refinished. But from what I'm seeing, this is going to last many years. Refinishing hardwood is not a job I want to have to do and would honestly rather just replace the entire floor in 20 years. JMHO.

GO TILE.

Cheap, good looking, permanent and easy to maintain. PERGO will show wear sooner than you think. Hardwood 0 forget it

I bought my house for the fenced yard, hardwood floors
and ceramic in the kitchen/enclosed porch....
the hardwood will need to be refinished if I move,
Personally, I don't care what it looks like while
I am here.....
Kitchen ceramic is holding up well after nearly 5
years here(was new)...back porch is holding up
not so well, but have extra tiles to replace as needed....

I am doing a kennel room for the dogs which will
feed onto the back porch....nearly done and need
to get the doggy door installed....I put down
peel/stick tile flooring...again with extra in case
I need to replace(was cheapest)......

with 5 dogs here, too inside and out...we give
all types of flooring, including new and old carpeting into the basement a run for the money.

Ceramic and the hardwood is still my preference...
Will replace as needed, but my house is no palace...
and we've had the painters here this week to do
interior painting...that has been fun....
The one black lab(service pup)has been wearing a
stripe this week....hehehehehe

Again, JMHO!

Jane Harford
RRK Labs

Laminate is great! We have it throughout our downstairs and it has held up well with our three dogs. We used armstrong and kronotex( the one from Germany). They're both great. Laminate does show feet marks, but no scratches and we have alot of dirt and sand coming in with the dogs and four kids. Hope this helps.

I put laminate in the last two houses and hated it! Not only that, but I find it more slippery and louder than hardwood. I bought high end stuff and there were quite a few cuts and scratches in the high traffic areas like the hallway.
We have just put bamboo flooring in...it is much harder than most hardwoods, so we'll cross our fingers and see how it goes, but I'll never do laminate again.
I do have a friend with a cork floor who has several dogs in the house and she swears by it...cork repairs itself over time.

We have three dogs and hardwood everywhere but kitchen and bath. We refinished our hardwood three years ago and topped it with gym seal - the seal that is used on basketball/volleyball courts. No scratches and they clean up great. The primary ingress/egress for the dogs is the slider to the back yard and that area looks as good as the area under the sofa. The bathroom has tile and the kitchen has Armstrong vinyl. The Armstrong floor has been fabulous, it is a tile design and everyone from realtors to contractors think it is actually tile. I have been researching flooring for my remodel/addition and came across Amtico at Home Expo, it is expensive, but very realistic looking and apparently used in the produce and deli sections at Safeway. Scratches show on it, but they aren't really obvious. It has a 20 year warranty and if a piece gets damaged it can easily be replaced. I am also considering Lumber Liquidators (awesome pricing) and going with the gym seal again. I would be interested to hear if anyone has Amtico installed in their homes and how they like it.

Try this http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=508878

I'm not a fan of look-alikes, linoleum or ceramic tiles (except in bathrooms). Real wood floors are difficult to imitate, feel good underfoot and stand up to time.

A breeder friend transformed an enormous old farmhouse and found masses of old oak flooring from the demolition of a mansion. This stuff has lived and is hard as old bones and, after sanding and oiling (linseed oil), looks great. It is everywhere from the living area, music room, library to the kitchen and 7 bedrooms/7 bathrooms. Eight Labs roam that floor and it is holding up just great.

We have quarried stone throughout the ground floor of our home. It is pricey but, in 23 years, has never needed more than a good mopping and the very occasional scrub with bleach. Because of the infiltrations, fossils, etc.. it's pretty difficult to see any dirt, it is non slippery for the dogs and cool in Summer. It looks like new and we fully expect it to last a lifetime.

Sounds like my kind of house. Can my gang and I come live with you?

Next time I have the choice, I'm going with TILE (with radiant heat/cool). I have hardwood now and it's in desperate need of refinishing. Although the gym coating sounds interesting...

Anyone with a smile is welcome!

JP, your home sounds as lovely as the photos of your town/village is. I hope you don't do all the cleaning after humans and dogs in a home of that size.

I agree about hardwood flooring, I have mostly hardwood even in my center hall with tile only in my new kitchen and three bathrooms. I have been tempted to ceramic tile the family room which is fairly open to the kitchen as my dogs are all house dogs and I don't have any kennel facilites. They often enter and exit through the french doors off that room, onto the deck first but the gym floor finish sounds like a possiblilty for that room.

This thread is very interesting, everyone has some wonderful ideas. Best of luck to all.

Jp, how much notice prior do you need prior to a visit lol? I would be all smiles, believe me!

Enjoy your beautiful home with you and your family in the best of health always

Michelle

Oh dear, Michelle, our house is actually quite small!!! The one with 7 bedrooms/bathrooms belongs to one of my best friends who lives in it alone with eight Labs... and a resident couple from Bolivia who do the gardening, housework, etc...

Your smile is still welcome....

Thanks everyone for the input, it is a big decision, that I will have to live with for a while.

JP, I was j/k ;) You have an absolutely beautiful home town and I'm sure your home is lovely as well. The delightful pictures you shared of the views I enjoyed tremendously. You're in a beautiful country, a place I've never seen and hope to see some of Europe in the next few years.

Happy to hear you don't have that huge home to clean I know I couldn't do it. I'm glad your friend has help in the home, it is most definitely needed especially with eight dogs, I'm down to six and 4 bedrooms 3 baths with 4 children, my twins are back home from undergrad and don't help the way they used to, sigh.

I can't imagine doing JUST the bathrooms in a mansion like that I'm sure tonight's dream for me (I tend to dream about things discussed the day before) will be about bathroom cleaning lol

Best regards

-M

We have a house that came with brand-new "distressed dark cherry" hardwood floors. After no more than 2 months, they were *much* more distressed after "meeting" our dogs. (sigh)

I've since heard that cherry is on the softer side of the "hardwoods" and shouldn't really be used with a dog-friendly household. My dogs have their nails Dremmeled pretty short every 10 days or so, and these floors have still really taken a beating. Throw rugs definitely help, though.

My only major complaint about laminate flooring is that is is VERY slippery for dogs, not good for older or arthritic dogs or dogs who have difficulty getting around at all, since it is *really* difficult for them to get traction.

Personally, I love the tile floors we have in our "dog room" because they're durable, easy-to-clean, don't show the dog hair, and they're nice and cool in the hot summers around here for the dogs to lay on.

However, if I had to choose between hardwood and laminate flooring, I would probably stick with laminate and take necessary steps in training and safety measures to avoid injuries from slipping, etc.

We put in laminate flooring about 10 years ago and it has been great. We used Wilsonart because our friend who sells flooring said the quality at that time was better than Pergo. In the past year we have started to see some separation between a few of the planks. I would love to have laminate throughout my house.

Just before Xmas, we redid the upper floor in our bilevel house with laminate & replaced the rug in the bedrooms. My DH HAD to also have rug in the living room (warmer he said) so being a accommodating person, I compromised and said OK. After 5 months, my DH NOW wants the rug out and laminate in! HURRAY!!!!!! I love how easy it is to keep clean and how well it wears but like others, have to watch the activity level of the dogs & that the older ones don't slip or get slid into. Work in progress but well worth it! JMO

Hello!

My husband is a floor installer (and has been for over 20 years), so I hear about the pro's and con's of all flooring. I would suggest that if you go with hardwood, check the type of wood. Some woods are very soft and if you drop anything on it it will dent easily. I have laminate in my house and there it looks the same as the day my husband put it in...except for the paw marks! My husband says that he would recommend Oak as it is very hard, but he also said that any animal with nails will scratch the finish eventually.

Amanda, what brand did your husband install in your house. Always like to know what the professionals use themselves!

We used a laminate made by Mannington....we do not use excessive water on our floors as it will only damage it... I use a spray bottle with white vinegar and water to clean it.