Pets and Flooring

DaisySunshine · 07-18-2006, 08:55 AM

I am going to the experts, you guys and gals, for this question. I can ask flooring salesman this question and get the same answer. "oh yes, this type of flooring is great if you have pets". I want to know my fellow pet owners think.

I have 3 barfing, clawing, shedding cats and a little barfing, shedding dog who has a piddle accident every now and then. I am SICK AND TIRED of cleaning up pet messes off of carpet. Just thinking of what has soaked into the pad just grosses me out.

What I would like to do is put laminate flooring everywhere! EVERYWHERE!!!! But that can be pricey so I was thinking laminate in the high traffic areas and carpet in the bedrooms and probably some type of vinyl flooring in the wet areas.

Does the StainMaster carpet really work? If one of my cat barfs, will the stuff just stay on the surface??

Does laminate scratch easy under little doggie paws? Would tile be a better option?

Argh. I am SSOOOOOO sick of cleaning up pet messes. If I could I would just rip up the carpet and put vinyl everywhere but that wouldn't look so nice.

Many thanks for your opinions and experiences before hand!!!

calgal · 07-18-2006, 09:01 AM

The best wood looking flooring that stands up to any animal, kids and high traffic areas would be Pergo. I've seen this in homes and high volume traffic areas in businesses and it always looks beautiful.

rmci · 07-18-2006, 09:13 AM

my neighbor tore out all of his carpeting in the family room, dining room and hallway and replaced with tile.

sammy · 07-18-2006, 10:55 AM

We put cork floor in this house and I LOVE it. It shows NOTHING. It feels softer and warmer than tile or wood. It's less noisy / less reverbation. It doesn't scratch. It is a real, natural product so you don't get that sort of plastic imitation feel that you get with laminate. It's a floating floor so there are no varnishes, no chemicals, no VOC's.
We live HARD on our house with a toddler, two dogs and a cat and this floor looks as good as the day it was put in. The downside is cost. It has to be imported for Portugal (apparently cork trees only grow in Portugal) so it's not cheap. It cost me about the same as a middle of the road wood floor, but I think the cost of installation is cheaper and handy DIYers can do it (we are not handy).

TinyAlbinoDancer · 07-18-2006, 11:32 AM

I just put EasyLock laminate floor in my bedroom, and we're putting it in the hall this very minute.

EasyLock is like the middle version of interlocking floors, about 2 steps down from Pergo. EasyLock has a 20 year scratch and stain resistent warranty, and the best part is if it gets damaged, you're able to remove just the scratched board and replace it. I don't know how easy or hard replacing a single board is, but it's comforting to have that option! We have 3 cats and Missie, plus four humans, running around on it. So far the only down sides are the sound (I have to work on keeping Missie's nails shorter, as you can hear her walking everywhere on it!), and I'm finding I have to clean (vaccume/sweep) it more often because I can see debris sitting on the surface.

It's also textured, so a wet Swiffer didn't do a thing as far as stuff stuck to the floor. I'm still trying to find a solution to that.

But I LOVE the look of it, and it's a floating floor, so it isn't hard on your feet. Missie missed her papers once so far and there was a puddle on it... SO nice to just take a rag and clean it up, then run a damp rag over it. Ugh, SO nice! lol And quick. *whew* No scratches yet, and Missie's been all over it playing and jumping and generally making noise.

It was pretty easy to install, too. Not NEARLY as easy as the video made it look, but you know...

I think your laminate/carpet/vinyl plan sounds excellent for what you need. When I have my own home that's probably what I'll do.

Spiritus · 07-18-2006, 11:45 AM

In a house with 5 Belgians and an Aussie, we have laminate in our kitchen. No scratches after 4 years. BUT.... I hate it. And the dogs hate it.

Our laminate does have texture. We also have a very fine dirt around our farm that comes in on dogs coats. This dirt gets into the tiny texture, and I cannot, for the life of me, get it out. The dogs hate it because they have no traction on it. The push their claws out when they walk on it and slide around even more. I would not ever put laminate down again. When we redo the house, the kitchen will be lino, the livingroom, bathrooms, and hallways will be ceramic tile, the bedrooms will remain carpeted.

***DoozyDog*** · 07-18-2006, 11:53 AM

I installed laminate flooring (Aloc) in my house everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms. In those rooms I just finished putting in tile. The laminate is very durable and you won't notice any wear from your dogs, but it is loud. I can hear the dogs walking all over the house. It drives me crazy. In my next house I will defeniatly put in real wood.

I will never do carpet though.

dedeeboru · 07-18-2006, 11:59 AM

I wouldn't use carpet. You might be able to get urine and barf out of it, but you still mentioned clawing.
Our podengo pulled up our wall-to-wall and shredded the pad. It was a 'good for pets' stain resistant carpet. We didn't need it to resist stains so much as a momentarily bored pup.
Laminate has been pretty good and cheaper than engineered floors or hardwood (especially since our podengo likes the taste of maple and cherry...long story). We actually found it to be comprable to a high-quality vinyl in price...if you buy it cheap (don't go for Pergo, it's a racket). We haven't had any scratches from the pups. They've come from my husband tossing tools onto the floor. A chisel set will do that to anything.
Someone mentioned the ground-in dirt they couldn't get out. We found that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and a little water/vinager will get everything out and make the floors look like new.
I don't have 'tidy' dogs.

Pearlulm · 07-18-2006, 12:07 PM

We installed oak hardwood floors in our house. They are great. My husband and I did the work ourselves. The flooring was $3.95 SQ ft. Another option you might want to think about is bamboo flooring. I noticed that they had them at Costco for less than $2.00 Sq ft. I loved them but we had already put in hardwood in the living and dining room and needed to match what we had started. Bamboo is very enviormently friendly because it grows so fast. It looks more casual than hardwood. Our next house will have bamboo.

D.Schäferhund · 07-18-2006, 03:42 PM

Well we just did our house with laminate....
loud it is, but the dogs don't have traktionproblems unless they want to take of for a full run, they manage pretty good.
we want to put some rags or little carpets down for the looks, but it is way easyer to clean then the carpet we had, tile is cold, i wanted something with wood atleast eventhough we can't affort full wooden floors, but the dogs like it, it gives more "cool" areas to lay on ...
no scratches so far, but living in the country i have problems with that fine red dirt that flyes arround and gets traped in the little gaps.

linnie · 07-18-2006, 04:01 PM

I have wood flooring in the main traffic areas and carpet in the bedrooms.
I looked at laminate as an option but what worried me was you had to buy a really expensive one for it to cope with water and I worried if I missed a pee that it would swell.
Glad I didnt opt for it if its noisy lol
As for cleaning accidents I use white vinager. Pet stains are the hardest to move

but vinager seems to do it.

calgal · 07-18-2006, 04:36 PM

Sounds like I'm the only one who still has carpet.

If we stay in this house we are going to have wood floors put in the living room. My husband put Spanish tile the kitchen, breakfast rooms and boy will they ever stand up to ANYTHING!!

If we move into the new house, we want to have wood flooring put down in the family room, living room, dining room and halls. Tile floor in the three bathrooms and haven't decided on the kitchen breakfast room whether to have wood or tile.

Shadowkins · 07-19-2006, 05:01 AM

I have laminate as well in my kitchen and hallways. It seems very durable and is easy to keep clean , the only small drawback is that is has very little traction for pets that insist on running and braking suddenly but other than that I absolutely love it.

fancychicken · 07-19-2006, 05:12 AM

I agree with CALGAL... I was an interior decorator for 13 years, PERGO flooring is definately the way to go. Cleans great, looks good, you can get in practically any design/wood pattern, doesn't mark and its not linoleum!!! As for the carpet, get a burbur. The tighter the loop the better. You can scrub it like nobodies business if you have to. Just remember one thing, if you have to wait a little longer to get everything installed to get the better stuff (not necessarily the most expensive) just not the cheapest, then wait! It will be worth it in the end.

princessjodi · 07-19-2006, 08:41 AM

I have Pergo in my apt and I like it...however, I have only been there since the end of April and its scratched in a few places from Joules. It is soooo much easier to clean up than carpet though...much easier to sweep up than to drag the vaccuum out...imo.

I have terra cotta tile in the kitchen and bathroom...I don't recommend tile flooring. It hurts the bottoms of my feet when I walk barefoot...maybe I just have sensitive feet...but I have walked barefoot on quite a bit of different tile floors and it always hurts.

07-18-2006, 08:55 AM	#1 (permalink)
DaisySunshine Cat Slave and Dog Mom Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: NM Posts: 177 Rep Power: 56	Pets and Flooring I am going to the experts, you guys and gals, for this question. I can ask flooring salesman this question and get the same answer. "oh yes, this type of flooring is great if you have pets". I want to know my fellow pet owners think. I have 3 barfing, clawing, shedding cats and a little barfing, shedding dog who has a piddle accident every now and then. I am SICK AND TIRED of cleaning up pet messes off of carpet. Just thinking of what has soaked into the pad just grosses me out. What I would like to do is put laminate flooring everywhere! EVERYWHERE!!!! But that can be pricey so I was thinking laminate in the high traffic areas and carpet in the bedrooms and probably some type of vinyl flooring in the wet areas. Does the StainMaster carpet really work? If one of my cat barfs, will the stuff just stay on the surface?? Does laminate scratch easy under little doggie paws? Would tile be a better option? Argh. I am SSOOOOOO sick of cleaning up pet messes. If I could I would just rip up the carpet and put vinyl everywhere but that wouldn't look so nice. Many thanks for your opinions and experiences before hand!!!
	__________________ Bridgett and Daisy

07-18-2006, 09:13 AM	#3 (permalink)
rmci aka Red Dogs Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: CA Posts: 1,221 Rep Power: 84	my neighbor tore out all of his carpeting in the family room, dining room and hallway and replaced with tile.
	__________________ The reason a dog has so many friends; he wags his tail instead of his tongue

07-18-2006, 11:32 AM	#5 (permalink)
TinyAlbinoDancer Always room for one more Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: CA Posts: 2,526 Rep Power: 160	I just put EasyLock laminate floor in my bedroom, and we're putting it in the hall this very minute. EasyLock is like the middle version of interlocking floors, about 2 steps down from Pergo. EasyLock has a 20 year scratch and stain resistent warranty, and the best part is if it gets damaged, you're able to remove just the scratched board and replace it. I don't know how easy or hard replacing a single board is, but it's comforting to have that option! We have 3 cats and Missie, plus four humans, running around on it. So far the only down sides are the sound (I have to work on keeping Missie's nails shorter, as you can hear her walking everywhere on it!), and I'm finding I have to clean (vaccume/sweep) it more often because I can see debris sitting on the surface. It's also textured, so a wet Swiffer didn't do a thing as far as stuff stuck to the floor. I'm still trying to find a solution to that. But I LOVE the look of it, and it's a floating floor, so it isn't hard on your feet. Missie missed her papers once so far and there was a puddle on it... SO nice to just take a rag and clean it up, then run a damp rag over it. Ugh, SO nice! lol And quick. whew No scratches yet, and Missie's been all over it playing and jumping and generally making noise. It was pretty easy to install, too. Not NEARLY as easy as the video made it look, but you know... I think your laminate/carpet/vinyl plan sounds excellent for what you need. When I have my own home that's probably what I'll do.
	__________________ ~Karen Missie~Trixie~Little Guy~Ollie

07-18-2006, 11:45 AM	#6 (permalink)
Spiritus Trust the Force... Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 513 Rep Power: 76	In a house with 5 Belgians and an Aussie, we have laminate in our kitchen. No scratches after 4 years. BUT.... I hate it. And the dogs hate it. Our laminate does have texture. We also have a very fine dirt around our farm that comes in on dogs coats. This dirt gets into the tiny texture, and I cannot, for the life of me, get it out. The dogs hate it because they have no traction on it. The push their claws out when they walk on it and slide around even more. I would not ever put laminate down again. When we redo the house, the kitchen will be lino, the livingroom, bathrooms, and hallways will be ceramic tile, the bedrooms will remain carpeted.
	__________________ Spiritus Belgian Shepherds U-CD Can. CH. Shay CD CGN HIC UKC/Can. CH. Trouble, Lexi, Jesse CGN, and youngsters Constantine and Deja .... and coming soon, our Valentine Litter * R.I.P. BOSS CH. Wren, and much loved puppy Tally *

07-18-2006, 11:59 AM	#8 (permalink)
dedeeboru 2 Naughty Girls Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 91 Rep Power: 0	I wouldn't use carpet. You might be able to get urine and barf out of it, but you still mentioned clawing. Our podengo pulled up our wall-to-wall and shredded the pad. It was a 'good for pets' stain resistant carpet. We didn't need it to resist stains so much as a momentarily bored pup. Laminate has been pretty good and cheaper than engineered floors or hardwood (especially since our podengo likes the taste of maple and cherry...long story). We actually found it to be comprable to a high-quality vinyl in price...if you buy it cheap (don't go for Pergo, it's a racket). We haven't had any scratches from the pups. They've come from my husband tossing tools onto the floor. A chisel set will do that to anything. Someone mentioned the ground-in dirt they couldn't get out. We found that a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and a little water/vinager will get everything out and make the floors look like new. I don't have 'tidy' dogs.
	__________________ Podengos and Kerries: naughtiness in beautiful fur! Last edited by dedeeboru : 07-18-2006 at 12:06 PM.

07-18-2006, 09:01 AM	#2 (permalink)
calgal My Yorkster kids! Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: central ca. coast Posts: 6,586 Rep Power: 221	The best wood looking flooring that stands up to any animal, kids and high traffic areas would be Pergo. I've seen this in homes and high volume traffic areas in businesses and it always looks beautiful.

07-18-2006, 10:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
sammy herding dog lover Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: western canada Posts: 1,089 Rep Power: 109	We put cork floor in this house and I LOVE it. It shows NOTHING. It feels softer and warmer than tile or wood. It's less noisy / less reverbation. It doesn't scratch. It is a real, natural product so you don't get that sort of plastic imitation feel that you get with laminate. It's a floating floor so there are no varnishes, no chemicals, no VOC's. We live HARD on our house with a toddler, two dogs and a cat and this floor looks as good as the day it was put in. The downside is cost. It has to be imported for Portugal (apparently cork trees only grow in Portugal) so it's not cheap. It cost me about the same as a middle of the road wood floor, but I think the cost of installation is cheaper and handy DIYers can do it (we are not handy).

07-18-2006, 11:53 AM	#7 (permalink)
*DoozyDog* All Smiles Admin Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: California Posts: 703 Blog Entries: 2 Rep Power: 73	I installed laminate flooring (Aloc) in my house everywhere except the kitchen and bathrooms. In those rooms I just finished putting in tile. The laminate is very durable and you won't notice any wear from your dogs, but it is loud. I can hear the dogs walking all over the house. It drives me crazy. In my next house I will defeniatly put in real wood. I will never do carpet though.

07-18-2006, 12:07 PM	#9 (permalink)
Pearlulm Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 376 Rep Power: 62	We installed oak hardwood floors in our house. They are great. My husband and I did the work ourselves. The flooring was $3.95 SQ ft. Another option you might want to think about is bamboo flooring. I noticed that they had them at Costco for less than $2.00 Sq ft. I loved them but we had already put in hardwood in the living and dining room and needed to match what we had started. Bamboo is very enviormently friendly because it grows so fast. It looks more casual than hardwood. Our next house will have bamboo.
Pearlulm Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 376 Rep Power: 62	__________________ Because violence can only breed more violence and suffering, our struggle must be nonviolent and free of hatred. -The Dalai Lama Peaches, Cindy Lou & Gretchen

07-18-2006, 03:42 PM	#10 (permalink)
D.Schäferhund let's work Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Kansas Posts: 1,747 Rep Power: 107	Well we just did our house with laminate.... loud it is, but the dogs don't have traktionproblems unless they want to take of for a full run, they manage pretty good. we want to put some rags or little carpets down for the looks, but it is way easyer to clean then the carpet we had, tile is cold, i wanted something with wood atleast eventhough we can't affort full wooden floors, but the dogs like it, it gives more "cool" areas to lay on ... no scratches so far, but living in the country i have problems with that fine red dirt that flyes arround and gets traped in the little gaps.

07-18-2006, 04:01 PM	#11 (permalink)
linnie tibbie girl Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Australia Posts: 3,051 Rep Power: 167	I have wood flooring in the main traffic areas and carpet in the bedrooms. I looked at laminate as an option but what worried me was you had to buy a really expensive one for it to cope with water and I worried if I missed a pee that it would swell. Glad I didnt opt for it if its noisy lol As for cleaning accidents I use white vinager. Pet stains are the hardest to move but vinager seems to do it.
	__________________ Caution...Dogs can leave footprints on your heart

07-18-2006, 04:36 PM	#12 (permalink)
calgal My Yorkster kids! Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: central ca. coast Posts: 6,586 Rep Power: 221	Sounds like I'm the only one who still has carpet. If we stay in this house we are going to have wood floors put in the living room. My husband put Spanish tile the kitchen, breakfast rooms and boy will they ever stand up to ANYTHING!! If we move into the new house, we want to have wood flooring put down in the family room, living room, dining room and halls. Tile floor in the three bathrooms and haven't decided on the kitchen breakfast room whether to have wood or tile.

07-19-2006, 05:01 AM	#13 (permalink)
Shadowkins Shadowkins Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Saskatchewan,Canada Posts: 2,726 Rep Power: 124	I have laminate as well in my kitchen and hallways. It seems very durable and is easy to keep clean , the only small drawback is that is has very little traction for pets that insist on running and braking suddenly but other than that I absolutely love it.
	__________________

07-19-2006, 05:12 AM	#14 (permalink)
fancychicken Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 823 Rep Power: 69	I agree with CALGAL... I was an interior decorator for 13 years, PERGO flooring is definately the way to go. Cleans great, looks good, you can get in practically any design/wood pattern, doesn't mark and its not linoleum!!! As for the carpet, get a burbur. The tighter the loop the better. You can scrub it like nobodies business if you have to. Just remember one thing, if you have to wait a little longer to get everything installed to get the better stuff (not necessarily the most expensive) just not the cheapest, then wait! It will be worth it in the end.

07-19-2006, 08:41 AM	#15 (permalink)
princessjodi Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 251 Rep Power: 66	I have Pergo in my apt and I like it...however, I have only been there since the end of April and its scratched in a few places from Joules. It is soooo much easier to clean up than carpet though...much easier to sweep up than to drag the vaccuum out...imo. I have terra cotta tile in the kitchen and bathroom...I don't recommend tile flooring. It hurts the bottoms of my feet when I walk barefoot...maybe I just have sensitive feet...but I have walked barefoot on quite a bit of different tile floors and it always hurts.
	__________________ Jodi & Joules

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