Best flooring against dogs

MartyMcFly3

Lifer
Jan 18, 2003
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Our carpet has not stood up against our medium sized (70 lb.) Lab and my wife and I are considering our options. Light carpet just stains too quickly and is a pain in the ass to clean. Any help appreciated.
 

Sinsear

Diamond Member
Jan 13, 2007
6,439
80
91
I have pergo flooring; looks like hardwood. Was about $4 a square foot at lowes.

I also have a 85lb golden retriever. And in 2 years there is not a scratch on the floor. And he runs and looks like a cartoon dog sometimes when he slides and his legs are still going. The sales guy at the store random sharp objects (key, box cutter) and showed us that it does not gouge, scratch etc.

So it looks great and stands up to a dog. Also have slid furniture etc around and no marks or scratches.
 

tfinch2

Lifer
Feb 3, 2004
22,114
1
0
We have engineered hardwood, and our Jack Russell Terrier has been sliding all over it for the last 4 years with no scratches.
 

Hoober

Diamond Member
Feb 9, 2001
4,372
28
91
Site finished hickory -- 2 90lbs labs haven't touched it in 5 years.

If you're looking at hardwood, check out the janka scale. You want something high up with a water-based finish.
 

MartyMcFly3

Lifer
Jan 18, 2003
11,436
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Site finished hickory -- 2 90lbs labs haven't touched it in 5 years.

If you're looking at hardwood, check out the janka scale. You want something high up with a water-based finish.

That janka scale is interesting and looks like a resource I may use. Thanks! Any additional input from you guys is appreciated though. Hate making homeowner decisions like these.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
68,457
12,611
126
www.anyf.ca
Ceramic tiles or engineered wood. Even regular hardwood with a nice coat of varnish would probably work too. Or a thin layer of self leveling cement with an epoxy finish. That aughta do it. :p
 

Bartman39

Elite Member | For Sale/Trade
Jul 4, 2000
8,867
51
91
Porcelain tile is the shizzz... Lowe's has it in different shades if you prefer darker colors but its got nice texture as well... Most think its wood till I tell them different...
 

TheAdvocate

Platinum Member
Mar 7, 2005
2,561
7
81
A high quality engineered hardwood should hold up okay because of the finish, but will likely pick up a few scratches anyway.

Cant believe i am saying it, because i used to hate them, but there are some really great looking laminate "wood" appearance floors (even ones that appear to be handscraped, which is the current rage and does look good.

I put some laminate floors down in my mom's house ( I have engineered hardwood in mine) because she has a dog and two cats ( and several grandchildren who are over often). 3 years later and i am amazed at how they have yet to show a single scratch. Our cat put a scratch in our engineered floors and our kids added 2 more.

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Cliffs: Get a high quality natural wood looking laminate. Put porcelain in Kitchen. It is super hard and "bulletproof" to pets.
 
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mmntech

Lifer
Sep 20, 2007
17,501
12
0
Ceramic tile stands up to almost anything. Wood as long as it's coated with a protective polymer.
 

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Oct 28, 1999
62,483
8,344
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Yeah, porcelain tile is damn near impervious to general wear and tear. Only problem it has is if you drop something heavy on it it runs the risk of chipping/cracking.

Outside of that I've got an 80 pound rhodesian ridgeback who totally trashed some brazian cherry hardwood we had in a previous house. Don't confuse hardness with finish durability. Even prefinished she still scratched the hell out of that flooring.

In my current home I installed some strand bamboo flooring and it is like battleship armor. That stuff is incredibly durable. Dog hasn't done a lick of damage to it. Fairly cheap too. Paid around $3.19 sq/ft and looks great. It's brutal bastard to install though. A 23 sq/ft box is close to 80 pounds and it is so effing hard that even the smallest mis-hit of the hammer and it will not fully drive the spike into the board. And good friggen luck getting it back out. That board is mostly a throw away at that point.
 

Broheim

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2011
4,587
2
81
my parents had a high quality laminate floor in the kitchen/dining area that stood up to 10 years of wear and tear from my old 130 lbs german shepherd.
 

Minerva

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 1999
2,116
13
81
Tile also is damn cold in the winter. You can install radiant heating but that drives up cost of ownership if that matters.

Bamboo flooring is very much wear resistant to dog nails no doubt!

Carpet + animals is pretty gross. Not only does it look dirty it gets a smell. If you have cats and they piss on it the only way to get rid of the smell is tear it up plus the padding. If the urine reaches the subflooring that has to go too. That shit is hygroscopic so every time it gets damp it smells like they are pissing. That drives people that either got rid of the cats or new tenants crazy because they can't figure out where the piss smell is coming from! Gross!
 

BudAshes

Lifer
Jul 20, 2003
13,935
3,229
146
I went with some vinyl flooring recently that we love and everyone that see's it thinks it's pretty sexy. We ended up going vinyl because it's not as slick as laminate as we have old dogs and one has a bad hip, so I don't want her sliding around all the time. I know vinyl sounds tacky but the modern ones are pretty damn spiffy as long as you don't cheap out.
 

Scarpozzi

Lifer
Jun 13, 2000
26,389
1,778
126
I installed prefinished 25 year warranty white oak flooring when I bought my house. (replaced carpet) It's lasted pretty good, but dogs will take their toll even on hardwood. The finish can be easily scratched or dented....by dogs, nails, staples, but they still look great.

I bought a hardwood flooring nailer from ebay by Ramsond for $150. Ordered the flooring from a store out of state (no tax) and had it dropshipped to me. It took me about a week to lay 1000 sq feet of it and I had new floors for under $4k.

You can invest in harder wood, but cost per square foot can change pretty drastically. You can get cabin-grade flooring for $2.25-2.50 sq foot. More filled worm holes/mineral stains and "character". Install them and plan on getting them refinished in 5-8 years if the dogs work on them too much.

Tile is another good option, but as stated...can be cold and grout lines can get dirty or be hard to clean.

Before you make any decision. Consider the life of the floor and how long it will be before you decide you want to replace it with something else. That might help you understand better what the actual cost of the floor is. Hardwood can be refinished for labor + polyurethane....tile will likely last longer if it is installed properly and you have no issues with uneven floors/broken grout lines.
 

Legios

Senior member
Feb 12, 2013
418
0
0
I will say that even though laminate looks just as good as wood, it does sound different. I can always tell when im walking across laminate floors and its even more apparent when a ladies heels are on them. There is a "booming" echo with laminate.
 
May 13, 2009
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I've had good luck with the laminate hardwood. My dog slides all over the place chasing me around or playing fetch and no issues.
 

SphinxnihpS

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2005
8,368
25
91
The upside to all these is the durability you are looking for.

Engineered flooring (Pergo, etc.) - Downside: looks fake, off brands/cheap imitation are highly problematic, DOES NOT LIKE WATER AT ALL

Bamboo - Downside: price, cheaper stuff is not as good.

Stone or porcelain tile - Downside: expensive, especially natural stone, price, it's also cold to walk on, or hot in direct sun, grout get's dirty, cracking, tile separation, must be installed perfectly.

Concrete - Downside: same as tile minus the grout.

Hardwood - Downside: not all hardwood is hard enough, not all finishes are durable (most are not, the ones that are are super expensive, hard to apply, take time to dry, and have pretty bad fumes for weeks. The hard hardwoods are expensive as fuck all, Brazilian Cherry for instance. Depending on the finish, these can be somewhat water sensitive. All wood is ruined by standing water.

The main downside to all of these is price, and anything that comes unfinished, including tile can not be walked on for days. With all the options listed with the exception of Pergo, you will lose the room for a couple weeks.