Flooring?

[crl]

Anyone have hardwood flooring or cork flooring and kids and a dog? How has it held up? I hate carpet (we all have dust mite allergies) and tile isn't far behind (so cold under my bare feet and hate how hard it is to keep the grout clean).

I have had both hardwood and cork before and loved them. But that was with just one kid and no dog.

Thanks for any feedback!
Catherine

[AnnieW625]

We have hardwood in 98% of our house and I love it. We have tile in our bathroom and lineloum in our kitchen/laundry area. No issues with it what so ever. A friend redid their kitchen with cork last fall (they have hardwood throughout) and they love it, but their baby is just crawling so I can't really comment on how it will hold up.

[KLD313]

I have hardwood and three big dogs. They have scratched the floor but more surface scratches than deep gouges. My floors are pretty light except for one part that has a dark border, that's where I've noticed the scratches.

[ThreeofUs]

I have hardwood, 3 guys (DH and DSs) who are *very* hard on floors, and used to have a dog.

My floors look wonderful.

[drako]

We have hardwood throughout our house and tile in kitchen and bathrooms. Our floors our light which don't show the scratches as bad. As a PP said they are just light surface scratches not gauges. We have 4 large dogs and 1 DC and have no complaints. I actually love that the floors are so easy to clean and no build up of dust in carpet. We also keep our dogs nails short by grinding their nails with a dremel which helps too.

[teresah00]

We moved a month ago and put cork in the bedrooms. I like it but we bought the almada click together. I wish we bought the glue down bc it seems softer underfoot. No problems so far w the kids and we have no pets. I did gauge a chunk by sliding the cri b in ds room. There was a nail sticking out.

[Penny's Pappa]

We have hardwood throughout our first floor. They're absolutely beautiful (I'm especially proud because we refinished it ourselves). The baby hasn't made an impact on the floor one bit. Neither has our Pomeranian. I think larger dogs are more of a concern. TBH, we do have some scratches and a couple gouges here and there. I may have been responsible for most of those :bag. You just have to be really careful about furniture or anything you think might slide along the floor.

[kijip]

My hard flooring warning: do not get bamboo. It has been terrible for us and we don't even have dogs, just regular boys :tongue5: and we have maintained it as we are supposed to. Honestly, I would feel the need to replace the floors if I were to put the house on the market or rent it out. It is not pretty. I would have already replaced it if the task of emptying out the main level and re-flooring did not seem so darn difficult. Plus I figure, keep it till all of the kids are older and less likely to take a marker to the floor or something.

[bisous]

Katie,

Super bummer about the bamboo! I love, love, love the idea (and appearance!) of bamboo flooring. What a disappointment!

OP, I know my Dad has hardwood flooring and large dog and it has held up great. I'll have to remember to ask him what he has!

[fauve01]

well i have *no idea the cost*, but after hanging out on the gardenweb forums (kitchens and baths) i know that lots of people over there put heating under their floor. it's some kind of radiant heat mat that goes down and then the floor goes on top. it seems like it takes some time to heat up; but there's a thermostat and you can set it to be warm when you will be awake. maybe not reasonable for the entire house :ROTFLMAO:but you never know... i didn't even know heated floors existed til i found those boards over there.

Soooo, you could have toasty tile floors... just throwing it out there... ;)

[GvilleGirl]

We have hardwoods and a large dog. I guess I am one though who doesn't mind scratches and dents it brings character. I know I can just refinish it when it starts to look bad. I've lived in old houses with real hardwood and hate the look of fake.

The house I grew up in Chicago was entirely heated with radiant heat. I LOVED it. The temperature is much more consistent. I hate forced hot air and the blowing of air. I believe you have to be careful of what kinds of floors you install over it.

[kijip]

Katie,

Super bummer about the bamboo! I love, love, love the idea (and appearance!) of bamboo flooring. What a disappointment!

OP, I know my Dad has hardwood flooring and large dog and it has held up great. I'll have to remember to ask him what he has!

I think that the very high end bamboo is likely better but ours is builder's grade and it scratches so easily. And I know people with much pricier versions that have similar complaints to me. I heard there was a big lawsuit over the claims made in the flooring industry about the strength and durability of bamboo. It does seem a little better than the cherry laminate in my neighbors house, but it is not like real wood floors at all IMO.

[crayonblue]

We had hardwood on the entire main floor of a previous house. LOVED it. I could keep it sooooo clean and it was so pretty and easy.

I detest carpet. Detest it. And after cleaning about 500 tiles in this new house (grosser than gross black grout), I am not loving tile either! The previous tenants were not cleanly.

[mytwosons]

I think that the very high end bamboo is likely better but ours is builder's grade and it scratches so easily. And I know people with much pricier versions that have similar complaints to me. I heard there was a big lawsuit over the claims made in the flooring industry about the strength and durability of bamboo. It does seem a little better than the cherry laminate in my neighbors house, but it is not like real wood floors at all IMO.

This is timely; I'm looking at a stranded bamboo for our kitchen. Is yours a laminate or engineered product? The sales lady showed me an engineered and one she said was solid and clicked together. She was raving about the hardness factor of the solid.

[cckwmh]

We have newer hardwood (2 years old) on our first floor. we will be putting it upstairs next year (hopefully). We had unfinished wood installed and finished it with a commercial grade satin finish because of the dogs. Our floor guy said scratches are less noticable in a satin finish than glossy finish. we have scratches, mostly surface ones, but I don't mind them.

[bubbaray]

We have Oak h/w for most of our main floor and it is trashed. We bought new from the builder 12 yrs ago. Dog has been here 10 yrs. 85lbs of excited lab does not equal happy floors. We need to refinish, but I am dreading that.

[AngelaS]

We have hand planed engineered hickory all through our main floor. We have three girls and a 140 lb dog. My floors are almost two years and look fabulous! I love them! We are careful to keep the dog's toenails short enough to keep from clicking.

The only thing I wish we'd done differently would've been to pick a color of flooring that matched the dog! Our floors are dark and the dog is light so hair shows up as LOT on it and our dog sheds like a maniac!

[bubbaray]

Angela, our flooring is light and our dog is light -- and sheds like a maniac. The piles of hair are still visible on light floors.

[BabyBearsMom]

We have a very high quality laminate and love it. It looks like wood but was less expensive. Also, they put a special layer of a floating insulation under the floor to keep it warmer. There is none of the upkeep of wood (no refinishing etc.), and super easy to clean. Love it!

[drako]

Our family room has a dark stained brazilian cherry and EVERYTHING shows up on it...dust, dog hair, smudges from DD. We have red oak in the remainder of the house with Bona Amberseal (to give it the look of oil base poly) with the Bona Traffic water base poly. It is a satin finish so the surface scratches are not as visable. Also, you don't see dust, smudges and dog hair on it like on the darker floor. Our dogs have short hair so maybe that is why but they still shed like crazy.

We had a high end laminate at our old house. While it was durable while we were there, it still chipped. So the downfall of the laminate in my opinion is you can't refinish it like you can with real wood. So after that initial investment once it gets damaged...that is it. With real wood, you may have a little higher up front cost of an investment but it will last for years with the ability to refinish it.

[kijip]

This is timely; I'm looking at a stranded bamboo for our kitchen. Is yours a laminate or engineered product? The sales lady showed me an engineered and one she said was solid and clicked together. She was raving about the hardness factor of the solid.

Engineered, not laminate. Bamboo is a grass and while widely marketed as being very hard, it does not seem to hold up to that claim.

[HIU8]

We have hardwood in 97% of the house. Now, the house is 41 years old and it's the orginal hardwoods (no subflooring). We had them refinished 7 years ago and they still look GREAT. We also have duraceramic in the kitchen and foyer and while I LOVE the feeling of the cold under my feet, I HATE this flooring. I want to replace with hardwoods but I'm finding it will be hard to match what is already in the house (we do have a partially carpeted family room and the carpet is totally shot after only 7 years with kids and I want to replace that with hardwoods as well).

[infomama]

I would love wood floors but the scratches have kept me away. We have Pergo on our entire first floor and I really like it.