Hard Wood Floors/kitchen floors

[Tondi G]

we have dogs and little boys who ride their scooters around inside sometimes, lots of foot traffic and then some. What is the most resilient flooring for a situation like this? We are likely going to move into my moms place and the hardwood is in bad shape due to age and termites etc. Everything will need to be replaced. Whats the best option for kitchens too? The floor now is some kind of ceramic tile that looks like saltillo/terra cotta floors... it hasn't faired well in the last 5 years (lots of cracked tile) so we would replace that as well.

What would you do if you could put ANY flooring in your home... what do you think is the heartiest?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions you have to offer!

[dtim]

We have a great big dog and now the baby, and when we moved in to our new house about 3 months ago we had wood-looking laminate installed in the kitchen, which is also the entrance to the back yard and deck. It's supposed to be more scratch resistant than wood and has a long warranty on it. It's cheaper than wood and never needs maintenance. So far it's been great-- easy to wipe up breast milk spills and mud from the dog, and if you don't look too closely you wouldn't know it isn't real wood! :applause:

[jk3]

Our wood floors are holding up in our kitchen. We have prefinished maple flooring that was installed when we built the house over a year ago. So far so good. We're careful about cleaning up spills right away and the floors are holding up better than expected.

[Momof3Labs]

We love our hardwood floors, but they are stained (by the previous owner) so show more scratches than natural wood floors. Yes, they get marks over time from the dogs, toys, etc., but I'd rather have that than laminate personally. Laminate can be more resilient but just feels so much more fake IMO (I can tell when I walk on it vs. stepping on hardwood). I've heard good things about cork floors in the kitchen - might be worth exploring that option, too.

As far as heartiest, I'd tend to say tile based on my experience, but the grout has to be sealed or it is a bear to clean.

[BillK]

We have 2 destructive little boys and a 9 year old 65 pound neurotic yellow lab - we have prefinished hickory hardwood floors in out entire first floor (except the playroom) and they've held up well - a few dings here and there from the aforementioned destruction crew and dog - but we figure once the dog is gone and the boys are grown - we'll refinish them. The multiple knots and color variances in the Hickory help to hide the nicks, dings, scratches and....filth. :)

http://btz.smugmug.com/photos/179164604_rLaja-M.jpg

[Tondi G]

We have 2 destructive little boys and a 9 year old 65 pound neurotic yellow lab - we have prefinished hickory hardwood floors in out entire first floor (except the playroom) and they've held up well - a few dings here and there from the aforementioned destruction crew and dog - but we figure once the dog is gone and the boys are grown - we'll refinish them. The multiple knots and color variances in the Hickory help to hide the nicks, dings, scratches and....filth. :)

http://btz.smugmug.com/photos/179164604_rLaja-M.jpg

Bill I am loving the look of your floors... do you mind my asking how much it was per sq foot? If you remember.

[BillK]

Bill I am loving the look of your floors... do you mind my asking how much it was per sq foot? If you remember.
As I recall it was $4.26/sq. ft. (was on sale at the time) - the installer charged us $2/sq. ft. to lay it - so the total was $6.26/sq. ft installed. It was the first time our installer had ever used the brand we got and his comment was it was the nicest, best milled, straightest, lowest waste hardwood he'd ever worked with. It's 3 1/4" Character Grade Hickory.

I just checked the company's website we got it from and it's now $5.95/sq. ft. (which as I recall is still pretty low compared most of the "big name" hardwood company's). Before we bought we took a family road trip to the place and the salesman took us on a tour of the factory to see how they make it - it was really a lot of fun and Zach LOVED it.

We got it from Sheoga flooring in Middlefield, Ohio (the 3rd largest Amish population in the US). It's a great little company: www.sheogaflooring.com (http://www.sheogaflooring.com) and a really really neat community.

A buddy and I drove over to pick it up - so we saved the freight charges. I know they ship anywhere in the USA though.

We also did Ben's nursery with Character Grade Maple from Sheoga too - which also turned out nice (my preference is still for the Hickory - there are more knots and color variations - where the Maple has some really really beautiful grains in it that kind of change and look almost 3d depending on your viewing angle and the light) - here's a pic of that for comparison:

Character Grade Maple
http://btz.smugmug.com/photos/238440308_akDeZ-M.jpg

Character Grade Hickory
http://btz.smugmug.com/photos/179161155_MRdxH-M.jpg

[ThreeofUs]

Wood floors. We replaced all our tile in our CA house (except baths) with a good, engineered wood and were as happy as could be. That house was on a concrete slab a tiny bit below grade, and the floors held up wonderfully.

Our current house has solid wood floors that are still going strong at 100 years.

So, wood it would be for me!

[trales]

I am not a big fan of hardwood and dogs, we have two big dogs and hardwood throughout, oak, cherry and southern yellow pine. All have scrathces even the pre-finished stuff.

Lumber liquidators has hickory really cheap right now. That is the hardest hardwood you can buy.

I might consider a good quality tile. We have a great tile the dogs and baby cannot damage even throwing things onto it.

[heatherlynn]

How about bamboo? I think it's supposed to be really hard and water resistant (?) so good for kitchens and baths. Also sustainable.

[Tondi G]

How about bamboo? I think it's supposed to be really hard and water resistant (?) so good for kitchens and baths. Also sustainable.

Ya know I love the idea of Bamboo but my sister put bamboo into her house, she has one dog and it has some horrible scratches in it already... it's been less than 1 year!

[kijip]

How about bamboo? I think it's supposed to be really hard and water resistant (?) so good for kitchens and baths. Also sustainable.

The finish on bamboo is important. However, I like many other bamboo floor owners am not all that pleased and I have rugs, no pets, no scooters and a pretty low key child. They scratch, nick and ding easily. We have had to set aside money for getting them refinished and they are less than 2 years old. Frustrating, especially since we chose the bamboo based on it's touted durability and green-ness.

[heatherlynn]

The finish on bamboo is important. However, I like many other bamboo floor owners am not all that pleased and I have rugs, no pets, no scooters and a pretty low key child. They scratch, nick and ding easily. We have had to set aside money for getting them refinished and they are less than 2 years old. Frustrating, especially since we chose the bamboo based on it's touted durability and green-ness.

Oh wow, what a bummer. We need to replace our kitchen floor and I was thinking about bamboo myself. Oh well. Thanks for posting, Katie!

[anamika]

We have to replace our kitchen floors too. While I would also love to get HW I think I would worry and agonize over every scratch to really enjoy it. As it is the HW in the other rooms is giving me heartburn from getting scratched up and dinged with DD (who is actually really not that destructive).
So the lady at HD sold us on resilient flooring. It has a fake wood look (we went with bamboo ;)) and it's easy to install and clean and won't give me a heart attack if DD scratches it or paints on it or something. We are waiting and waiting for it to come in.
Eventually someday...in the oh so distant future we will have all HW floors. Till then this will do.

[SummerBaby]

We've had both hardwood and laminate and both were damaged by our very active DD. The laminate also showed every crumb, every drop of water that got on it. It had to be mopped several times a day to look good. Last year we built a house and put tile in the laundry/mud room, kitchen and foyer. Not only has it held up beautifully, it does not show dirt, crumbs, water spots, etc. It always looks clean. Both girls are always dragging toys, etc on it and it looks great. And when I empty my dishwasher and water is dripping everywhere I don't panic about the floor getting water marks. On tile it just dries right off leaving no streaks or marks. The only drawbacks to the tile, IMO, are that it's cold- you definitely need socks/slippers on a cold morning, and that if you drop a glass, it will break. Other than that, I love love love it!

Val
DD1 7/04
DD2 7/07

[DDowning]

We have dogs and (at the time), cat, and two small kids. When we were selecting things for our new house construction, I asked for the most beat-up, distressed, hardy thing they had. They showed me hickory planks and we went with a stain called Alcatraz. its a fitting name - Seriously it looks like they took chains and beat the * out of it, lol!!! Its great if the kids drop anything onto it I don't worry - it just adds to the charm! :P

[BillK]

We have dogs and (at the time), cat, and two small kids. When we were selecting things for our new house construction, I asked for the most beat-up, distressed, hardy thing they had. They showed me hickory planks and we went with a stain called Alcatraz. its a fitting name - Seriously it looks like they took chains and beat the * out of it, lol!!! Its great if the kids drop anything onto it I don't worry - it just adds to the charm! :P

Yep - the place we got our flooing from also had "Hand Scraped" flooring - and I tried to convince my wife to go with that (it was about $10/sq. ft.) but she wouldn't budge. I LOVE that old beat up distressed look personally.

[bubbaray]

We have an 85lb lab who loves to do wheelies on our hardwood. He's dinged up the floors far more than the kids. DH dropping a large tin of tomatoes didn't help matters either.

I LOVE Bill's floors. If we took out ours (its Oak), I'd put in that. I don't personally like laminate, but that's JMHO.

[maestramommy]

We've had both hardwood and laminate and both were damaged by our very active DD. The laminate also showed every crumb, every drop of water that got on it. It had to be mopped several times a day to look good. Last year we built a house and put tile in the laundry/mud room, kitchen and foyer. Not only has it held up beautifully, it does not show dirt, crumbs, water spots, etc. It always looks clean. Both girls are always dragging toys, etc on it and it looks great. And when I empty my dishwasher and water is dripping everywhere I don't panic about the floor getting water marks. On tile it just dries right off leaving no streaks or marks. The only drawbacks to the tile, IMO, are that it's cold- you definitely need socks/slippers on a cold morning, and that if you drop a glass, it will break. Other than that, I love love love it!

Val
DD1 7/04
DD2 7/07


We have some kind of ceramic or clay tile in our kitchen and breakfast room. It's gorgeous, looks a little like granite or marble. It's very easy to clean, and though Arwyn has banged on it several times with pots and pans it hasn't done anything. MIL was freaking out because she has tile in her kitchen and she keeps finding cracks in it. I don't know what the difference is, or if we've just gotten incredibly lucky. Downside, like pp said, is that it's pretty cold, so you need socks. And we've already broken glass on it.

[KBecks]

We have laminate that is fake wood, it has gotten one tiny gouge in it from a knife that fell wrong, and some very superficial surface scratches. We've had it for maybe 3 years and I think it has held up well. I'd have to point out the flaws if you saw it.

I debated over laminate vs. wood and I was also concerned about water damage in the kitchen. However wood floors are beautiful.

I have heard good things about cork.

[Tondi G]

We've had both hardwood and laminate and both were damaged by our very active DD. The laminate also showed every crumb, every drop of water that got on it. It had to be mopped several times a day to look good. Last year we built a house and put tile in the laundry/mud room, kitchen and foyer. Not only has it held up beautifully, it does not show dirt, crumbs, water spots, etc. It always looks clean. Both girls are always dragging toys, etc on it and it looks great. And when I empty my dishwasher and water is dripping everywhere I don't panic about the floor getting water marks. On tile it just dries right off leaving no streaks or marks. The only drawbacks to the tile, IMO, are that it's cold- you definitely need socks/slippers on a cold morning, and that if you drop a glass, it will break. Other than that, I love love love it!

Val
DD1 7/04
DD2 7/07

What kind of tile is it? My moms tile has been just awful (she bought ceramic instead of actual mexican terracotta tiles cause the tile salesperson told her they would be more prone to cracking cause they are only sun dried) The saltillo she put in her bathroom is just fine... no cracks... just figures! I would love to find something that I know is thick and strong.... don't trust a tile salesperson anymore!!!!

Thanks everyone so far!

[CAM7]

Can't believe we've been in this house for over 7 years... so it's time to change the carpeting.

We're looking at putting in laminate on the main level...and would eventually like the upstairs done too.

Anyone know how to install the laminate wood flooring up a stairway? Scares me! *trembles in fear*

[CAM7]

Oh and we had the builder install tile instead of wood flooring in kitchen and wrap around to the foyer... love it!!

Bathrooms are tile too...

When the grout gets dingy we use the "eraser" type scouring pads... "Mr Clean"?? I think?? Anyway... with a bit of effort we've kept the grout looking new.

[kristal]

We replaced all the flooring in our home 4 years ago. We got porcelain tiles in the kitchen and bathrooms, and yellow birch hardwood in the rest of the first floor.

Love the look and feel of hardwood, but I didnt want to get that for the kitchen. Wanted something low or no maintenance for the kitchen.

If you are getting tiles, make sure you go for porcelain not ceramic. Ceramic is supposed to be brittle and can crack over time. Porcelain is supposed to be more durable (as a bonus they have more patterns than ceramic). Our tiles have held up well in the last 4 years- look almost new. Our tiles are travertine look alikes and are made in Italy.

Regarding dings, I used to fret over dings as DS now creates a new ding everyday as he bangs toys etc. on the floor. But I visited one of my friends house, whose floors have been abused for the last 5-6 years. They had SO many dings that you couldn't tell they were dinged ;). The dings were evenly spread all over the floor. After seeing that I have stopped fretting about it. When the time comes the floors can be refinished.