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I have 5 dogs and 12 cats. I live in a single-level home with sliding glass doors at the back of the house onto an acre back yard. We all spend as much time as we can outside - you could say that we're an indoor/outdoor family.
Both sliding glass doors (the only back yard access from the house) are from carpeted rooms (master bedroom and dining room). Needless to say, those carpets are hard to keep clean with all the traffic.
I'd like to put a different non-carpet flooring throughout the house. The two options I like are hardwood and slate. If I did either of those options, I'd obviously have them sealed very well to handle the moisture from traffic in our wet winters and the occasional cat or dog "accident". My dogs are sighthounds and don't seem to have problems walking on wood, so I'm not too concerned that one of these options would be difficult for them. I just want a floor that doesn't show dirt and is straightforward to clean; i.e. to mop, rather than steam clean.
Does anybody have experience out there with this or an opinion about which of these options would work best? I guess I'm open to laminate if the others prove to be too costly or just won't work.
I have experience laying laminate floors, but would leave installation of real wood or slate tile to the experts, I think.
you also might want to post in the pets forum(if you haven't already) - I am sure they have experience, I know I do but I just have laminate down... Good Luck
Some laminates don't do well with water. I have heard the laminate and water issue has improved --but still not great.
I vote for bamboo. Many ways to get bamboo - but to me the 'strand' bamboo is best --it is beautiful and it is one tough product. It gives a beautiful rich wood finish. The thick floor plank is solid bamboo mixed with a tiny amount of resin and hardened. It is very beautiful and comes in many shades and widths. This is one solid piece not a laminate bonded to another solid or several ply material. Eco friendly sustainable and responsibly harvested is somthing you can look for. Can be nailed and I think also floated on the floor. HARD very HARD - long warranty maybe 27-30 years on the finish. There is a hardness certification process for wood in the industry, but I don't much care for it since it involves hitting the wood with something rounded and that is how wood is graded (as I understand it.) I am more interested in pointy things, sharp things, things dropped that can make dents etc. and while the solid bamboo will dent (either it or the product it is bonded to) --the strand is very very resistant to this ( 200 times harder than oak and other more common hardwoods.) (Bamboo I think technically is a grass) If you google EcoTimber you can get a good education. The other vote (if I can have two) is IPE - you can google that too. If not wanting anything 'exotic' - walnut is a good choice but I think it is $$ if you get it with a long warranty.
I definitely don't want (and can't really afford) expensive for expensive sake, but the area in question is probably under1,000 square feet, and I only want to do this once in the next 25 years, so I'm willing to go with a little more expense.
I'd heard about bamboo because it's eco-friendly, but it was hard to imagine that it is that tough. That's good to know. If I went with wood, I'd love to be able to do it in a way that's friendly to the environment. I know there may be damage to any floor with extreme situations; i.e., banging with a sharp pointy thing, but my focus is really on tolerating the day-to-day activities and keeping the smell down. I'd love to have people over without worrying about whether the house smells doggy. :-)
Well, any hard surface would help to keep the doggy 'fragrance' down. (I miss that fragrance --silly I know--but it was part of our Rosie - her feet smelled like corn chips!!) I am assuming that the dogs don't mess up in the house with urinating - (thunder, excitement with visitors, stuff like that) because then laminate would definitely be an issue if it went unseen and hardwood too if unseen. Bamboo is really a good choice there too. If you go with bamboo - and don't go with the strand bamboo --then you will get some dings etc. Also check on the NET because if you find a distributor that can get you wood by EcoTimber - you can download coupons $.50 to 1.00 sq/foot at times. Maybe the other companies do the same - worth a check. All the companies usually sell all types of flooring -- hardwood, bamboo, cork etc. I checked the price at EcoTimber (sounds like I have stock in that company doesn't it???) anyway, the bamboo for what you get (wide plants/strand type) was less expensive than LumberLiquidators. And the walnut when I compared the warranty was MUCH less than Lowes -Lowes was a fortune (this was high end Lowes walnut to comparable EcoTimber walnut (solid plank - not laminated thin walnut over substrate) Anyway, Good Luck. I know what ever you decide - you will be sooo happy to do away with the carpeting and the doggy hair.
Awww. I'll bet you do miss Rosie. And I don't mind the doggie smell - I just hate wondering what other people think about it, especially when it's wet.
Good info about the coupons - that would help. I have been looking for a company who would both install and supply the floor. Maybe I should get them separately?
Well, personal choice and depends if you know someone who can install for less or free. I try to do both same place - I feel (maybe crazy) that more responsiblity that way for the person getting the business and sometimes if one business does both - you can get a break on cost and certainly the arranging of delivery and laying down would hopefully be seamless.
Yeah. That's what I was thinking. And I want someone with resources so I can have them come back if something isn't quite right. I'm happy to do some of my own work, but in this case, I want it perfect!!
Yeah - I know what you mean. If same company does both at least you won't have to deal with the wood merchant saying it wasn't the 'wood' but the guy that installed and the guy that installed pointing fingers at the wood. I am sure it will come out just fine. And, as the wood picks up the marks of living and settles into its own spaces complete with creaking and crevices - it will look all the more beautiful.
