Dogs and flooring: Click click click
By Phyllis DeGioia
July 27, 2009
George, my friend who has worked in flooring for decades and whose opinion I respect but don’t always agree with, kept insisting that homes with dogs should have laminate flooring in the kitchen. He bases this opinion on water spills, and I didn’t mention the half-consumed rodents that Dickens brings in. I’m thinking that rodent corpses don’t have enough moisture to be a problem.
Ginger spills a ton of water because she still jumps for joy at mealtime, even at 13. Her food bowl is next to the water bowl on a rug in the kitchen, and has been for nine years. Ginger enthusiastically knocks the water out of the bowl on a fairly regular basis and it splats all over. Dodger’s food bowl is on the other side of the sink, and Dickens eats in the basement for a bit of privacy. Neither of them have been known to spill any major quantity of water. Oh, Dodger certainly spills water, but he drinks from the toilet.
“But I want Wisconsin hardwood,” I whined to George, trying to be an environmentally-aware locavore avoiding man-made flooring. I also love the way hardwood floors look.
“Dog toenails will mar hardwood, and they won’t on laminate,” he said. “Their nails won’t scratch it or wear it down.”
We went back and forth. Looking at the hardwood floors that have been in the house for decades, which looked fine when I moved in but don’t look great after 25 years of dozens of dog toenails, I agreed to laminate. It also co$t$ $ignificantly le$$ than hardwood both to purchase and install.
“And the beauty is,” he said, “that if something happens to one of the boards, it’s much easier to replace a couple of pieces of laminate than hardwood.” And if it’s easier, it’s cheaper. Like most things in my life that don’t have to do with pets, it came down to cost although George’s professional opinion carried weight.
It looks like real wood, and there’s only a few no-nos associated with care of laminate: sanding, scouring, flooding, dragging heavy furniture and wearing stilettos. Would a Great Dane’s nails have a similar effect as stilettos? One of the worst things for laminates is a build-up of dirt that can get ground in. A certain black and white English Setter drags in more dirt than any dog I’ve ever seen; I wish I knew how he does it. I’d love to teach him to sweep the kitchen, but he’d need opposable thumbs and judgment, and I don’t see either of those in his future.
George and his wife, Welda, live with a lovely cat named Bilbo, but they have visiting granddogs walking on their laminate. You’d think he would have mentioned one pertinent fact that surfaced moments after it was installed in my postage stamp-sized kitchen: Dog toenails make noise on laminate. Click click click. A lot of noise, particularly compared to the crummy vinyl that was in there, which was looking embarassing. Click click click.
In the three days since the floor has been installed, about 25 times a day I realize I have to get around to trimming their nails, but of course I have been so busy that I keep forgetting. Click click click. Truthfully, though, I’m lazy. Nonetheless, the constant click click click will be sure to remind me. Besides, since the nails won’t affect laminate, I’m good to go on the lazy housekeeping front. Right?
He told you water wouldn’t be a problem?
I discovered the hard way that if I don’t wipe up any spilled water IMMEDIATELY, that the laminate will start to swell where the water seeps in at the seams (and laminate has a LOT of seams).
It’s kept me very, very vigilant about spills. But I would NEVER tell anyone that wate spills were not a problem with laminate!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 27, 2009 @ 5:49 am
Everybody says that, but I had a noise damperner pad put under my laminate floor and I keep their nails trimmed anyway. I don’t hear much more clicking than on concrete or vinyl flooring.
Anyway, you’ll get used to it, and consider it a nice reminder about the nail trimming. :)
And get a nice heavy stand for that water bowel so it can’t get knocked.
2 big Labs and a smaller but faster Border Collie
Comment by Mikey — July 27, 2009 @ 6:21 am
You do have to watch the water, but laminate is definitely the better choice of the two. My parents just had it installed in their home. It took a few days for the dog to stop jumping from rug to rug and just walk on the hard floor. They had a contractor tell them that he put beautiful hickory flooring in his house. His lab had it completely destroyed within six months.
Comment by C.L.H. — July 27, 2009 @ 6:58 am
tile for me
Comment by EmilyS — July 27, 2009 @ 7:23 am
Dickens is the cat, right?
Comment by Colorado Transplant — July 27, 2009 @ 9:28 am
he really said that about the laminate?
We have both hardwood (bamboo) and laminate in our house. Any water on that laminate and it is stained. Urine? Forget about it.
The new bamboo is already scratched up from dog nails, but water or urine? not a problem in the least. And you don’t notice the scratches unless you’re looking for them. We chose floating hardwood so it just snaps in like laminate would - easy to replace.
We’re going to replace our laminate in a year or two for wood.
Or maybe tile…
Comment by Sarah — July 27, 2009 @ 9:38 am
Years ago I read an article by Doris Day - she rescued many animals and had tile floors with throw rugs that could be washed - it took me years to get what I wanted but I now have tile floors with throw rugs (I like the none slip cheapie throw rugs) For the past 7 years or so I have had this arrangement and its the best for me - tiles can be expensive but look for closeout discounts at one of the big box stores - huge savings.
Comment by mary francis — July 27, 2009 @ 10:52 am
I have tile with throw tugs in part of the house, and hardwoods in the rest. I MUCH prefer tile, and would have the whole house done that way if I could. Do you think it would raise eyebrows if I asked them to install drains for even easier cleaning?
Comment by Gina Spadafori — July 27, 2009 @ 11:49 am
drains and some kind of automatic vacuum system…
Comment by EmilyS — July 27, 2009 @ 11:51 am
One of my best friends (who lives in Sacramento) called me recently - she has a German Shepherd (her pride and joy) but has bemoaned the fur problem - anyway she raves now about something called a Shark - its for bare floors of all types - she says she no longer needs a vacuum…I’m not meaning to plug a product but just curious if anyone else knows of this ….and yes before tiles I thought of putting in cement floors with a drain…ha ha.
Comment by mary francis — July 27, 2009 @ 12:17 pm
I think she’s talking about a steam cleaner. I used to live in a house with really crummy linoleum - textured, and VERY soft so you couldn’t really scrub at any dirt spots without damaging it.
Got a steam cleaner (different brand - this one has a flat head that looks sort of like a “Swiffer” type design and a cloth cover that goes over it - the steam comes out of the bottom and you run it over the floor, and pull off the cloth cover to rinse clean as needed). Thing worked like a charm on the crummy linoleum.
I’m nervous about using it on the laminate, though, because of the swelling issues (I’m nervous about the possibility of “driving” the steam into the seams). So instead I got a Hoover FloorMate (it puts down water, scrubs the spot, then vacuums up water, dirt and all right away) and that’s working really well.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 27, 2009 @ 12:54 pm
I have a Shark for hardwood floors, it resembles a carpet sweeper except it has a rechargeable battery and motor. It does good with picking up cat and dog hair, but it seems to repel little bird feathers. Shark is a brand name; they make everything from an upright vaccum to my carpet sweeper, a dustbuster type hand vac, and even an iron. My sweeper seemed to hold a charge a lot longer when we first got it, though.
Comment by Original Lori — July 27, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
Anyone that would choose laminate over hardwood has not had the trauma of watching their elderly German Shepherd struggle to walk on, stand up, or lay down on that slippery laminate surface. Laminate simply does not provide the traction that hardwoods provide. What works for your dog today, may not work in a few years. I’ll take the scuffs over my dog’s suffering any day. Please consider the lifetime of the dog. Housebreaking is short, arthritic dogs can last a long time if their environment is good and they are comfortable.
Comment by Dawn Hanna — July 27, 2009 @ 3:49 pm
My vote: Ceramic tile. The trick? Seal the tile and the grout WELL. When grouting, make sure to get the grout lines right up to the top of the tile. Grooves improve the look, but a flat floor is easier to clean.
As for laminate vs. hardwood in the kitchen, I wouldn’t do either.
Right now (due to the fact that under my kitchen floor is unheated) we’re considering peel and stick tile. Yup, vinyl tile. The difference, however, is that this tile floats. It also overlaps, making it virtually watertight. In the bathroom we put laminate insulation underneath it and simply tacked it with a few nails around the corners. Easy breezy. Did I mention it’s GORGEOUS?? Dark wood slab style, with a nice texture - enough to make an impression, not enough to catch dirt/dust.
Check it out here: http://www.konectousa.com/
Comment by Kim — July 27, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
I have bamboo floors with area rugs throughout except for tile in the bathrooms and am very happy with it. It’s been peed on and thrown up on and had water spilled on it without really any problem. Yes, it’s scuffed up some, but as someone else noted, you’d have to look for it. And some of the scratches are from dragging furniture across it. Would love to hear what other people’s experiences are with various steam cleaners. I really want one but can’t decide whether to get the Shark type or a Hoover Floormate. I assume that with any of them, I still have to sweep first before using. The vacuuming up of dog hair is constant.
Comment by Kim Thornton — July 27, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
PS: Or should I get a Roomba and a Scooba? Decisions, decisions.
Comment by Kim Thornton — July 27, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
Laminate is probably the most unfriendly-to-dog-joints flooring out there. The slipping and lack of traction causes a lot of stress on knees, hips, elbows, and shoulders, and can be the occasion of spine trauma with twisting wipeouts as a dog fails to take a corner.
I did it in my office in my previous house, and was immediately glad that I’d done that small non-trafficked area first — because I’d planned it for the kitchen, and it would have been a disaster. I was able to cover most of the surface area of the office with rubber-backed throw rugs from Ikea, so my elderly dogs could still come in and keep their footing.
Comment by H. Houlahan — July 27, 2009 @ 11:45 pm
Kim, the Hoover FloorMate IS a vacuum. By flipping some switches, you go back and forth between dry vacuuming (first), followed by dispensing water with spinning scrub brushes, then wet vacuuming up the water and loosened dirt. I generally start by dry vacuuming the whole floor, then going back in small areas to wet scrub and wet vacuum.
The steam cleaners - on the other hand - fall into the “push the dirt around” category IMHO. Once the cloth on the bottom of the head is completely full of dirt, you have to pull it off and rinse it or replace it with a fresh one to retain its effectiveness. If you use the steam cleaners really, really frequently, they probably do a perfectly adequate job, and there *is* that appeal of feeling like you’ve “sanitized” the floor as you go.
But for feeling like you’ve really REMOVED all the dirt that’s there, I just don’t think the steam cleaners can compare to the FloorMate.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 28, 2009 @ 12:26 am
I also learned the hard way that water and humidity is a MAJOR problem for laminate flooring. It is also the most slippery flooring for dogs that I have tried, hugely so over hardwood and tile, which is a problem for our dogs. I would never use laminate again.
Comment by Nim — July 28, 2009 @ 6:50 am
Thanks, The Other Pat! That’s really helpful. How does it do on area rugs? I have a Dyson Animal, which picks up a lot, but I still have to use a carpet rake to really get up the hair.
Comment by Kim Thornton — July 28, 2009 @ 8:49 am
It’s really intended as a hard floor cleaner, so I use my regular vacuum for carpet/rug surfaces.
I will say this, though: When I’ve used my regular vacuum on hard floors, it sometimes tends to blow the dust bunnies around before the vacuum reaches them (don’t know if all vacuums do this, but mine does). So on hard floors - if all I’m doing is a quick vacuum - I pull out my Hoover FloorMate rather than my vacuum.
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 28, 2009 @ 10:41 am
Yes, the Dyson blows the dust bunnies around too.
Comment by Kim Thornton — July 28, 2009 @ 5:28 pm
Re-reading what I wrote, I realize I failed to explicitly say that when I use the FloorMate for vacuuming hard floors, it does NOT blow the dust bunnies around before getting to them. (Maybe that was implicit in what I wrote, but just in case, I figured I’d complete the thought I had in mind as I was writing that this morning!)
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 28, 2009 @ 7:35 pm
oh, and about the grout: it comes in colors, so use the dirt-colored one.
;-)
Comment by EmilyS — July 28, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
{snort!}
That is just MEAN to spring on someone at the end of a long day!
ROTFLMAO!
Comment by The OTHER Pat — July 28, 2009 @ 8:15 pm
hey TOP: I’m completely serious. The tile itself is also dirt colored.
:- )
Comment by EmilyS — July 28, 2009 @ 8:51 pm