Best dog and water resistant flooring?

Posted by Harry Muscle on August 29, 2006, 1:31 pm

I'm looking for opinions on what kind of floor to install in our new
place. We have a dog and a fish tank, so I'm looking for options that
would stand up to dog claws, possible dog mistakes, and minor
(sometimes major) spilling of water from the fish tank.

We've had real hardwood before (finished onsite), but the dog scratched
it up real good with his nails. We've had laminate before also,
however, any water left standing for any significant amount of time
caused the seams to swell. Now I know in a perfect world I shouldn't
have to worry about standing water, however, I don't wanna have to deal
with replacing parts of the floor in case one of these days there is a
puddle of water that sits there for a day or two.

I'm currently looking at vinyl plank flooring. It's like vinyl tiles,
however, it's made to look like wood. One company that makes it is
www.karndean.com . Anyone have any experience with this kind of
flooring? I'm guessing it totally water proof, how about scratches
though?

Any other suggestions I should look at?

Thanks,
Harry

Posted by on August 29, 2006, 1:56 pm

Harry Muscle wrote:

> I'm looking for opinions on what kind of floor to install in our new
> place. We have a dog and a fish tank, so I'm looking for options that
> would stand up to dog claws, possible dog mistakes, and minor
> (sometimes major) spilling of water from the fish tank.
> We've had real hardwood before (finished onsite), but the dog scratched
> it up real good with his nails. We've had laminate before also,
> however, any water left standing for any significant amount of time
> caused the seams to swell. Now I know in a perfect world I shouldn't
> have to worry about standing water, however, I don't wanna have to deal
> with replacing parts of the floor in case one of these days there is a
> puddle of water that sits there for a day or two.
> I'm currently looking at vinyl plank flooring. It's like vinyl tiles,
> however, it's made to look like wood. One company that makes it is
> www.karndean.com . Anyone have any experience with this kind of
> flooring? I'm guessing it totally water proof, how about scratches
> though?

I have a friend with _several_ Dobermans who used to have a fully
carpeted house and did a lot of searching before deciding to go with
full ceramic tile.

It has turned out to be an excellent choice, as the very occasional
messes that they make are _easy_ to clean up.

Lewis.

******

> Any other suggestions I should look at?
>
> Thanks,
> Harry

Posted by Rich Greenberg on August 29, 2006, 2:06 pm

>Harry Muscle wrote:

>> I'm looking for opinions on what kind of floor to install in our new
>> place. We have a dog and a fish tank, so I'm looking for options that
>> would stand up to dog claws, possible dog mistakes, and minor
>> (sometimes major) spilling of water from the fish tank.

[...]

>I have a friend with _several_ Dobermans who used to have a fully
>carpeted house and did a lot of searching before deciding to go with
>full ceramic tile.
>It has turned out to be an excellent choice, as the very occasional
>messes that they make are _easy_ to clean up.

There is a downside here if any of your dogs are aged or infirm (or are
likely to become such). One of my dogs has degenerative disk disease
and sometimes can't keep his footing well on the tile.

--
Rich Greenberg N Ft Myers, FL, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 239 543 1353
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, Zero & Casey, Siberians Owner:Chinook-L
Retired at the beach Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

Posted by Toni on August 29, 2006, 2:57 pm

>>I have a friend with _several_ Dobermans who used to have a fully
>>carpeted house and did a lot of searching before deciding to go with
>>full ceramic tile.
>>It has turned out to be an excellent choice, as the very occasional
>>messes that they make are _easy_ to clean up.

> There is a downside here if any of your dogs are aged or infirm (or are
> likely to become such). One of my dogs has degenerative disk disease
> and sometimes can't keep his footing well on the tile.

I have a fully ceramic tiled house and many aquariums.
It is imperative that you keep the floor free of water, drool, slobber, and
anything else even halfway liquid, or you will fall flat on your ass- hard.
And going barefoot in any of the above listed situation will guarantee you a
serious fall.

And yes, the old dogs object strenuously and you end up filling the house
with room sized rugs, which isn't half bad. I always considered them semi
disposable.

If I had it to do over again I would get the roughest slate I could find.

--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/rules.htm

Posted by on August 29, 2006, 3:24 pm

Toni wrote:

> >>I have a friend with _several_ Dobermans who used to have a fully
> >>carpeted house and did a lot of searching before deciding to go with
> >>full ceramic tile.
> >>It has turned out to be an excellent choice, as the very occasional
> >>messes that they make are _easy_ to clean up.

> > There is a downside here if any of your dogs are aged or infirm (or are
> > likely to become such). One of my dogs has degenerative disk disease
> > and sometimes can't keep his footing well on the tile.

> I have a fully ceramic tiled house and many aquariums.
> It is imperative that you keep the floor free of water, drool, slobber, and
> anything else even halfway liquid, or you will fall flat on your ass- hard.
> And going barefoot in any of the above listed situation will guarantee you a
> serious fall.
> And yes, the old dogs object strenuously and you end up filling the house
> with room sized rugs, which isn't half bad. I always considered them semi
> disposable.
> If I had it to do over again I would get the roughest slate I could find.
> --
> Toni
> http://www.cearbhaill.com/rules.htm

I'm located in Ontario, Canada, which means it's cold for a good part
of the year, so tile in the whole house wouldn't be a good thing ...
plus I don't think my wife would like the look of a tiled living room
and bedrooms. Whatever we pick I think it's gonna have to look like
wood.

Thanks,
Harry

P.S. Anyone ever heard of waterproof laminate? Seems to exist in the
UK, but can't find anything in Canada.

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