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How many of you have hardwood floor in your house?

Bronte

Bronte

Well-known member
I see in alot of the wonderful photos posted woodflooring in your homes.

I love wood floor but with Griffin (my golden) and Charlotte on the way I am scared to get them and need to make a decision soon.

Do any of you have hardwood that you would say is great in the battle against scratches and gouges?

Any advice?
 
hi,

i used to work for a flooring company (until last week ;) ) and i advise...

Solid wood looks great, retains heat and will last a long time as long as it's looked after, however it will scratch (i've never seen a tree without a scratch on it ;) ) but i think it adds to the character of the wood it also proves its solid wood, and dogs are *less likely* to slip on it unless its higly polished (but this would show more scratches so would go for a more natural look ie oiled not varnished/laquered)

Laminate doesn't scratch as easily, but won't last as long, dogs can slip on it unless you use a paw wax or something similar on their pads. it is also colder to the touch than solid wood, is easily damaged if it gets wet (doggie accidents) but is more cost effective in the short term.

hope that helps
 
Great advice..thank you.

So hardwood over laminate which is what I would prefer.

I just wish I knew of a color that really didn't highlight scratches or a brand/type that was pretty and good and strong!
 
I have had hardwood floors in the last 3 houses that I own and I have dogs. In every house, I have refinished the wood floors before moving in. Sanded them down and then put a few layers of clear polyurethane on them.

It is much easier to keep them clean, than carpet. I don't mind or look for the scratches. They happen not only from dogs, but furniture, shoes, etc. Only you can see them, majority of people will never notice. And if you think it is getting too bad, you can always get them refinished again.
 
sorry can't really advise you as regards to a brand, as i'm in the uk.

however the thicker the board the longer it will last, as you are advised to sand and re-oil every 10 years to bring your flooring to it's original state, taking just 1mm top layer off an 18mm board will last 80 years!!! (max 8mm taken off) or 120 years if you get a 22mm think board.

when looking for a solid wood ask for one thats made out of heartwood as it's the strongest part of the tree. and Oak and Birch are the most popular types of solid wood used at the moment.
 
Pauline, what you did to those floors is down right amazing! GOOD JOB!

I love the blonde color of them!

Charleen, what color wood have you had?
Was is dark or light colored?

I have heard that the lighter the floor the less the scratches show.

I had a friend with soild cherry floors and her greyhound DESTROYED them in one year.

Not the kind of scratches that give wood the naturally dissressed beautiful look. They had full on gouges.

That scared me to death! LOL!
 
Bronte said:
I see in alot of the wonderful photos posted woodflooring in your homes.

I love wood floor but with Griffin (my golden) and Charlotte on the way I am scared to get them and need to make a decision soon.

Do any of you have hardwood that you would say is great in the battle against scratches and gouges?

Any advice?
Click to expand...

We bought hardwood flooring that is already distressed just for this reason. It is Bruce hardwood, and the distressing is blackened (if that makes sense?!). Our salesman told us if a new scratch happens, just apply a bit of black shoe polish in the scratch and buff it out, and VOILA! you can never tell. My house is new.. just moved in last June, but I love the floor! Should I take a picture of it so you can see what I mean by distressed?
 
hardwood

We do have hardwoods in most of our house but our house was already 10 years old when we moved in. I echo the sentiment about the thicker the floors, the more likely it is to be able to "buff" out the scratches. Bianca is quite good-she is used to a nail trim every other week and Mike has a "dremel'?sp that he uses to keep em rounded on the tips. But to be honest when we moved in, there were already some scratches from the furniture, etc. They'll probably be due for a resurfacing in a couple of years. We do love our terra-cotta tile, though, in the laundry room and bathrooms. It's the lowest maintenance of all. -Natalie
 
Breeders with lots of dogs seem to opt for hardwood and tile and not carpet.

I have pine floors that are 110 years old and they stand up pretty well. They are varnished but a medium brown due to the age of the boards. Keep in mind pine is a softer wood too! The marks I have on my floor are diue to furniture etc -- none that I can tell is rom the dogs.

Heather thanks for the rundown -- interesting!
 
I have hardwoods through out my house except for the bedrooms. We just built the house and have only been in 6 mos. so I don't have many scratches. I have noticed just a few little surface scratches from Lily, but not many. I use one of those furniture repair marks-a-lots in the color of my stain for scratches. I rub it on my finger and then dab it on the scratch and blend with my finger. It works great. I love the idea of the distressed wood Barb was talking about. My floors are stained a medium to dark stain. I would think the lighter stain would show less scratches.

I do have area rugs in all the rooms where I have hardwoods. So, as far as accidents go, every single time Lily has peed, pooped, or thrown up, she runs for the rugs. Never has she had any accidents on the hardwoods. :sl*p:
 
I have this flooring in 'harvest oak' in the downstairs of our house.

http://qs2006.quick-step.com/range.aspx?group2=PLPE95&group=PLPE4_95&group3=PLPEW95&id=6&sound=N

I can honestly say that I would have it again as it's wonderful. It's great with the dogs as it's textured so they don't slip, the colour doesn't show up the marks that a light wood does (I know I had light wood in my last house!) & it's so hard wearing. It's also really warm to walk on. I've rarely got anything on my feet, even in the winter & don't find it at all cold.

We've got other colours and designs of this make in our bedrooms and we've used the green fibre boards as underlay as they absorb sound - a necessity when you've got noisy sons! They are also warmer than the 'bubbly' underlay.

Good luck in finding a flooring :)
 
I am so glad that so many of you have wood and your happy with it.

Maxxs_Mummy & BarbMazz if you ever get a chance to post photos of your floors I would be so greatful.
 
Bronte, I'll take one of my hallway tomorrow for you. Then you can see what it's like properly - I have got large rugs in both the rooms so you don't really get a good view of the flooring!
 
Thanks so much!

I really think that wood floors make a house look warm and cozy.

I just want to make sure we pick a solid, thick wood in a color that looks good in our house and will wear well.

I know the dark cherry wood is out but the harvest oak looks like a great color. There are a few shades of the harvest oak so your pics will hep me determine the one you have

Karlin, I can't believe that your floors are 110 years old, that must look so amazing!
 
Just found a pic of Maxx out in the hallway - excuse my son's smelly slippers in the photo - they never put anything away after them!

100_0122.jpg


If you look on the Europe/English version of the Quick step site you will see a Cavalier in one of the slideshow photos :D

Personally i wouldn't have cherry wood downstairs - we've got it in our spare room and whilst it is beautiful, it is dark and shows up every single mark - imagine muddy doggy paws all over it :yikes :lol:

And one of Charlie in Maxx's basket in the dining room

Charlie2101105.jpg
 
We re-did floors a few years ago. Removed an old parquet floor from the living room, took carpeting out of bedrooms and put new hardwood down. It has worn really well, but I can't remember the name of it. I can look in the garage if you want me to. And we haven't been gentle with it. As others have said, I think that the humans do more damage than the dogs. We're just a bit heavier! My other rooms are tile. Curtains and carpeting are two of my least favorite things! :D
 
Our House was built before 1852, although we don't know the exact year, a local historian can place it back that far... So, we're in the neighborhood of having wood floors lasting at least 150 years. Anyway, our hardwood floors are scratched up and need to be refinished...but with all the projects in trying to deal with a very old house, they don't get refinished as often as they perhaps should. I think the floors have character, and if sanded to perfection would make the rest of the house look run down. I love our floors and this old house. I think wood floors stand the test of time.
 
Lynn, that sounds wonderful! I've always loved old houses - although it would have to be re-wired and plumbing redone before I moved in!! :D Our house is around 30 years old and we've had to have both of those done since we've been here.
 
Our house was built in 1942, and has hardwood floors throughout which are in surprisingly good shape. I recently (as in two weeks ago) put down this floor sealant/shine called "Rejuvinate" that really made our floors sparkle. They look beautiful, but it now shows scratches from simply sliding a dining room chair :x Again, probably only I notice this, but still. It was one of those rare "as seen on tv things" that was actually worth the money.
 
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