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Hey,
We've had a number of dogs over the years, they've walked on everything from linoleum to hardwood, which most dogs when they're younger can manage with any surface. Our last two dogs, when they got much older, had a very hard time walking across our kitchen floor. It is linoleum, pretty slick and older, and they would slip and fall hard. So, we have rubber-backed scatter rugs all thru there, which looks messy and they really don't work all that well, plus coverage is incomplete for dog paws. And we have to drag the throws out onto the patio and hose them off, another pain. So, we want to put something down appropriate for kitchen cleanups and also non-slip, a complete new floor.
Sooooooo, I'm hoping someone here can tell us what kind of floor can we lay down in the kitchen that will not slip? Our older dogs are gone now, but we're going to get a new dog in a couple weeks or so, and I would kind of like to take care of the situation now. It would be great to have a regular kitchen floor with just the usual throws in front of the sink and stove. I thought about cork, but they say they're covered with a sealer, so I don't know if that would be slippery or not. I like cork a lot and want to get a roll of it and go the easy route, just stick it down over our old linoleum. Any news on best brand, or is there something better than cork? Or maybe we should just clean our existing linoleum really well and then sand it? Or would that make it too prickly? Thanks for any help.
GG
I have the same issue, and was hoping cork would be a good solution. I'd love to hear what others think about cork!
I'm afraid that indoor/outdoor carpet might be best, though. It's ugly but not slippery. I live in two different houses at different times of the year, and the one with carpet on the floor (which I hate) is much easier for my arthritic 11 yr old dog than the one with the pretty hardwood floors.
Also, keeping the dog's nails trimmed helps a lot. For some reason it seems their nails grow more quickly as they age - has anyone else noticed that?
I haven't had cork in my home but have see it at a friend's restaurant. It's not the same as a roll of cork, it's specifically engineered for flooring and usually comes in tiles, I think they are pre-sealed. They didn't seem slick and did have some give but not as much as a cork board. I think you would have to go to a speciality floor store to get good information on it's wearability.
new modern commerical RUBBER tiles come in the look of everything from wood to stone pavers. They are resilient enough to use as everyday comfort flooring, durable enough to withstand heavy people, animal, and kitchen traffic and issues, they can be permenat or removable in installation, they are slip resistant (more like non-slip) and the prices have come down as they become more and more popular. The days of being in garages and commerical kitchens are long gone and you will sometimes frind them at the entrances to luxuary hotels, on dance floors of clubs, used in convention centers, etc.
Stone. We have stone in our kitchen area (kitchen, breakfast nook, laundry room, etc). It's kind of that rougher porous texture (not shiny). But it doesn't feel rough on your feet.
It looks fantastic and the dogs don't slip. Unless they are running 100mph. Then they'd slip on anything.
Thanks to everyone for your comments!!! I recently looked online at rubber floors, too! I noticed rolls of cork seem to be an underlayment thing, won't repel water like sealed cork square kinds. But the rubber DOES come in rolls. Anyway, I have pretty much decided when we redo the kitchen floor, we'll go to the big hardware places and look at the cork and rubber stuff available, and choose one of those. But I DO like the idea of stone, too. We have fake stone peel and stick squares in the bathrooms (slippery), so stone in the kitchen would "go" with our house. Well, whenever we do this, and I'm a little hesitant for a quick fix now becuz of prices, then I'll come back and add onto here what we did. And I will check back at this until it disappears onto another page.
Don expect to see much in the way of the newer materials (rubber, dense cork, epoxy, etc) at the home improvement stores. Most are only sod and installed through vendors skilled in those products. Note, I;m not talking the rubber, cork, and others that are of average quality generally sold to DIYers, I;m talking the new moderen designer items where a rubber floor looks and feels exactly like some other material with the added bonus of being resistant to most substances that are spilled and very forgiving of harsh treatment such as drops and pet nails.
Thanks, Pacific, for the tips. We would get something just a little better than the rather rough versions of cork or rubber, and I have seen how awful-looking some of those are! But hopefully they'll at least have cork in a square tile format, but just not as worked to look like something they aren't. If they were, they'd be so hermitically sealed and polished that the dogs would slip on them anyway!
I do wonder, if a paste-and-stick tile of whatever property had some rough edges on it, to resemble stone for example, if that would be at least fairly non-slip? Anybody got ideas on that? Also, we'll be going to the doggie store soon to pick up the food we like to feed our dogs, and I suppose THEY just might have a few rolls of SOMETHING that is non-slip but still looks fairly nice!
I also lived with runners and scatter rugs for a few years. My big guy had TPLO surgeries on both legs and was petrified of any slippery floor, fearing he would slip and fall. Finally got sick of all the rugs and went shopping for new flooring. The show room people probably thought I was nuts, feeling all the samples before deciding if they passed the "slip" test. Finally settled on a Mannington sheet vinyl product - called Sobella (I think?). My dog walks across the kitchen floor with no problems. The pattern I picked looks a lot like ceramic tile, and has some slight texturing. Very easy to maintain - just wash with amonia and water. I love it and my dog is happy now.
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