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Our current home has inlaid vinyl flooring for the kitchen, entrance hallway, and first floor bath that is over 20 years old. My wife has done a remarkable job keeping this material appearing nearly new for all this time; until the past two years when the toe nails of our grown children's pets have caused damage during their periodic visits.
The most damage is done by the Shiba Inu Grand-puppy. Our youngest son has oak floors in portions of the first floor of his Raleigh Condo and the dog's nails haven't done much visible damage. The few shallow scratches can probably be polished out, or eliminated by refinishing the floors when he chooses.
We have considered porcelain tile but worry that it is now a "dated" material for use in home kitchens and hallways (why replace one dated material with another?). Hardwoods are a possibility. Bamboo, a renewable material, is another option we have considered but we question how well this will withstand the dog nails. Same concerns apply for recycled Palm wood flooring. Cork can be beautiful, is warmer than tile, and absorbs sound, but it may be far too soft also.
Laminet, tile, stone, marble type floors work best. Real hardwood like oak are horrible as they get scratched. Carpet, traps hair dander urine, feces etc. nasty. I would go with Travertine personally. It is a bit expensive, but it is an incredible stone based tile. It traps heat and radiats it, is very heavy, won't scratch, will last forever, is easy to clean and never ages or fades. Runs about $10 sq ft installed, or $5 if you can put it in yourself. It's an absolutely beautiful all natural foor. I put some in my home's main living and entry area and love it!
I wouldn't not get hardwoods - the hardwood foyer in my previous house did not hold up well at all. My current house has Pergo - so far it's indestructible, but probably not the best choice since you just have dog visitors and not full-time canines in residence. I think tile, slate or stone of some sort would be very nice.
We spend most of our time here in a sunny room with our Boston...the rest of the house is pretty much off limits to her. The flooring in that room is smooth 12" ceramic tile. Sweep and mop is all that it requires, and it's holding up very nice after 10 years.
When we had our hardwoods installed in our new house we had them finished with what's known as a "high traffic finish" which has so far VERY successfully withstood the nails of our large dog & heavy foot traffic. I would highly recommend it.
Also, as far as woods go, the harder woods would be a safer bet (white oak is harder than red oak, so we went with white).
When we had our hardwoods installed in our new house we had them finished with what's known as a "high traffic finish" which has so far VERY successfully withstood the nails of our large dog & heavy foot traffic. I would highly recommend it.
Also, as far as woods go, the harder woods would be a safer bet (white oak is harder than red oak, so we went with white).
We had the high-traffic finish put on our hardwoods (white oak) too when we had them refinished last year. They're holding up very well! We have 2 dogs who have the run of the house, and the floors still look great...
I would go with laminate since the hardwoods scratch. It also doesn't soak up liquids like hardwoods do either.
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