Best flooring for living room when two dogs live here?

zaksmum

calicocat wrote: »

I used to have carpet and also used the bicarb every week, it seemed to work and always asked friends if it had a doggy smell and no-one said it did. I had a small dog at the time though so no huge wet smelly lurkers padding around, when I had big dogs they were in the kitchen until dry.


I recently have laminate as have moved, and I have to say it does worry me. It's great for flinging balls around etc but I watch my elderly cat on it and cringe sometimes waiting for her to break a leg or put a hip out. I would have the same concerns for a dog. My plan is to eventually get two big rugs to put down so most of it is covered. Then in the future when I have a dog again I can roll it up if they are dirty until dry/clean etc ,but have the main covered for everyday.

Proper wooden floors are much better than laminate...but expensive.

I worry about the dogs slipping too. Not so much Jack as he's young and agile, but Lucy's almost 11 and if she had a fall it would be trouble for her.

I got a price for real wood floors but I'm still in shock!:eek:

calicocat

zaksmum wrote: »

I worry about the dogs slipping too. Not so much Jack as he's young and agile, but Lucy's almost 11 and if she had a fall it would be trouble for her.

I got a price for real wood floors but I'm still in shock!:eek:

I'll bet you are....lol.

You could go with the laminate though and put rugs down. No matter what age I think I would worry, if my norwich had lived with laminate he would have done his back in way before he did as he would skydive off the sofa for various reasons. If you have calmer dogs though the problem wouldn't be as bad.

Also the 'click click click' noise would irritate me.

The positive though is that from a muck and hair point of view it is definitely easier to keep clean.

Those rugs in the link Krlyr gave look quite good actually, and not expensive so even if they got wiffy not too much to replace every so often, and already nonslip. I might get one of those for the space where I tend to throw the balls about......so in fact eventually all my laminate will in fact be covered in the end.......??.....lol.

krlyr

They're machine washable too - though mine are far too big (was going to take them to the local launderette but they closed down). They can be hosed down or pressurewashed outside though, but for me they're fine if I just hoover and brush them down regularly and occasionally do the bicarb treatment. Spotcleaning with vinegar seems to have done the trick the odd time they've got more than just mud on them.

zaksmum

It's not just the mud we have to worry about. My existing carpet has had everything thrown at it.

Both dogs being sick and the odd episode involving horrendously loose canine bowels...! Drinks knocked over by wagging tails, blood from a cut paw...thank God for my petVax.

Wood or laminate would be the end of all that at least.

Katiehound

Just want to point out there is a big difference between laminate & vinyl. I have experience of both (oh and real wood come to that!)
The vinyl is glued down so makes very little sound and mine has wood grain so not slippery. The laminate tends to echo dog claws and mine is fairly shiny- it was a lot cheaper than the vinyl, and also much cheaper to install. In the long run I suspect the vinyl will win hands down. The variety I have has been laid in a lot of local shops recently so clearly they are expecting it to wear and wear......
I have some varnished pine boards upstairs and am thinking I would like them covered with vinyl. The varnish has scratched badly and there are draughts from between the boards- they were new about 15 years ago. Would not choose that option again! Please note- pine boards rather than oak- so a soft wood.

calicocat

Thinking about the laminate flooring due to last post, mine isn't the shiny type (in fact a couple of people have thought it was wood), if you go for laminate I would avoid the very shiny type as I would think this would be the most slippery?...I have no idea which type is the cheaper as this was down when I got the house, but if the non shiny is more expensive it may pay to fork out a little more.



And you are right about the body fluids and other stuff, cat sick on laminate just picks up, no scrubbing of carpet. When I removed the carpet from my old place to chuck out I was disgusted....i could see where the dog had been piddling all over in old age and unbeknown to me.

The more I read this thread the more non carpet does actually sound much better on a lot of levels...well hygiene for sure.

Years ago I had the kitchen, laundry,passage and snug stone flagged and tiled with the odd rugs, this again is expensive though...(but was fab for larger dogs) and practical other than smashing anything dropped...and this country is too cold for living spaces in this.

Good luck with the research

zaksmum

My friend has the shiny stuff which I definitely wouldn't want. Even with shoes on it feels slippy.

I like the stuff with indentations like real wood grain.

elsien

I remember with first mutt when the vinyl was first put down. She was old and wobbly and kept getting stuck in the middle of the dining room where she'd slipped and frozen to the spot. We'd realise we'd not seen her for a while, go searching, and find her playing musical statues. In the end we dotted a few carpet tiles as stepping stones for her. Looked a bit odd, but did the trick.

YORKSHIRELASS

Our dog spends most of his time in the kitchen/diner or utility room where the floor is tiled. We have a beige/brown fleck carpet in the living room but to be honest we only go in there on an evening to watch telly so its easy to keep it clean.

Oh and we have a white dog - our landing/stairs carpet is dark red - very bad combination! Cant wait to get rid of it (the carpet, not the dog)!

ladymarmalade222

Another vote for Karndean here too. We have it throughout the downstairs. With football mad boys and a dog it is an absolute godsend. We have had it down about 4 yrs now and it still looks like new. I run my vax steamer over it and it is clean in no time.

I agree, the preparation for fitting does cost as much as the Karndean but it has been worth every penny!

HTH

xxx