Olivia Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 My husband and I are in the process of buying some acreage for sheep and we will be building a house on the property. The issue I'm have is what kind of flooring to use. I'm afraid that hard wood is just going to get scratched to hades. I thought about laminate, pergo type, but I was told that scratches easily. Considered tile but we are doing this on a budget and I think tile may be out of that. Any ideas? Recommendations or things you wouldn't do again? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Are you DIYers? (do it yourself) If so, tile may not be out of your budget IF you do it yourself. In this area (SW Virginia), I can buy very decent floor tile for $3 per sq ft (maybe less if you can find some overstock or discontinued tiles). Add in the extra for thin-set and grout, and you could probably do it for about $4 per sq ft all in. Tile people are going to charge $4-$7 per sq ft for install (again, this area). Not sure of what your budget is, but I wouldn't dismiss tile right off the bat. Price it out, but again, you have to be willing to do it yourself. If you do choose tile, make sure to buy some that have some 'tooth' to them to prevent slippage. Most tile should have a COF rating (coefficient of friction), but you can tell just by feeling. Distressed hardwood is very popular right now. I think that is a wonderful thing because the dogs are going to distress it too, and the wear will blend in better than if you bought a smooth hardwood. Also, smooth hardwood will be slippery. Our senior dog can not walk on our hardwood floors so we have mismatched throw rugs and runners all over the house in her 'traffic patterns'. I think the finish on the pre-finished hardwoods are more durable than what a local flooring guy can provide. Usually they have more coats and it is baked on. We are actually in the process of building a house too and have wrestled with the flooring material and budget. I LOVE the current crop of tile that simulates wood, but even though I can find a decent price on it (maybe $5 per sq ft), and I am a DIYer, I am not up to tiling an entire house or even one floor. (And I have quite a bit of experience with tiling, but I am terribly slow so my husband doesn't want to wait for me to tile as he believes I would hold up the rest of the build - and he may be right on this one. I also don't think my back can take such a large project.) We have been keeping our eye on Lumber Liquidators for sales, and are very interested in the distressed hardwood floors they have. Have you considered vinyl tiles? I don't know pricing or how they wear, but I have seen some really nice ones. Are you building on a slab? If so, I would just have a concrete floor. Good Luck with your choices. I have come to realize that there is no perfect flooring - particularly if one is on a budget. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordercentrics Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 We have laminate in our kitchen (Alloc brand) and it hasn't scratched in 10 plus years. It is a problem for our dysplastic dog, however, as his footing isn't good enough for him to feel safe, so we have lots of rugs for him now. When I remodeled my sewing room, we used a different product that looks like laminate but is called Trafficmaster Resilient Flooring. We got it at Home Depot and I think it was less expensive than laminate. Since there is no dog traffic in my sewing room, I can't tell you about wear, but it has the texture of real wood, and never seems to need cleaning. I finally washed that floor after a year just because.....It was very easy to install, too. About the laminate, rather than a scratching problem, I find that it spots very badly with dog drool. Just a thought, as it will need washing frequently if you like clean floors. Kathy Robbins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chan Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 We renovated a house 6 years ago. At the time, we had a laminate that looks like wide planks throughout the upstairs and we move it to the basement. We put pre-finished hardwood in the upstairs. It has held up well. If you look close you can see some indentions in the wood in a few high traffic areas but the finish hasn't been scratched off. My dogs don't do heavy running or playing upstairs. The laminate in the basement is great!! No scratches at all and that area has been heavily used by three teenage boys and multiple friends - there is a pool table and ping pong table down there. The dogs have also at times run amok down there. The laminate was less costly than the hardwood, and has held up great, it also doesn't ever really look dirty. Our hardwoods upstairs look beautiful for about 5 minutes after they are mopped and then they begin to show smudges where people/dogs walk. It was a fairly expensive brand. The laminate came from Lowes or Home Depot I believe. So, I would definitely recommend checking into laminate. Sometimes it can be hard to tell they aren't the real thing. Enjoy your new home! Chandra Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 If you're looking into flooring from Lumber Liquidators, be aware that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating their Chinese made flooring for formaldehyde levels that exceed safety standards, at least in CA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivia Posted May 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Thanks y'all! We are definitely not DIYers. We will be depending on the builders to install everything. I did hear about luxury vinyl tiles that are supposed to be very tough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 If you're looking into flooring from Lumber Liquidators, be aware that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating their Chinese made flooring for formaldehyde levels that exceed safety standards, at least in CA. I watched the 60 Minutes report about LL and have followed in the papers too. The Chinese product that had high formaldehyde levels was the laminate flooring, not the hardwoods. I don't know if any testing has been done on the hardwood products from China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cass C Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I have laminate in the majority of my house excluding the bedrooms and it has held up very well to two dogs and three cats. The dogs wrestle in the house and race around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloria Atwater Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I've seen one house done in a vinyl flooring that *looked* just like wood and it's worn like iron, even with several Belgian Malinois trampling in and out. ~ Gloria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rushdoggie Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 My house is completely laminate and in 8 years there is almost no visible wear anywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borasaurus Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 If you're looking into flooring from Lumber Liquidators, be aware that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating their Chinese made flooring for formaldehyde levels that exceed safety standards, at least in CA. My mom and I were just talking about that randomly the other day, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald McCaig Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 Dear DIYers, We bought the old red oak flooring torn out of our church for $1000, hired a professional and assisted him for two weeks, denailing installing, sanding (rental equipment) and polyurethaning 1200 sq feet - another $1500 all told. It's held up fine (working farm, manure, mud, dogs) with weekly swiffering and will see me out. If there's a building salvage near you it may pay to visit. Donald McCaig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjones Posted May 18, 2015 Report Share Posted May 18, 2015 I have laminate wood look flooring. I would have gone with wood but too expensive. I haven't had any problems with damange from dog nails. Its easy to clean and looks nice. The only down side is that it is slippery, but I have rugs around to keep the dogs from doing too much slipping. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olivia Posted May 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thanks! We went to home depot and the guy scratched a piece of laminate flooring with his knife and told us that it would scratch very easily. It seems like a knife pint and dog nails are very different but I just wanted some first hand recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 Thanks! We went to home depot and the guy scratched a piece of laminate flooring with his knife and told us that it would scratch very easily. It seems like a knife pint and dog nails are very different but I just wanted some first hand recommendations. I don't recommend scratching any flooring, even tile, with a knife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted May 19, 2015 Report Share Posted May 19, 2015 I pet sit and a number of pet homes I've been in have laminate. I haven't noticed any that's all scratched up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Root Beer Posted May 20, 2015 Report Share Posted May 20, 2015 We put laminate in a bedroom and haven't had any problem with scratching. We put area rugs down for the dogs, and they use them - they always hop off the bed onto a rug, and they tend to stick to the rugs when they have a choice. If we put more in the house, we will definitely provide plenty of rugs for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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