The Flooring Expert

Q: How will a hardwood floor hold up with pets?

A: This will depend on how active your pets are. Most floors have aluminum oxide or similar protective measures added to their finish to prevent abrasion, but no floor is bullet proof. Certain types of flooring with higher hardness ratings can be more dent resistant, but this does not affect how resistant a floor is to scratching.

Your best solution to keep your hardwood floors beautiful while letting your pets roam your home is to keep your pets groomed and ensure they are potty trained. Scratching and Staining is the most common problem when combining our beloved pets with a wood floor. Hardwood floors are more susceptible to scratches from a larger pet's claws. Even tile, although nearly impervious to scratches, is vulnerable to strains from pet urine due to grout lines and potentially porous surfaces.

As with any floor, to prevent staining from urine or any other accident, it is important to spot clean the area immediately and to perform proper and regular maintenance on your floor with the right cleaning products. This practice will help your floor retain its beauty for a longer period of time.

Q: We just installed Pergo laminate flooring in our dining area - it looks great!! My question is - we have a 55 gallon aquarium that weighs roughly 650 lbs. when full of water - can we move our tank into the dining area safely? Will the weight hurt the floor?

Jessica

A: When it comes to any floating floor, such as your Pergo®, it is not advised to put anything that is especially heavy on one portion of your floor, such as book cases, cabinets, or aquariums. This being said, this can depend heavily on the underlayment you use as well. Dense underlayments, such as cork, can support weight better than the typical foam underlayment.

There are folks who will put heavy objects, such as pool tables, in a rec room over floating cork or laminate and have success with it. Being an aquarium keeper myself, I would be curious to know what type of tank you have and what type of base you used for it. A longer rectangular tank would spread the weight over a larger area and perhaps be more suitable. Although I would advise putting your aquarium elsewhere since this is a floating floor.

In the end, another thing to keep in mind is wood and water do NOT mix. So should a spill occur, whether when cleaning your tank, changing water changing items in the tank, etc., you run a big risk or ruining the laminate unless many precautions are taken. I personally lay down towels around my tank before doing anything that could involve spills and my tank sits over stone tiling.

To summarize: I would generally not suggest placing something heavy, such as your aquarium, over a floating floor. Wood and water do not mix; however, this is your floor and your home so you can do anything you like – just be prepared for consequences.

Q: Thanks for all the informative articles on laminate flooring. I still have one question before purchasing. Perhaps you can help. I want to put new flooring down in my utility room and kitchen. I have read the info about water in utility room and I am taking that into consideration. My question is-
Is there a laminate that WILL NOT show scratch marks from dog's toe nails? I am considering laminate or vinyl.

Thank you.

A: I'm glad you like Steve's educational articles such as Brand Wars II: A Laminate Showdown.

When it comes to putting a floor in an area where you are more likely to encounter water, such as bathrooms, kitchens, and utility rooms (I've had my washer flood a few times sadly); the mind set of wood and water do NOT mix is good to keep in mind. Now several people have had past with various floors in these areas including 3/4” solid hardwood floors which I tend to cringe at the thought of installing in a high potential moisture area.

Your major question has to do with pets, namely dog toe nails. Unfortunately with wood flooring, even super tough floors like AC5 rated laminates, no floor is impervious to damage. That being said, if you keep your dog's nails trimmed this will significantly help in reducing scratches.

In your case, when combining dogs and water, I would honestly suggest using a vinyl product or a higher rated laminate such as Westhollow's Vise-Loc series. Using cheaper laminates would not be advised.

Congoleum makes a very nice, very easy to install wood looking vinyl in their forum plank and regal plank collections. This way you can still get the great look of wood, but the durability and benefits of a vinyl. This is actually one of Steve's top picks for DIY friendly products and from the time I have had to look over the Congoleum planks myself, it looks great!

Keep in mind, nothing will be impervious to traffic from our furry friends, but with a few precautions such as trimming nails we can vastly improve the longevity of a floor. Our purchasing specialist, Ryan W., related the story of his own floor and pet experience. Ryan has Westhollow's South American Walnut installed in his home with his dog Jin. Jin is an 85 lbs. Dog who loves playing. Ryan mentioned that he has had this floor for 2 years without a single mark on it. He mentioned occasionally when Jin “gets a bit crazy” he'll leave white marks on the floor, but these are from his nails and not damage to the floor. A simple wipe with a lightly dampened cloth and they are gone.

Here is a picture Ryan took of his floor, you'll notice a few of the white marks left by Jin's nails (and the use of a nice area rug to protect the floor with furniture over the top)

Here's a picture of Ryan's dog Jin. To give you and idea of the type of dog running over his laminate floor.

Ryan and I both agree that if the room has high humidity or there are issues with standing water, such as a leak from a washer, then laminate might not be the best bet. Ryan commented "If the room has normal moisture in the air, 28 to 40 percent, then it should be no issue. You just can't put wet clothes on the floor or leave standing water on it, like I always say: it's a floor not a pool and if you treat it like a floor then you should have little or no issues"

So, as long as you trim your dog's nails and prevent moisture issues like standing water or high humidity, a good laminate can stand the test of time even with medium sized dog like Jin. Now keep in mind, some rather large dogs like Great Danes or St. Bernards might not be as forgiving to a floor and now floor is impervious to damage, but many are rather tough. Good luck!

This morning I received an email from one of our great store managers over in Charlotte, Nathan, and I thought it would be great to share his experience with his own pets and his floor

Bentley,

I just read your Q & A column on the website and was VERY impressed. A LOT of great info. I have already had the opportunity to turn several customers on to this user-friendly method of getting info to the masses. I admit that I learned about it from Steve's Blog so "KUDOS" to Steve for sending me in the right direction.

I wanted to throw in my "two-cents" about your response to the customer that had a question about floor scratching and dog's nails. Your response was great and I wanted to share a small additional piece of info that might help other customers. Most dogs (like mine, an Aussie) have fur growing between the pads on their feet. If you keep that fur cut back it will allow the animal to use the natural traction of their pads to keep from having to "deploy" their nails to try and stay balanced. It is an often overseen trick that is generally easier than clipping the nails and can help keep the "clicking" noise down as well. We have the Westhollow White Oak Natural 3/8" engineered in our home and it looks great (even with a 50lb Aussie and 4 cats that probably weigh more than the dog)!!!

I will continue to keep up with your column and I hope this helps!

At your service,

Nate

Q: We are looking at putting hardwood floor / laminate in our home. Just wondered what you would recommend for a high traffic area, plus we have 2 kids and a dog. We need something durable. Our home has white wash oak trim throughout, was wondering also if this would be a wise choice for flooring being it is a lighter color.

Thanks!
Tami S.

A: When looking for a durable floor laminate is a great choice. As we discussed about Ryan W.'s dog Jin and his floor. A good AC4 or AC5 rated laminate with proper care taken will stand up great to the traffic of kids and a dog.

The key here is keep your dog's nails trimmed and ensure you used a good underlayment along with purchasing a good floor. You can also look into several engineered hardwood floors, such as Bellefloor or Philharmoniker, but if you want to ensure greater durability go with a laminate.

Try taking a look at Westhollow's Vise-Loc products, Pergo Select, or Quick Step's Perspective for a few great laminates that should fit your project. I would personally suggest using a 3mm cork underlayment below the floor to give it a great feel, reduce sound, and to have an underlayment which is naturally better at handling higher traffic.

Q: I have read all the great articles on your site comparing solid and engineered wood floors and laminates. Great articles. I have read the recommendations / reviews of the hardwoods and laminates that you have created. Again - great stuff.

Thanks - Kevin

A: There are several approaches you can take at this point. I understand why your builder suggests avoiding a wood floor, but you can use a wood floor with active dogs. There are a few things you can do to increase the lifespan of a wood floor and drastically decreases the likeliness of scratching from your dogs.

To begin, you will want to find a good floor. Typically this is achieved with a AC4 or AC5 rated laminate such as Pergo Select, Westhollow, Wilsonart Red Label, and Quickstep Perspective. AC4 and AC5 rated laminate is where you begin to run into laminates that can take light commercial traffic, meaning they are tough. You can also look into the route of an engineered hardwood floor. Based on the weight of your dogs, I would suggest getting a wood that is at least as hard as white oak. Anything softer, like American Cherry or Black Walnut, will be too soft and is likely to dent.

Scratches will occur over time no matter the wood floor you choose, even the toughest laminates will get some scratching. When scratching occurs, it usually causes a white colored streak ad the finish is scratched. Over time these will blend in a bit and not be white streaks across your floor.

With your dogs, I suggest keeping their nails trimmed. This will drastically reduce the potential for scratching from your dogs. Beyond keeping your dogs' nails trimmed, if you keep up proper maintenance and cleaning you will increase the lifespan of your floor and keep your floor looking great.

As I always suggest with any floating floor, get a good underlayment. With active dogs, I'd suggest my underlayment of choice: cork. Due to cork's density, cork can stand the test of time far better than other underlayments – plus it feels great under your feet. You can also use Sound 6 Barrier Acoustical Underlayment to get the best sound out of your floor. Laminate will have a “hollow” or “clicky”sound when walked over, but this is reduced by underlayment, so the better the underlayment, the better the sound. Sound 6 is designed specifically to reduce sound and give a more solid wood floor sound.

In regards to the repetition with laminate, if you intend to put the same floor throughout your home you could run into this issue, which is why an engineered hardwood could be a route to consider. One thing you can do to reduce this, is to pull planks of the floor from 5 – 6 boxes at a time when laying a floor. This will help to randomize the appearance. Another approach you can take is to use a different floor in each area, which will give each room its own look along with helping to hide repetition.

For your kitchen, tile can be great as it can take a lot of abuse without getting scratched. Also, tile is great when it comes to moisture worries. However, you can keep with a wood floor, as it seems your own Pergo has stood the test of time.

When it comes to cost, laminate and engineered hardwood can save a great deal of money when compared to solid hardwood floors, and engineered wood floors add great value to your home. A few things I suggest, look into financing and find a floor you love. Don't buy a floor just because the price is good, find one that fits your project and the look you want. Financing is common these days and can be a great way to make the cost of a new floor easier to handle, which is part of the reason why iFLOOR.com offers financing, to help our customers get the floor they want.

I hope this helps you make decisions on your new floor and when you do get everything done, send us some pictures!

Q: We raise Shih Tzus dogs and we installed Wilsonart Flooring in a kitchen/dining/living area portion of our basement area a few years ago. Our dogs don't stay on this area but sometimes they have an accident and we clean it up as soon as we notice it. My main problem with this flooring is that it shows everything, is difficult to keep clean, clean and it is noisy. The dogs run across the floor but have not scratched it which is the only good thing I can say about it. Right after I clean it, it looks great but it's just been very hard to maintain.

Thanks,
Barbara F.

A: Situations like yours can be very tricky, but the end all question here is durability vs noise. Laminate is your best bet when it comes to durability. Although its naturally louder than other wood floors, there are a few tips to help suppress most of the noise. The other thought would be to use something like cork. Since you have smaller dogs, I would have less worry of their nails digging into the floor.

For laminate, make sure to get a thicker laminate (usually 10mm+ is your best bet) and use a good underlayment for sound control such as cork or Sound 6. This will help reduce most of the noise. Also, use a lighter color as this can help hide some of the dust.

With Cork, look into a site finish to help give a bit of extra protection from pet messes. If you intend to site finish the floor, you will want to glue down the cork, otherwise, I would float the cork using a 3mm cork underlayment to give the floor a bit of extra sound suppression and keep the floor a bit more solid than if you use a foam underlayment. Cork is naturally resistant to moisture, but this does not mean it is impervious to moisture issues. As long as your installation is done with care and the locks on the floating cork engaged well you should have little worry about pet messes, but always clean them up ASAP.

A few tips with your pets to help reduce scratching. Always ensure you keep your dogs' nails trimmed and should any longer hair (in the case of Shih Tzus) or fur (in the case of most of our pawed friends) be covering the pads on your dogs' feet, trim this away to allow your dogs to use the natural traction of their pads, this will prevent them from digging in with their nails to get traction.

With your Granddaughter the cork will be a bit more comfortable to play on, but the laminate is naturally more durable. However, cork resists denting, so its a bit of a toss up. End result - laminate is very durable and with the right product and underlayment you can suppress most of the noise you encounter with laminate. Cork is great for comfort, sound suppression and is naturally moisture and dent resistant, but if some precautions are not taken, you can run into issues with it being too soft.

Q: I want to replace the wall-to-wall carpeting in my house with either hardwood or bamboo flooring. I hesitate to do so because I have two large dogs (50 and 65 lbs, respectively) and am concerned they will damage the floor with their nails and toys. I am looking at light to medium natural shades. Should I give up my dream of beautiful wood flooring? Thanks for your help!

Tina

A: When it comes to our furry companions and floors, certain things must be taken into account before making a flooring decision. My first suggestion will be a regiment of care for your dogs. The best way to ensure your pets and don't damage your floor is to ensure their nails are trimmed and in the case of longer haired dogs, to ensure their fur is not covering the pads of their feet. A great tip passed on to me from my good friend Nate B. over at the Charlotte, NC location is that if you prevent fur from covering the pads of your dog's feet, they will not dig into the floor with their nails as much. The reason behind this is that dog's naturally use their nails when they lose grip from their pads.

The next major tip would be to keep a good maintenance schedule. The less dirt and grit on your floor, the less likely these things will get dragged across your floor by your feet or your pets.

Now in regards to the actual flooring to use, this becomes a matter of opinion normally, but let's stick to the facts to give us the best information here. Bamboo, in the natural variety, is harder than white oak (at a Janka hardness of about 1410) meaning it resists denting better than the "norm" of wood flooring. Abrasion resistance will come from the finish on the floor. Look for a floor with several coats of a good finish with aluminum oxide. Panda and Westhollow both make great bamboo flooring featuring the patented Klumpp finish, which is a UV cured polyurethane with aluminum oxide. This is a tough finish that can take a good deal of abuse and looks great.

For hardwood, you will have similar aspects to look for as you do with bamboo. Harder wood species will be more dent resistant and abrasion resistance will come mostly from your finish. Again be looking for a good finish that includes aluminum oxide. Bruce, BR-11, Westhollow and many others all make great products for hardwood with good finishes.

Another thing to consider here is engineered vs solid. Depending on your subfloor you may be limited here, but consider the pros and cons to each type before making a decision. The big benefit to an engineered would be the benefit of having a cross-ply laminated product. This means it will give a bit more dent resistance along with resistance to expansion and contraction due to temperature changes. The down side to an engineered is that you get a lower number of times the product can be refinished.

Solids are the traditional hardwood (normally 3/4"). The big benefit is the number of refinishes possible along with the great value these floors add to a home. The downside here is that it is less stable than an engineered (meaning more expansion and contraction).

Should you give up the dream of a beautiful wood floor? Of course not! If you are ultimately worried about damage to a new wood floor, look into laminate. Good laminate is super tough and can stand up to some serious abuse, but with proper care so can many wood floors.

Q: I'm considering installing laminate wood flooring in my home. I have 4 small dogs, and wondered if this wood like laminate flooring is tough enough to withstand 16 little doggy feet running around on it. Does it scratch easily? Is it better for me to use some other type of flooring? Or is laminate wood-like flooring a good choice?

A: Laminate is built for abuse, but when it comes to having pets on floors there are a few precautions and a bit of smart shopping that can be done to ensure your floor will stay in great shape.

The biggest thing here would be to get a high quality laminate (AC4 or AC5 rated being your best bet). I have mentioned in the past that Ryan W., iFLOOR's VP of Products, has Westhollow South Pacific laminate (South American Walnut to be precise) in his home and his dog Jin who is rather active has yet to scratch the floor. The South Pacific line is in the same category as Pergo Select and Quick Step Perspective as some of the best laminate out there.

The second key factor is a matter of grooming. Keep your furry friends' nails clipped and take precautions to prevent grit from being dragged onto your floor (place mats at doors and making sure longer hair is trimmed around the paws of your pets) and a good laminate with proper cleaning regime should prove to be a winning combination with your current project.

Actual hardwood is less capable of standing up to the same amount of abrasion abuse as a laminate, which is the primary type of damage your floor will receive from your dogs. With these being smaller dogs, you are less likely to run into issues since less actual weight and pressure are being put onto the floor. So in this case - laminate is your best choice when it comes to a wood floor that will take a beating without showing much wear.

Q: I am looking for some advice as to what type of floor would function best for pets. My husband and I live in Tampa FL and we do dog and cat rescue. Therefore, we have high traffic with big dogs. We would like to find a floor resistant to scratching from dog nails. Also we often have to house break puppies and they can have accidents - is there any kind of waterproof scratch resistant floor - we like the look of wood but are open to any suggestions. Our primary concern is a floor that works with our lifestyle. Also, what kind of underfloor would you recommend - is there anything that can reduce noise? Thanks so much for any advice you can give us. It is much appreciated.

Thanks, Sue and Steve

A: To account for traffic and keep a wood look you could go with a laminate. Higher grade laminate is super tough and can take the traffic from larger dogs rather well. My concern here is training the younger pups. With any wood floor, if moisture gets into the unprotected areas of the floor then all sorts of trouble will occur.

Honestly your best bet here is going to be tile or something like vinyl and linoleum. These floors perform much better when it comes to moisture concerns (hence why they are so popular for kitchens and bathrooms). Vinyl composition tile is another route to go, but this is typically only found for commercial jobs. This is the same product you will find in hospitals and grocery stores, once it is installed it can take a serious amount of punishment.

If you are really looking for a wood look you can go one of two routes. If you install laminate, find one that performs better in moisture resistance tests. Top this off by adding a small bead of tongue and groove glue to add a small measure of additional moisture protection. Keep in mind, this will not make your floor impervious to moisture, so don't expect it to be water proof. In this case, a good underlay would be either 6mm cork or Sound 6 Barrier Acoustical Underlayment. Both of these underlayments provide superior sound deadening and are on the top tier of underlayments for wood floors.

The other route to go here would be to use the wood looking vinyl made by Congoleum. The Regal and Forum plank collections both look great and they are super easy to install. The only problem you will run into here is that these adhere directly to the subfloor and are somewhat thin, so you won't get the same sound as you would from a good wood floor.

Q: My husband and I are considering buying a house that needs a lot of work which was built in 1840. It has heart of pine floors throughout the house. The current owners have cats. Lots and lots of cats. The house smells badly of cat urine. Is it possible to ever get the smell out of the pine floors? If so, how?

Thanks,
Susan

A: Pet urine can be tough to overcome when it comes to most wood floors. If the floor itself does not have black spots (typical of floors where the pet urine has soaked into the wood itself), you will want to seal the floor. The most effective process here would be to sand the floor down some (step one of the refinish process) the use a barrier coating over the entire floor (a dewaxed shellac such as DuraSeal Universal Sealers or waterborne sealers like Bonaseal) then apply your new finish to the floor, ensuring to buff lightly between each coat so that the finish adheres properly.

The dependent factor here is how far the urine has penetrated into the pine itself. If you have many black or discolored spots on the floor and minor sanding does not remove or heavily lighten these spots the floor may not be salvageable as a finished surface.

Q: We have an incontinent cat who is presently confined to one room of our house which is covered with incontinence pads. We would like to give her more area to be in with some "outside" space, so are planning to build a screened porch but I'm having a hard time coming up with an appropriate flooring option. Obviously it needs to be easy to clean and not porous so it won't absorb odors. The existing space outside has no concrete pad; there are some concrete tiles divided by small rocks as "mortar". I'm sure this needs removing, but under this is just dirt.

Thanks,
Deborah

A: Your best bet here is going to be either a form of tile or some type of stone flooring such as patterned concrete or natural stone like slate or granite. Unfortunately with any type of wooden flooring or carpet the moisture problems will happen in an outdoor situation and with your cat's problem. Stone or tile on the other hand is essentially impervious to moisture. Also, this gives you a wide array of appearances you can look into from natural stone to ceramic tile or to some of the very interesting effects done recently in patterned concrete.

Another alternative you can look into would be products like Mannington's iCORE. iCORE is made from a plastic composite instead of wood. This means it is impervious to moisture while still having the wood floor appearance of a laminate.

When constructing your room, you will want to ensure you build a proper subfloor, concrete being a good choice here. After you have built the subfloor/foundation of the room and its exterior walls, you can then finish it and install the flooring.

Q: We have 2 large dogs and as you can imagine, their claws are very hard on flooring. Hardwood is a bit out of our price range and we are debating between bamboo and high quality laminate. Which is more durable? What laminate brand is the best quality?

Thanks so much for your help!

A: When it comes to large dogs and floors there are several things you can do to help ensure your floor looks great. First let's look into product. I would honestly suggest looking into laminate instead of bamboo because bamboo's finish is not quite as durable as the finish applied to high quality laminates.

Laminate by nature is built take the most abuse of any wood floor. Now this doesn't mean you can drag a piano across the floor without wheels and expect the floor to look immaculate, but it does mean it is built for much higher levels of traffic without showing wear and tear.

To answer your questions about which brand is the best the answer is none. Let me explain why I say no brand is the best - each manufacturer puts out various lines of flooring. Each collection varies in finish, construction, and durability. This being said a big name in the industry like Pergo, makes many lines. Pergo Select is one of the best laminate lines on the market, but at the same time Pergo's Everyday is an economy line built for folks who want o save a few bucks. Everyday is a great floor, but when compared to Pergo Select it is night and day.

This being said, your best bet is to look into a well made AC4 or AC5 rated laminate. The best examples here would be Pergo Select, Quick Step Perspective, Westhollow South Pacific and Wilsonart Red Label.

Now, the next important thing you can do to help keep your floor looking tip top is routine maintenance and cleaning. This includes making sure your dog's nails are trimmed and trim away long hair from the pads on their paws. This will help prevent your dogs from relying on their nails to get traction when running around, and thus, lower than chance of scratches. Regular cleaning and using entry mats at exterior doors to prevent dirt and debris from getting on or building up on your floor.

If you combine these few tips, you should not only have a great looking floor, but you give yourself the best combination for anti-abrasion over time from your dogs and general traffic.

Q: I was wondering what the difference between bamboo flooring, hardwood floors, and laminate flooring? I have two cat's and two dogs, I'd like something that can handle their sharp nails and last for a long time. So what flooring would be best for me?

Thank You

A: There are major differences between these three types of floors, so let's go over some quick basics on each type, then we'll delve into what will be your best bet to handle pet traffic over time.

Hardwood floors are the traditional wood floor, made of wood through and through. Hardwood comes in two fashions, solid and engineered. Solid hardwood is sawn lumber directly from any given species of tree, then milled and finished to produce flooring. Engineered wood floors are composed of multiple layers of wood glued together using cross-grain lamination techniques.

Engineered wood flooring is more resistant to expansion and contraction due to temperature changes and moisture. Thinner and more dimensionally stable, engineered wood floors are also more dent-resistant and ideal for installation over concrete or in environments with far more temperature change than solid wood flooring.

Laminate is a recent development in the flooring industry, introduced in the US in 1996. The surface of laminate is typically made of an extremely tough-wearing aluminum oxide with a printed photograph adhered to the surface which gives it that hardwood look. The core of the laminate is usually made of high density fiberboard. This construction allows laminate flooring to look good while at the same time being both affordable and durable.

Bamboo flooring is an engineered flooring made from bamboo. Bamboo itself is actually a perennial growing grass. Bamboo is considered as the fastest growing woody plant, reaching full maturity in five to six years. Bamboo, like hardwood, comes in a "solid" and engineered format. All bamboo flooring is technically engineered, but the solid format is made purely from bamboo slats which are fused together via lamination techniques, where as the engineered variety uses a substrate made from a different species of wood, typically poplar.

Now that we've covered some basics, let's discuss what you will want to look for to deal with the traffic of your pets. Scratch and abrasion resistance comes down to the finish used on the product. This being said, the toughest finishes out there are found on laminate. This does not mean that bamboo and hardwood are not viable options, but if your primary concern is durability, then laminate is going to be your best bet in wood flooring. Another option here would be to get a wood looking vinyl floor, such as the Konecto or Congoleum lines, as they are very durable. The truly "best" floor when it comes to durability is natural stone, but if you want a wood look, then vinyl or laminate is your best bet.

For your purpose, I would suggest looking into a commercial level laminate, these are typically rated AC4 or AC5, as they are built for larger amounts of traffic and have finishes which can take some serious abuse.

Also, make sure you keep your dog's nails trimmed to help maximize the lifetime of your floor. This includes make sure you maintain a regular cleaning routine for your floor and use place mats at exterior doors to prevent dirt and debris from getting onto the floor. The most common cause of scratching is from debris which is dragged along the floor.

Q: I have been looking at laminate flooring to replace my carpeting in my home. My major concern is doggie urine. Can these floors resist the urine that my son's doggie brings with him every time they visit.

Thanks in Advance
Penny

A: This is a question with a yes and no answer. Will laminate resist damage from moisture? Yes, if messes are cleaned up promptly and a proper cleaning regiment is observed for your floor. Are laminate floors going to resist this type of abuse over a long time or if left unattended to? Not likely. If you want a floor where there will be no worry about moisture spills and pet messes, then look into stone, tile or vinyl flooring. If you want a wood floor and know that when your son's furry friend is around that you can promptly attend to any pet messes, than you should be safe with laminate.

I would suggest looking into laminate floors which perform very well in moisture resistance testing. Also, have a spray bottle of cleaner on hand because pet urine can damage a floors finish. Wipe up any urine, then follow up with a quick spray of cleaner and wipe with a towel or microfiber mop over the area where the spill occurred just to ensure no residue is left on the finish.

Q: We recently added Lotus Land Quick Click Bamboo flooring in our townhouse (slab - so we ordered the 'float' type). Everything went perfectly and it looks great. However, our dog is scratching it up. We are getting numerous scratches all over the place. So I have several questions.

Thanks
John

A: Dogs seem exceptionally skilled at scratching up a floor, but there are a few things you can do. Before going through the process of refinishing your floor. First ensure that you are actively clipping your dogs nails and ensure that longer fur does not cover the pads on your dog's paws. If the pads are not covered, your dog will rely less on nails to get grip. Also, if the nails are kept trimmed they are less likely to scratch the floor.

If this type of pet maintenance if being kept up, then you may want to look into screening the floor instead of refinishing it. Screening will remove a layer of finish through light abrasion without removing the actual surface of the wood, or in this case, bamboo. One note here is that Lotus Land features an aluminum oxide finish, so you will need to use a product made by Bona called Prep, after buffing the floor, this will allow new layers of finish to properly adhere to the currently aluminum oxide finish.

Your best bet would be to use a finish like Bona Traffic or Glitsa Infinity II. These are two of the most durable finish on the market and are built for commercial levels of traffic. Now if you would prefer to start all the way from the beginning, you can sand the floor down and get a refinish on this floor, but I would highly suggest having a professional do this, as it can be tricky with bamboo. Regardless of whether you do a screen or refinish, make sure that the finish you choose is built for larger volumes of traffic, and preferably one with a higher aluminum oxide content.

Q: I have 2 dogs 10,13,yrs. So i have to plan for accidents.my mother had gym finish on her floor, does any hardwood come with a protective finish or should i go for another type flooring? I've been told tile is out because the urine would stain the grout. I 'm on s.s. so cost is a major consideration. Thanks, Jan
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