Protecting My Hardwood Flooring

[ChnZ]

I bought a house about a month ago, and it has the original hardwood flooring throughout. I also have a Siberian Husky, and for the most part, she is an indoor dog. I think you can all tell where I'm going with this. She is used to carpeted floors, and has no idea how to get around on the slick hardwood, so her nails are just scratching my floors to death. I have her nails trimmed as much as I can without hurting her, and keeping her outside isn't an option. Aside from making her wear those little boots (and laughing my **** off), is there some way to protect my hardwood floors from getting scratched so easily?

 

[duneslider]

Cover them with carpet. Dogs will destroy hard wood floors, especially big dogs.

You can tear the hardwood out and get the porcelain plank flooring that looks like wood and maintain the look of wood.

Some floor finishes will look better longer. A low gloss waterborne finish will "hide" the damage longer and look better than a high sheen finish that will show every scratch and nick.

 

[GRN96WS6]

Yeah dogs and hardwood are not well together.

 

[.mike.]

Matte Finish, and plan on resanding and restaining them. Depending on the age/floors, you can typically get 3 sandings out of the floor before it needs to be replaced.

Get carpet runners for the the high traffic areas.

 

[graffix000]

no cure for it besides runners as mentioned. I have a boxer who has torn up my hardwoods pretty good. My prior place had pergo, which was fine. Not the hard wood though...

 

[steve308]

Here you go ---

 

[kd3pc]

you can actually get booties and/or socks with a grip that keeps the dog from both destroying your floor and his/her hips and shoulders.

Picture how a human walks on ice, toes scrunched, hips taught and ready to hit the deck at any moment. Double that and you see what the dog goes through. She will eventually learn to handle the slick floors.

 

[mnavillus]

a large dog is tough on real wood floors...there are several different types of faux wood flooring products that will hold up a lot better than...however if it was my house I probably wood have my floors refinished (pending they can be) and install some type of runner in the high traffic areas....

LOL I could not put booties on my dog! Funny stuff! My dog would loose his man card for that!

good luck!

 

[navin]

Rip it up and install bamboo flooring? Supposedly really resistant against scratches..

http://www.calibamboo.com/hardwood-flooring-dogs.html

 

[duneslider]

Rip it up and install bamboo flooring? Supposedly really resistant against scratches..

http://www.calibamboo.com/hardwood-flooring-dogs.html

The finish on a prefinished bamboo is the same as the finish on any other prefinished wood floor. It will get beat up. Prefinished wood does have a finish that will hold up a little longer and is a little more resistant to scratches than a site applied finish.

 

[navin]

The finish doesn't matter, it's the softness of the wood. Strand Bamboo has a bigger 'janka' rating than regular species of the wood.. This is all from what I've read online, but I think with my big American Bulldog I'll most likely go with a Strand Woven Bamboo floor.

 

[SteveCh]

We have a half dozen golden retrievers. Forget the floor. We'd rather have the dogs than a gorgeous floor. I don't have any answer except get used to scratches. Carpet is worse, trying to keep it clean.

 

[blacksporty]

Distressed look is in....don't worry about it.

 

[AnonymousToolGuy]

Invest in replacing the hardwood with ceramic tile that looks like hardwood. I love that stuff and it's tile so it's pretty much impervious to everything except bullets.

 

[duneslider]

The finish doesn't matter, it's the softness of the wood. Strand Bamboo has a bigger 'janka' rating than regular species of the wood.. This is all from what I've read online, but I think with my big American Bulldog I'll most likely go with a Strand Woven Bamboo floor.

If you say so. Most common hardwoods are plenty hard enough not to dent as a result of dog claws. My oak flooring doesn't dent but the finish scratches. What do I know though, I only installed the stuff for 15 years.

The janka rating is sort of meaningless anyway. Who goes around trying to press ball bearings into their floor?

 

[Cobra_Bob]

Losing battle. We used lots of carpets and throw rugs over the hardwood flooring. We even put runners on the stairs. Dogs won.

PS. while our big dog left scratches in the floor, our small dogs did not.

 

[cowboyjosh]

http://www.softpaws.net