Hardwood vs. Laminate

[ritapatt]

We recently replaced the whole house with porcelain tile and had to rip up the 20 year old hardwood in the dining room that was still good after all that time!
I like the warmth of real wood- the laminate- while nice, just doesn't feel "real".

[Maxman]

Originally Posted by YorkieZoo

Hey all, my wife and I are considering new floors downstairs.

I have been researching and don't know whether to go with 3/4 inch hardwoods or laminates. I have already done the price checking and all that stuff, but am trying to determine with the dogs which would be better.

Ours are 90-95 percent housetrained with the occasional accident. We also foster...and those are always accidents waiting to happen.

According to some of the flooring people we have talked to they say that hardwoods are better for accidents because there is more moisture in the wood naturally and would not absorb as much urine, just to be sure to keep a good seal on it.

The laminate folks say theirs is better due to dog nails etc..(not like Yorkies are massive, but the running and scampering could leave marks on the hardwoods.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Hardwood is better,if it scratches,you can sand it down and fix it.Laminate looks good,but it sucks,it is only like 1/16 inch thick,if you get a scratch in it,you cant sand it down and fix it.Go with the hardwood.

[Patti]

I have laminate in kitchen, hallway and breakfast area. I wish I had gone with the hardwood. Our laminate has some scratches from the casters on our dinette set and a plant holder tipped over and I didn't realize it right away and it warped.

[SophieKatesMom]

We have laminate in on our first floor throughout with the exception of kitchen. We made the choice to go with a higher grade laminate because we were told it was easier take care of, not so true in my case since you can see every foot and paw print that walks on it.

Next time I am going with Bamboo.

[roseslevi]

I have Brazilian Cherry Hardwoods in my dining room and kitchen area where the dogs stay when we are not home. I love the wood floors. I can't wait to have enough cash to rip up my old berber rugs and complete the rest of the house. There are no scratches on the floors and they came prefinished so when I was training Lily if she had an accident, I just wiped it up quickly and washed the floor off. I vote for real wood floors...they are beautiful.

[yorkieusa]

This is something many have asked about in the past. I thought you might want to check out a few other threads:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sea...archid=5043126

[ladyjane]

I had major problems with my wood floors ... if they are not sealed well and a dog pees on them, they turn black. You really have to get to it quickly.
Between my dogs and Hurricane Ike, my wood floors were destroyed and I put porcelain tile throughout. Much easier clean up, that's for sure.
IF I had seen this company first, I might have done some of their flooring...they were at the dog show this year. They are in Houston, but maybe there are other companies in other states. You could contact them for information.
www.petfloors.com
They have some beautiful flooring!

[Saeka]

I have had my Yorkie on both hardwood and laminate floors (my parents house and my apartment, respectively). Her claws haven't scratched up either and her little accidents didn't affent either. We used to have a black lab and her giant claws did scratch up the hardwood, but I'm not sure how it would be on laminate. My Yorkie currently slides on both, but slides a little less on laminate than hardwood. My laminate flooring is a bit more matte tone than the hardwood, which is glossier, so it makes sense.

[misslissa]

I have carpet now but i had hard wood before and i liked it i would say to go with real wood
my grandmother has laminate and the dogs slip on it and her dog was potty training in the dining room peed on the floor in one spot over and over and it smelled so bad after cleaning that she had to replace the floor in the dining room

[FlDebra]

I debated and debated between the two myself, then wound up going with a top quality tile! I LOVE the tile! It is a little cooler, but for FL that is a big plus. We have the pool right out the back doors and along with the dogs I just felt I could not go wrong with tile. My breeder found a tile that looks like real wood. I tried to buy the same one but it was discontinued. The only ones I could find loclaly did not look like real wood. So, I went with a color that almost looks like worn leather. Very pretty and everyone loves it. Maintenance is a breeze!

[YorkieZoo]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

This is something many have asked about in the past. I thought you might want to check out a few other threads:

http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sea...archid=5043126

Wow guys LOTS of great info....yet again another reason to LOVE THIS SITE!

Thanks Yorkieusa, I did a search but didn't come up with a thread that I thought covered it, but see I overlooked this! Sorry gals/guys!

We have been reading and discussing an it looks like hardwoods are gonna be the way to go! We are gonna to tile in the laundry, kitchen, half bath, and master bath, and nook area, and then hardwoods in the living, dining, entry, and master bedroom (all on the first floor).

When we built the house 4.5 years ago, we did the "upgrade" on the carpeting (vinyl village dwellers here, tract home subdivision) and that carpet SUCKS. If I would have known that all that extra money was for cheap crappy carpet, I would have just saved it, had the carpet ripped out and had the hardwoods put into place before we ever moved in. Oh well, live and learn! (sorry, that was my little rant, but back to the topic....)

These are the areas that the babies all have access to in the house. I was a little worried about the area rugs, thinking that the babies might consider them to be large pee pads , but hopefully we will be able to train around this.

Looks like they will all be going on vacation with us since I know that hardwoods create a lot of dust and the sealant requires us to vacate for a day or two!

Any tips for rug vs peepad training?

[yorkieusa]

I have no idea about rug vs peepad training. I hope someone can chime in on that one. I wouldn't think it would be a problem if they were already used to carpet and didn't use the carpet. If they used the carpet, good luck!

[journey826]

Have you guys heard about allure laminate floating flooring? is supposed to be water resistant scratch resistant and has a 25 year warranty.
As far as which being better wood/laminate I would say quality is going to be the biggest determaning factor in longevity and appearance in both your wood choice as well as laminate choice.

[YorkieZoo]

Originally Posted by yorkieusa

I have no idea about rug vs peepad training. I hope someone can chime in on that one. I wouldn't think it would be a problem if they were already used to carpet and didn't use the carpet. If they used the carpet, good luck!

For ours, we had two rugs in the kitchen in front of the sink and in front of the oven.

The peepads were close by. We found them using the pee pads AND the rugs. I guess they would get confused, so we just got rid of the rugs altogether in the kitchen.

[YorkieZoo]

Originally Posted by journey826

Have you guys heard about allure laminate floating flooring? is supposed to be water resistant scratch resistant and has a 25 year warranty.
As far as which being better wood/laminate I would say quality is going to be the biggest determaning factor in longevity and appearance in both your wood choice as well as laminate choice.

Hmmm....I'm Googling that now! Thanks.