# Flooring with Goldens?



## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

I have hardwood most of my main level except bathroom and kitchen. My downstairs/ basement is carpeted. I do have area rugs over the hardwood though. Buddy loves his tile and hardwood floors now that is is summer but the Yorkies still prefer their carpeted areas. I hate that you really can't wash hardwood floors but I also rarely shampoo the carpets.

Welcome to the group What is your guy or girls name?


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I live in Toronto - so see my fair share of weather, too. I have hardwood and tile in my main living areas, and carpet in the bedrooms. I would get rid of the bedroom carpet in a heartbeat and replace with hardwood if I had the $$. I will someday. They hold onto all the dirt. 

I find the hardwood and tile easiest. I clean my hardwood with Murphy's Oil Soap - I make a mixture in a spray bottle and spray and use my Swiffer mop. Every so often, I get down on my hands and knees and do a deep scrub with the Murphy's. 

I've discovered that the best cleaner for my tiles is... Windex!! Who knew? It works great.

One thing to consider: after having the carpet ripped off the stairs a few years ago and having them re-done in hardwood, I had to have a carpet runner installed on the stairs this summer to help my aging girl have surer footing as she went up and down. Something to think about if you have lots of stairs (I have a split level, so they are impossible to avoid).


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## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

i debated between hardwood and laminate. I chose laminate because it seemed to be more durable with my rowdy dogs. Its really easy to keep clean. i also have tile in the front hall and bathrooms.


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## maggiesmommy (Feb 23, 2010)

One of our projects is to re do our floors. Porcelanosa sells a tile floor that is identical to hard wood, but dog scratch resistant. 

Parker - wood porcelain


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## Bob Dylan (Mar 31, 2009)

I have carpet, tile and pergo, but we use throw rugs everywhere so that Erica doesn't slip. She has hip-dysplasia and so far no problems!


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## BajaOklahoma (Sep 27, 2009)

If you go with wood, avoid a gloss finish in anticipation of the "Old Gold." We are looking at distressed, so marks won't be a big deal.
If you go with tile, get a textured surface. Small grout lines in a beige (think dirt) are nice.
If you go with carget, get a Hoover carpet cleaner. I'm pretty impressed with the dirt it pulls out of the carpet.


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## BriGuy (Aug 31, 2010)

Tile or hardwood is great. You can add throw rigs as needed. There are even some nice porcelain tiles that look like hardwood that I really like. Porcelain tile is nearly bullet proof if properly installed.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

BajaOklahoma said:


> If you go with wood, avoid a gloss finish in anticipation of the "Old Gold." We are looking at distressed, so marks won't be a big deal.
> If you go with tile, get a textured surface. Small grout lines in a beige (think dirt) are nice.
> If you go with carget, get a Hoover carpet cleaner. I'm pretty impressed with the dirt it pulls out of the carpet.


My advice exactly! 

Our ceramic tiles popped up and replaced them with an engineered wood that was sold to us as dog scratch resistant--it looked like crap in about 3 years from all the dog marks. Our master shower pan leaked and damaged a tiny part of the wood in our master bedroom. Insurance totaled the floor , at least in the bedroom, and we were able to replace our porcelain tile in the master bath and the engineered wood with travertine in the wet areas (and we sprung for tiling our closet too) and distressed hard wood in the bedroom. They told us the distressed wood (hand scraped) was the most dog resistant and if you do go with a gloss, make sure to have them do a triple layer finish. If the dog scratches get too bad, it's easier to refinish or even touch up. It's been over 2 years and ours look brand new. We also use a lot of rugs. We've done travertine in high traffic areas and had the crew come back and do the same distressed hardwood floors in our living room and dining room. Love it! We still have carpet upstairs--and on the stair case. I'd love to get rid of the carpet (except for the staircase), but it's not going to happen. 

If you get travertine--no vinegar or glass cleaners or you will ruin the finish as it is a natural stone. I'm using a steamer with distilled water or get the hubby to do a scrub himself--my back won't allow me to do it (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.


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## TheZ's (Jun 13, 2011)

Until we had dogs I never focused on the difference between "wood" floors and "hardwood" floors. We have oak flooring finished with a soft gloss polyurethane and it has held up pretty well against scratching from the dogs. We also spend time in a place with pine flooring with a similar finish and it shows wear from the dogs much more.


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