What's The Best Laminate Flooring For Dogs – If you’re a regular Party for Pennies follower, you know we had a pretty unfortunate event over a month ago. One of our pipes burst, resulting in a very wet basement, the discovery of mold and the need for new flooring upstairs and downstairs.
This is a problem, but fortunately Mohawk Flooring and Builder’s Floor Covering have provided a solution. No, they don’t take care of mold either, BUT they provide flooring that will help prevent problems in the future.
What's The Best Laminate Flooring For Dogs
Mike and I visited Builder’s Floor Covering in the Buckhead (Atlanta area) to choose the type of flooring we wanted upstairs and downstairs. The only thing we were pretty sure of was that we wanted laminate or luxury vinyl tile (also referred to as LVT).
Pure Hybrid Highland (carpet Court Exclusive)
* Many types are waterproof. Even though all of our plumbing is now updated, living in a house built in the 60s, we just wanted extra reassurance.
* Laminate and LVT floors can be laid over almost any subfloor – wooden subfloor, concrete, etc. The upstairs floors are wood and the downstairs are concrete, so we covered our bases.
* We previously had a carpet downstairs and although our dog loved to sniff his head in it, we were ready for a change.
While we knew we wanted laminate or luxury vinyl tiles, we weren’t sure which one. Here is a side by side comparison…
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Both laminate and luxury vinyl tile are great choices overall. Both look and feel like hardwood. They are easy to maintain and clean. Not to mention they are durable. Mohawk laminate flooring is made from 74% recycled materials.
However, luxury vinyl tiles in particular won our hearts when we heard how waterproof they are! Luxury vinyl tiles work great in bathrooms and laundry rooms… and now also in people’s caves (at least those with Flood Anxiety Syndrome). We decided that luxury vinyl tile is a YEAST in a man’s cave.
Upstairs, we weren’t as concerned about the waterproofness as we were about all the traffic upstairs. While both options are very durable, we opted for a laminate on top to combat possible scuffs and scratches.
This determines what TYPE of floor we wanted, but that’s just the beginning. There are so many things to think about! During our decision-making process, I learned some floor selection tips that may help you.
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If you are able to sit down and discuss it all, the decision-making process will be much simpler.
First decide what you want. Write what kind of look you want in the room. Want a more traditional look? Want a rustic look? Most people replace their floor roughly every 7 years. Think of an outfit you know will still look great in 7 years.
We had to decide what kind of look we wanted for two completely different rooms: the living/kitchen area and the Man Cave basement. In the living and kitchen areas, we wanted to create a warm atmosphere that has been updated. Our floor was previously light caramel. You can tell it in the picture below.
While it wasn’t big enough for us to redo the floor before, we always wanted a darker floor.
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For the man cave, we always had darker walls in mind (spoiler alert), so a lighter floor seemed to make sense to offset that.
Secondly, consider how you will use your floor on a daily basis. Is this a high traffic area? Will children crawl on it? Animals? Do you often carry heavy things across the floor?
Our answer to the LKD (living room, kitchen, dining room) area is a high traffic area where spills are frequent, scratch marks are expected and Guinness (our dog) is running around.
For a man cave, this is not a high traffic area. Scratches shouldn’t be a problem. Since it’s in the basement, our main concerns are water resistance and sound reflection.
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You may have no idea what finish or texture you want on your floor, but one of the things you should decide is whether you want a light or dark floor. This will greatly facilitate the decision-making process.
The light floor opens up the room, but the scratches are more visible. A dark floor warms the room, but it exposes animal hair much more.
We decided on a darker floor in the LKD zone because we wanted to insulate the room, and we already had brighter kitchen cabinets, wall color and accessories. We also knew that a darker floor would not show any marks or scratches. The only problem is pet hair. Our little G-dog is already molting, so we were used to frequent brushing.
For the men’s cave, we went for a lighter floor. We were already considering making the walls darker, so a lighter floor would help offset that. We don’t have to worry so much about scratch marks down there.
Hardwood Flooring Sale
This tip really helped solidify our decision. In most cases, you can grab samples from the store to take home. Do it! You’ll most likely be stuck with this floor for at least seven years, so make sure you love it. Think about any future changes you plan to make to this room – painting, new cabinets, etc. Choose a floor that will hold up well for years.
Another option if you are unable to take samples home is to go to MohawkFlooring.com and print the samples you are considering.
You can at least get an idea of how the color will go with the rest of the room.
This is Christa from Builder’s Floor Covering. She was very helpful in our decision-making process. She is actually an interior designer so she is incredibly knowledgeable about Mohawk Flooring and also has great advice on the overall look of the room.
Home Decorators Collection Virgil Island Oak 12 Mm T X 8.03 In. W Waterproof Laminate Wood Flooring (15.94 Sq.ft/case) 361042 2k424
We liked the bright orange for the men’s cave and the dark blue for the LDK area – alligator colors that my husband is very happy with.
For our LDK area, we chose Mohawk Flooring’s Montclair laminate in Warm Cider Oak. The dark color was perfect and really LOOKS like real hardwood. It has a texture that resembles a hardwood floor and even has bumps along the seams. It is scratch and water resistant, which makes it perfect for our kitchen. While it may show Guinness hair more, it can run all over it as much as it wants and it won’t scratch it.
For the man cave, we chose Mohawk Flooring’s luxurious 7.25 vinyl tile configurations in Barnwood Chestnut. We fell in love with the faded look, the combination of grays and browns and the texture reminiscent of hardwood. It will brighten up the man cave without being too bright.
We have our order, so our next step is to configure the installation. We are so delighted that we will no longer have to stare at our cut-out wood subfloor in the kitchen or the concrete floor in the basement from a torn, water-soaked carpet.
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I work with the “MohawkFloors Me, as Told by Bloggers” program, but as always all opinions, experiences and home designs are my own. Expert advice from Bob Vili, the most trusted brand in home improvement, home remodeling, repair and home improvement. Tried, true, trusted home advice
7 things to know before choosing a laminate floorFind out how the new and improved durable laminate floors compare to the competition.
Laminate flooring, first introduced in the 1970s, consists of layers of synthetic material designed to look like wood or stone. It quickly became a popular choice due to its durability and low price, gaining a reputation as an inexpensive alternative to real products. Today’s laminates have come a long way since they first hit the market, and their quality and appearance continue to improve, offering more options than ever. To find out if this material is right for your budget, lifestyle and aesthetic preferences, first consider the pros and cons of laminate flooring.
All laminate floors have a core layer that has an image layer on top of which a digitally enhanced photo of the natural material is embedded to mimic everything from exotic hardwood to concrete to natural stone – a great professional. It comes in a variety of colors, lengths and widths, and now the texture can even be embossed to give the floor a more realistic look. Still, some critics argue that no matter how high-end the product is, laminate simply can’t match the natural beauty of real wood or stone.
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Laminate flooring can cost around half the price of hardwood flooring, but as with wood, you’ll find a range of varying qualities. Some look more realistic than others, and others have a thinner thickness of the various layers, making them more likely to wear out faster than higher quality products. You will usually find laminate options starting at less than $1 per square foot and going up to around $5 per square foot.
Despite technological advances in laminate flooring, it still owes its appearance solely to the image layer, which cannot be sanded and refinished once it starts to wear out. Wood, of course, can be renewed many times over its lifetime, with the potential to last for decades. So the starting price can be
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