Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Help Choosing a Hardwood (Have a Labrador Retriever)

We currently have carpet throughout the main floor of our house with linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms. I plan on tiling the bathrooms and laying down hardwood throughout the rest of the space; however, I am know absolutely nothing about picking a quality hardwood. We have a four year old Labrador Retriever who can be a little spastic at times. His nails are what I'm worried about...we'll need a floor that won't scratch extremely easily.

A couple we know has mahogany throughout their home, and it seems to be pretty tough. Supposedly their floor rep hit a sample with the claw end of a hammer and it didn't even make a dint. Anyone have any recommendations?

Thanks in advance.

hardwood floor or any other floor for that matter would be affected by pets of course, what you can do is to just be cautious and prevent these instances. like for example, get a floor that has extra abrasion free coating in aluminum oxide which help to prevent scratches from larger pets. Although this will help, scratches and stains are still unavoidable. Now the pet has to do his part too, have his nails trimmed regularly and bladder training as well. Hardwoods are susceptible to scratches while tiles are susceptible to stains because each tile has grout lines which are light in color and porous as well. Well, what i can suggest you to do if you really are decided to get a hardwood foor is to just always spot check and clean the site of accident (dog urine,food drips,etc) and maintain the floor with vigilant care.

By the way, what is your subfloor?

Any other input? The guy/gal who replied just registered and also sent me a private message. I believe he/she might just be trying to solicit business.

I've had a number of inside dogs, and swapped out all the carpet with slate floors. I also put wide plank pine in a remodeled kitchen, with several coats of polyurethane. After two years, no problem. My living room is hardwood oak and also no problem after 10 years.

Hope this helps.

While it may sound like a lot of dogs (I didn't mention the several cats), the hardwood floors (oak) held up nicely. These appeared to be the original HW floors in the house (50+ years old). There were a few minor scratches, but nothing that was obvious unless you were looking. The finish even held up to a bunch of hairballs from the cats :)

I speak of the flooring in past tense due to a remodel project currently underway. I'm replacing the old oak flooring with Hickory. Its about 40% harder than oak, which is good with the dogs. Also, someone on here mentioned using a commercial grade finish (StreetShoe by basic coatings has been mentioned as a good one) that seems to be able to stand up to spastic animals of all types.

Hope this helps. I'm about 2 months out from finishing my project. Can post back if you like to let you know how the floors hold up.



Dewey

Thanks for all of the information. I plan on installing a pre-finished hardwood so that I won't have to deal with sanding and sealing (we're expecting our second child in several months, so the less mess the better).

Do you recommend any specific finishes for pre-finished hardwood? Where can I get a chart indicating the hardness of different wood types? For example, I would like to know how mahogany compares to hickory and oak.

Thanks,

Steven

I just had prefinished Bruce harwood flooring put in 3-4 months ago and will share what we have learned with our 10-year old golden. The one spot on the floor where he like to lay has developed lots of scratches from where he pushes himself to get up. Not deep scratches but enough to mark the surface. So my recommendation would be if your lab has a favorite spot to set him up with a throw rug or try to get him to camp elsewhere, a cool tile floor would be nice. Other than that the hardood floor has held up well in other traffic areas.

On most woods sold for flooring, the dog will only scratch the suface. Some softer woods such as Am cherry or fir, they can indent the wood. I am replacing a cherry floor now for that very reason. You need to be specific about the "mahogany" you talked about. Some woods are renamed for marketing purposes. The Honduran/Central Am mahogany often used in the past for feature strips is quite soft for example.
Buying prefinished, you will get the hardest finish available-aluminum oxide. You should opt for a lower sheen level as it shows dust, dirt and scratches less.
Key is to keep the dog calm in the house, especially while he learns to walk on a slippery suface.

Hi,

The website for Lumber Liquidators has information on the level of hardness and stability of different types of woods. I recall that hickory is the hardest. You might want to take a look.

Google "janka scale" for the wood hardness chart. Unless you choose a really soft wood like amer. cherry, pine or walnut the hardness of the wood really doesn't matter. Oak, maple, hickory, mahogony, just choose what you like, especially if you are going prefinished, that finish is tough. If you have a dog and want to keep the floor scratchless then you'll have to de-claw the dog. Scratches happen but the prefinished wood will hold up and look great for a long long time.
My best suggestion is to let your wife decide. If she's happy then you and the dog are happy.
Good Luck
Bryan

Trade in the dog on a nice, low mileage kitty cat!

I have access to Pan American Woods (http://www.panamericanwoods.net/) Teak flooring at a price of $3.25 per square foot. It seems as though this might be a softer wood than oak.

Any comments?