We just did pretty low cost porcelain tile for kitchen/family/dog area. Works great. We have very old pine floors in rest of house and would love to replace with tile–also a fan of wood plank tile…but plain old tile would do. Easy to maintain. Cool for 3/4 year it is warm here. Dogs have raised beds if need to get off tile in cool months.
I have the mannington adura vinyl plank flooring. Glue down. Professionally installed. It wasn’t cheap but it’s perfect. Seriously I love my floor. It’s fooled many people into thinking its a laminate or engineered product. It feels nice and not as hard on bare feet. It’s waterproof. And is scratch resistant. The three resident dogs, the constant string of fosters, the geriatric cat and the humans cannot damage it. Cleaning and maintenance is easy. Shop vac and a spray mop with their no rinse cleaner and it looks new. If we did manage to damage a piece or a section it can be easily removed with a heat gun and new pieces installed in minutes. We loved the main level floors so much we did their tile product in our bathrooms. It’s just as gorgeous and not as cold and slick as porcelain. Plus our subfloors have a lot of flex in them and they can flex and move with it.
I’m on a concrete slab and recently had click together Luxury Vinyl Plank installed (December). We have 3 50ish pound dogs, and I have to say it was the best decision we made. We chose one with a cork back. It doesn’t feel cold nor hard underfoot. I have a dry mop type thing that I sweep with every other day, and I mop with vinegar and water as needed.
While it’s only been 5 months since installation, there’s nary a scratch in the floor. It’s a bit slippery for them, but we’ve got strategically placed throw rugs down which helps. Plus, the boys have adjusted pretty quickly.
As an added plus, dog vomit is a BREEZE to clean up now. 
I just put all new flooring in on the ground floor (thanks water heater failure plus not that old laminate flooring!) so I agonized over this one. After 5 years of laminate, I liked it a lot, but two things I could live without: click click click click click and on full time vigilance for any water spills.
Mine are not really problematic, but it only takes one time crashing into the water bowl or having an oops that I don’t catch and you can see the damage on laminate. I also had zero interest in going back to the older flooring - carpet and roll vinyl.
I settled on engineered hardwood glued down in most rooms (cuts down on the click click noise considerably over floating floors) and the premium (4mm) luxury vinyl tile with grouting in the kitchen.
OK, I’m IN LOVE with that floor. It looks like really expensive stone, it even has a textured surface like stone tile. But unlike ceramic/stone where the only outcome is the floor breaks the thing OR the thing breaks the floor (worse, actually), this is more forgiving and WARM. And it is worry free for the animals as well as being less slippery for them.
It’s not cheap - the tile itself was like $3-5/square foot, but it is much less expensive to install than ceramic/stone. And you don’t have to grout it (but it really looks MUCH better with grout IMO).
Holly Jean,
I received your PM and tried to message you back, but I received an error message that you need to clear some space in your inbox.
This is what I had installed (I have the Lexington Hickory): https://www.facebook.com/carolinacustomflooringllc/posts/1661852167407728
https://www.fmhflooring.com/flooring/manufacture/market-place.html
It was new to the market in December of 2015. The sales rep brought samples to the flooring store I was working with and I jumped on it. It’s very similar to U.S. Floors Core Tec Plus, but a smidge cheaper and I liked the color choices better. It is distributed by Mannington.
When I redid my kitchen, I wanted dog-friendly slip-resistant flooring. Not expensive. Happily the floor guy had dogs so understood what I needed. I went with a porcelain tile in a grey/beige color. Not slippery, doesn’t show dirt, looks nice! It is not a warm floor and I wouldn’t do my whole house with it, but for a kitchen/bath/dog area I find it works great.
I have Mohawk brand laminate. It’s about 11 yrs old and has held up just fine to dogs and farm dirt and DH can’t seem to EVER remember to take off his boots. I thought about hardwood, but my theory is laminate is cheap and easy to install. Hardwood is not cheap or particularly easy to install, refinish, or replace. If the laminate gets trashed (I don’t see that happening anytime soon), it’s easy enough to replace.
I don’t understand having texture or “grooves” in laminate flooring. Real hardwood is, or should be, smooth as glass- so shouldn’t the fake stuff be smooth too?
DMK-if this is the tile that comes with a glue backing, then it needs to be six months or less from production date. I’ve read that older than that might not stick properly, and even with extra mastic won’t stay down.
I saw the glue type, and it looks good. I’ve read it’s also easy to replace if you get a tile damaged, by heating with a hair dryer, prying it up with a scraper, and a replacement tile pops right in.
I know what everyone is talking about with the hard tile. I lost several Corning or Corelle dishes in my previous house to the porcelain tile kitchen.
Nope, it’s the stuff you have to glue down. I looked at all that peel and stick crap, and just passed (also, most of that stuff was barely 2mm and even though it said it was groutable, you just knew that was an optimistic lie).
https://www.flickr.com/gp/24594726@N04/0uEMw9
https://www.flickr.com/gp/24594726@N04/V41ZPU
Also to the person who said hardwood is w/o texture and glass smooth, that’s true of many hardwoods, but certainly not the handscraped look…
We have hardwood on the main floor and bedrooms (original to the house) and tile in the family room downstairs which we had installed last year. We love both - the hardwood does show the scratches from our large dogs but it is solid oak and has years of life left. Tile would always be my first choice for dogs - easy to keep clean and good grip when they get the zoomies! We had engineered hardwood in our last house and it did not wear well.
Thanks folks! I still haven’t decided as I have some vet bills to pay off first. I will refer back to your comments when I am ready to make a decision. Thanks!
Ok, I’m back to looking at this. I’m going to get some estimates but it has been a challenge to find good feedback on the brands. I have available to me Armstrong, Shaw, BerryAlloc, Coretec, and Stainmaster. I’m looking at Vinyl Planking. Anyone have any feedback on any of these? Thanks!!
[QUOTE=Holly Jeanne;8695336]
Ok, I’m back to looking at this. I’m going to get some estimates but it has been a challenge to find good feedback on the brands. I have available to me Armstrong, Shaw, BerryAlloc, Coretec, and Stainmaster. I’m looking at Vinyl Planking. Anyone have any feedback on any of these? Thanks!![/QUOTE]
There’s a huge CoreTec thread on Houzz: http://www.houzz.com/discussions/1242589/coretec-plus-flooring
If you go that route, Lamar (who posts as N “Hance” D Flooring) can get you the product at a great discount (he lives in Dalton, GA) including shipping. I was in talks with him before I went with a different product (mainly because of color options).
If you go CoreTec, get the CoreTec Plus with the cork backing. It’s quieter and feels better underfoot, particularly if you’re on a slab.
From what I’ve read on DIY forums about Coretec, the best idea is to put down a plastic underlay layer, and get an experienced installer. A couple of people had water under the Coretec, or come up through the floor (a cracked slab I think), so the plastic underlay would stop any issue at all. Plus, a few more had issues from installers that didn’t know how to properly install Coretec, so they had problems.
Also, don’t get really dark colors in any flooring, or you will have an issue with footprints, and dust showing.
I have the Armstrong (Bruce) vinyl planking on the majority of the main floor of my house as well as in the master bedroom. We installed it when we built, which is about 3 years ago now. So far it is holding up well to our large dogs but does show puppy footprints when it’s raining outside. It isn’t slippery for them and people have no idea it isn’t real hardwood unless we tell them. I don’t see the point in spending the money for hardwood when it’s going to get scratched up from dog nails. We did have real hardwood in our old house, and I don’t regret putting the vinyl in the new house.
It has a rolled mat underneath it to dampen sound and it snaps together easily. We installed it ourselves and the worst part was getting it started (thank goodness for an engineer father!). After that it was a breeze and saved us a good chunk of $ in installation. I can link to pictures or provide more details if you’re interested.
Thanks folks! All helpful information. I do plan to have it professionally installed as I’d like to get it done sometime in the next decade.
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Porcelain Tile - pricey but very easy clean-up / maintenance - IMHO[/QUOTE]
Porcelain tile is the best option for beasties. Grout joints prevent keep liquids on the surface. Wood flooring will get scratched up. Both laminate and wood have tongue and groove joints that are not liquid tight. They are designed to allow for expansion and contraction to accommodate changes in humidity. If you are concerned that the flooring is too cold install with radiant heat. Pricey but it will withstand the test of time.
Vinyl sheet goods can get scratched or if an animal is stressed will get destroyed.
Porcelain tile offers the best durability and cleanability.
If you get any kind of tile with grout, think about the grout color. My current house has white grout. With the dogs tracking in red clay dirt, trying to keep it white is a nightmare!
Holly-Price installation at several places. Sometimes the big box stores have great installation prices. However, sometimes you do better buying your tile on sale at the big box stores, and getting an outside installer. If you get the tile and grout, etc. delivered to your home, you’ll have to move it inside, so either have the installer pick it up at the store, or have a plan to move it all inside, and it’s heavy.
Tile or stained sealed concrete will give the best surface for the dogs and cats in my opinion. I “inherited” a lower level with laminate flooring and I HATE it. It is very slippery for the dogs. The seams are not impervious and spills/accidents happen, which means liquid, though minimal, is leaking under the surface. I imagine when I have enough money to do away with this floor that it will be rather yucky underneath.
