Scratching Wood Floors

[NKlein]

DH and I recently bought an antique home with the original pine floors (circa 1775). We love the floors. We also love our dogs. But the dogs are doing a number on the 200+ year old floors.

We use a dremel, so there are no rough edges on the nails. The boys also go to the park for 2+ hours a day, so they are not rambunctious at home. And finally, we have a lot of rugs down, but the areas around the rugs seem to have the most scratching due to the dogs transitioning from carpet to hard wood.

Since these are not modern, pre-finished type floors (in fact Tung Oil is the only thing that has been used on them), I'm wondering if anybody has run into this issue and if they have found a solution?

I want for the boys to have full access to the house (as opposed to keeping them in the tiled mud room), so if it means putting rugs down everywhere to protect the floors or just letting the floors get scratched, then I will.

 

[Melissakins]

Wish I could help, we installed a beautiful hard wood floor a couple years ago and it's scratched up too...other than re-finishing them every couple years I don't know what to suggest. Runners?

 

[nowhavethreebears]

All I can think of it to apply a polyurethane type floor polish/coating......Maybe you could get a free/cheap consult with a flooring contractor in your area who might have other suggestions?

 

[Bär]

We have a similar problem but with furniture. We have solid pine bedroom & kitchen furniture & it is all scratched up from Bär stretching when he sleeps. The all have at least 6 coats of heavy duty poly acrylic, but it does not seem to help. We just learned to live with it.
Our cheap, wood laminate floor in the living room however, does not have a scratch on it.

 

[mrsnamsherf]

I have this problem, too. And I am renting and would like to remain on good terms with my landlords. I have covered practically the entire large floor with rugs. BUT, this is difficult, due to the odd-shaped places the rugs have to fit in...they interfere with the dining room chairs...it is very difficult to keep the floor cleaned well due to all these assorted rugs... So, now I am considering shoes for in the house, or toddler socks with grippy feet. I know people sometimes use them to give their dogs traction, and this is actually what is causing the scratches anyway...when he lays down/gets up, he digs his claws in-and sometimes slips anyway. he just cannot seem to get a grip on the floors. He is not usually rambunctious indoors. It is the main room of my house pretty much, and he will not stay in any other room when I am not home, because he can watch for me out the window. I just have not figured out if he will keep them on when I am not home. Worst case scenario, my husband says we will just pay to have the floor refinished if we ever have to move out. The floor is not that bad yet, so here's hoping.

I have heard that some people put those nail covers on their dog's nails with good success, but this could get expensive long-term. I have also tried dremeling, and I have actually gotten his nails quite short over time, but I still hear those awful grinding sounds when he gets up and down, so it doesn't seem to be enough. But maybe some paw wax to give him grip, combined with the short nails...thinking out loud here, but I think I am going to try it.

Good luck! Please keep us posted. :nod:

Marie

 

[newfy]

Pine is a soft wood, no getting around it, it will get marred; I have maple, which is harder, & it too has alot of scratches in it; oak tends to fair better along with cherry; I just learn to live with it & have them redone every 5 yrs.
P.S., I am a conatractor & from my experience with light maple, I will never install this product again, mars to easily; I feel oak & cherry hold up better.

 

[Pregreen]

Old English scratch cover is your friend. I have the same 200+ year old unfinished pine wide plank floors and nothing can be done. I've had three restoration guys out and they've all told me the same thing, leave them alone. I've learned to love them and to love the way the light shines though the plank gaps into the dining room if someone is downstairs in the basement. Consider the scratches patina and that your guys are adding to the history of the house. Old houses, I love them and I hate them. It seems like everything takes twice as long to fix and four times the amount of money. Right now we are into the "window phase" who knew windows had ropes in them? I sure didn't.

 

[graybird]

Old houses, I love them and I hate them. It seems like everything takes twice as long to fix and four times the amount of money. Right now we are into the "window phase" who knew windows had ropes in them? I sure didn't.

Ditto, big time! Sash cord is a staple item, always gotta keep it on hand. When the cords are intact, the windows are *so* smooth, but break one, and :shocker:.

Our former house had 100-yr old poly-coated oak floors which the refinisher told me were on their last refinishing. Dogs still really scratched them up in high-traffic areas. I'd keep the nails as short as possible, look into nail caps, invest in the Old English (great product!:icon_bb, put down lots of throw rugs and love your dogs.
(...current house is a 50s modern and we put in TILE FLOORS:dance01

 

[NKlein]

Thanks for the suggestions, all! I've been reading up on it and it seems that everybody agrees with you, Louise--leave them alone and buff out the scratches as much as possible. I'm going to attempt this tonight and see how it goes.

I think that DH and I are just in the new owner "I don't want to ruin the house" mode and we'll snap out of it soon.

Marie, I had the same issue in our previous house, which we were renting. The dogs really scratched the wood around the front door and I was afraid that we'd need to pay to have the living room refinished (the rest of the house seemed fine). When we talked with the landlord about it she said she expected some scratching since she did allow dogs, which was very understanding of her. I also looked into softpaws (the rubber things you put over their nails), but was afraid that they might chew them off and eat them.

I'll keep you all updated after my experiment tonight...

ETA: I completely understand about the frustrating, tireless "charm" of antiques, Louise. Our current home doesn't have the original windows, but another house we put an offer on did. The downstairs windows had ropes and the upstairs had metal. The home inspector told us it was very expensive to replace the ropes in those windows if they broke. I obviously love antiques since I own one, but they aren't for the faint of heart!

 

[NewfieMama]

We have an 1880's Victorian so your floors have 100 years on ours. We do have wide plank pine in the living room, pantry, and upstairs rooms. The dining room, kitchen and entry hall were "upgraded" with poplar or maple (?) in the 1920's. But I digress...

It's our 4th house, all built within the same time period. On the first 3, we went crazy refinishing floors before we moved in, then drove ourselves crazy with every dent and ding. In this house, we decided to live and let live. Removed the paint (yes, instead of carpet, they painted the floors) from the bedroom floors but otherwise didn't refinish anything. All the old dents and dings remain, and the dogs, my daughter, and the rest of my family add to it slowly.

IMO it's character. And when we sell the house someday to someone else, we'll have upgraded some things, but maintained (and contributed to) its character for future generations. At least, that's how I like to think of it. LOL.

Congratulations on your new home!!! (Have you watched The Money Pit yet? It's a must-see for all new homeowners. Heh.)

 

[Melissakins]

Congratulations on your new home!!! (Have you watched The Money Pit yet? It's a must-see for all new homeowners. Heh.)

With the house we bought, I sometimes felt like Tom Hanks in the part where he's gasping for air he's laughing so hard at some of the stuff we've encountered in our house LOL

It's not that old, but hadn't been lived in in 2 years and was in disrepair.....lots and lots of stuff to be fixed/upgraded etc

 

[graybird]

The home inspector told us it was very expensive to replace the ropes in those windows if they broke.

Not true at all, you can do it yourself. Remove the trim pieces along the sides (carefully) and you expose the workings. Google or a handyman can show you how. And now...fftopic:

 

[Leonard and his bud Snuffles]

No help I know, but it seems kind of ironic floors from 1775 that have last so good that long, can't hold up to some dogs.

 

[lacey9875]

I think it's awesome that you bought a house with that much character-I would love to own a house like that some day!

I have nothing else to add, I do have hardwood in every room but two, but it's oak and I've never had a problem with anyones nails scratching them.

 

[dumainedogs]

My house is about 110 years old with wide-plank heart-pine floors. The old-growth pine is much harder than modern pine. I refinished them with poly when I moved in and it is holding up pretty well.. although the "gloss" is long gone after a decade of dogs I do have scatter rugs about though so that Obie and the senior corgi don't slide too much.. mostly in high traffic areas and the living room. I have learned to accept the "dings" as character.

 

[NKlein]

Again, thank you all and I have to say that I really like to hear about everybody's old homes and floors!

In the 235 years these floors have been in this house, there HAD to have been dogs scratching the floors. I think that over time it just naturally buffs out.

I tried the Tung Oil last night and was pleased. Obviously with the deeper scratches it wasn't going to restore the floors completely, but at least the Tung Oil made it very difficult to see the scratches. I'm just going to let it be, chalk it up to "character" and not worry about it. The floors are by no means perfect after centuries of wear and tear, so I don't need to treat them as though they are pristine. Besides, the dogs prefer to sleep and lounge on the tile in the mud room, so they aren't constantly scratching the wood.

Oh, and Greybird, thanks for the head's up about replacing the ropes! I actually have a friend who needs one replaced and I'll let her know!

 

[Pregreen]

If you haven't already check out www.thisoldhouse.com there's a wealth of information on everything old house and the magazine is well worth the money too. The main portion of our house is 300 years old with an addition put on 200 years ago and modern things such as a bathroom and kitchen added on 100 years ago. We have alot of cool things like a sidewinder staircase (not cool for moving furniture upstairs) and built in window seats in bedrooms and the living room. One issue we do have is a serious lack of outlets and with 2' thick stone walls it's a little tough to add any, also people must have been very short back in the day as our doorways and ceilings are on the low side. I was able to research the history of our house through the historical society and have found it pictured in many books on our area. I hope you love your place as much as I love mine.

 

[vikinggirl]

We just bought a 130 year old farmhouse this winter. The original floors were intact, but awful. They had pretty much used whatever happened to come out of the local saw mill at that exact moment, so none of the rooms matched. The house also went through at least three different heating systems, and when the old ones were ripped out they just covered the holes with sheet metal. Very not pretty.

I can't help you much if you want to save the originals, but if you want to cover with something, I can't recommend this stuff enough:
http://www.karndeanusa.com/site/products.cfm?range_ID=2
Karndean's Van Gogh flooring. We got it in the aged kauri. It looks exactly like wood. I swear to the gods, guests have had to bend down and rub the floors because they didn't believe it was vinyl and not the original hardwood floors. No doggie nail scratches, no tire marks from my wheelchair and floogers can be mopped up. So much easier to take care of and it's WAY less expensive than wood or laminates. We're in love with this flooring. Seriously.