Wood Floors
- Thread starter Sheila B.
- Start date
newfy
New member
Oak holds up the best, 3/4" thickness is the preferred over the laminates, you can refinish it, I generally refinish mine every 10 years or so. If pujtting down new, look into the prefinished 3/4, the 3 1/4" & 5 1/4" wide board really do look great & they wear good, we just put a hard wax down once a year to maintain, otherwise use mop & glow. I also had oak & cherry, was not to impressed the the wear of these, maple being very bad for a hardwood. Oak is the most common & cheapest. Just installed some on a job, my cost was 2.99 s.f. for prefinsihed 3 1/4" in boards, 2 1/4" was .20 cheaper.
JackandKelly
New member
We bought engineered hardwood (very different from Laminates, it's real wood from top to bottom) for the kitchen. It is hardwood on top..thick enough it can be refinished 3 times, then it is genuine wood beneath that, but each layer is turned the opposite direction of the layer next to it. This helps it not warp in locations that are more moist or humid..like the kitchen or bath. It has held up very well and we have had no problems with it. It is Brazilian Koa.. I don't have any experience with how the Brazilian Koa compares in hardness to other woods. I just know it has no issues with getting wet when you spring a leak in the kitchen. We also keep the Newfie bowl in there and the Newf nails don't affect it.
We also have oak planks like Mike describes, in the guest house. It has held up amazingly...Nothing seems to hurt it. I have no idea what the finish is since it was here when we bought the house, but I wouldn't hesitate to put that through an entire house with Newfs. It always looks clean and amazing. People ask me what I do to keep it looking so good. I tell them "Nothing" it just looks good. I wish I could find out what they coated it with. It's a super hard shiny finish yet not any more slippery than tile
We also have oak planks like Mike describes, in the guest house. It has held up amazingly...Nothing seems to hurt it. I have no idea what the finish is since it was here when we bought the house, but I wouldn't hesitate to put that through an entire house with Newfs. It always looks clean and amazing. People ask me what I do to keep it looking so good. I tell them "Nothing" it just looks good. I wish I could find out what they coated it with. It's a super hard shiny finish yet not any more slippery than tile
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Sheila B.
New member
One home that interests us has hardwood floors with radiant heat. At this point I don't know what type of hardwood. But also wonder how the dogs will handle heated floors. There is a lot of outside covered decking if the dogs get too hot. We're new at this since we've been in this house nearly 25 years.
newfy
New member
I have radient heating throughout my house, & I have both hardwood & tile; as for heat, radient heat is the BEST heat by far, the most efficient & the most economical to operate, radient actually heat the objects & they in turn radient back to keep you comfortable; you do not have to keep the thermostat as high as you would a hot air system or baseboard hot water; the floors actually do not get hot, actually lukewarm, comfortable, my newfs love it, I can lay on the tile in the winter or walk with bare feet, I would highly recommend this heat to anyone, only it is the most expensive of the heating systems, but, what price do you put on comfort? The radient systems that I have been installing in some of my projects are using hot water with gas fired boilers, the water temp is set to go no higher than 130 degrees in the heating loops; we also use the boiler to supply domestic hot water via a storage tank (AMTROL).
Sheila B.
New member
Thanks, everyone. I am so glad to know the radiant heat won't be a problem for them. Just need to be sure we take care of wood floors properly since they are so beautiful. The particular homes we've been shown in one area we really like all have hardwood floors. My favorite house (so far) is 6 years old and the floors look brand new.
I'd hate to have goobers discolor the wood or worse, so if we choose a home in this development do you suggest we do anything to the floors before bringing in furniture and DOGS?
I'd hate to have goobers discolor the wood or worse, so if we choose a home in this development do you suggest we do anything to the floors before bringing in furniture and DOGS?
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ardeagold
New member
Our oak hardwood floors are pretty much unfinished at the moment. They're custom made, tongue in groove and are beautiful. However, we live on sand. Sand in dog coats is what's destroyed the finish on the floors, not the dog's nails, etc.
They say bamboo is really good, but any finish can and will scratch from something.
Newfy is right. Pine is NOT a good floor surface. Too soft and everything mars it. Looks good on walls and ceilings, tho.
They say bamboo is really good, but any finish can and will scratch from something.
Newfy is right. Pine is NOT a good floor surface. Too soft and everything mars it. Looks good on walls and ceilings, tho.
Lori
New member
We have hardwood on most of the first floor, 3/4 oak prefinished. The part that was installed when we built the house (1996) has been refinished once. We picked a finish called StreetShoe. It's been fantastic. We went with a prefinished for the living/dining room too. Once that room needs to be refinished, we'll have all the wood done at once and use the StreetShoe again. Drool has not been a problem at all, neither has water.
graybird
New member
Our last house had 100-yo oak floors, and we had them refinished (according to the floor people) for their last time. The newf nails did a number on them in high-traffic areas, unfortunately. Drool wasn't an issue.
We put tile over the radiant heating that was in our current house (was originally linoleum). I absolutely love the radiant heating, and there are cool areas without heating tubes (e.g. where hallways cross, and in front of the front door) that are just the right size for someone :crazy: to cool off. I was a little nervous about the radiant -- my DH grew up in our current house and his elderly mom always had the floors so hot they'd burn your feet :shocker: -- but once we turned them down, they've been fine. Good luck, Sheila!
We put tile over the radiant heating that was in our current house (was originally linoleum). I absolutely love the radiant heating, and there are cool areas without heating tubes (e.g. where hallways cross, and in front of the front door) that are just the right size for someone :crazy: to cool off. I was a little nervous about the radiant -- my DH grew up in our current house and his elderly mom always had the floors so hot they'd burn your feet :shocker: -- but once we turned them down, they've been fine. Good luck, Sheila!
Thule's Mom
New member
The floors in this house are the original hardwood (50+ years) appear to be oak. They've been refinished, with polyurethane (or something like that) because the water/slobber is not affecting it. I had laminate in my other house... I much prefer the hardwood - laminate was extra slippery and showed everything!
pabusinesswoman
New member
Interesting topic.
When we built the house it was suggested to go with the pergo over hardwood due to the dog nails. They said the pergo would hold up better... which it hasn't.
I have been debating on what to go with here.. so.. I will definitely be looking back on this. Oak would work well since our support beams and cabinets are all oak
When we built the house it was suggested to go with the pergo over hardwood due to the dog nails. They said the pergo would hold up better... which it hasn't.
I have been debating on what to go with here.. so.. I will definitely be looking back on this. Oak would work well since our support beams and cabinets are all oak
JackandKelly
New member
Like Michelle in one of our old houses we were talked into Pergo because we had dogs and cats. Well, we only had one dachshund and one sheltie back then. The Pergo was awful... It showed nail marks and these dogs were only 17 and 25 pounds. Plus if you spilled something it was so hard to get rid of the stain. They say it's impregnated with something so nothing can penetrate and stain...well I had several stains..One coffee, one dog vomit and a few I don't remember. Even sanding them as they suggest with 00 steel wool then doing the entire cleaning process didn't get rid of the stains. Everything scratched it!!
I would definitely reconsider unless they have changed Pergo. We had it when it first came out..
lacey9875
New member
Our house has hardwood everywhere except the kitchen, which is tile, and the stairs, which has hardwood underneath the God awful carpet. Between my lab and Maggie ( who hates to have her nails done ) I've not seen one scratch on my floors from them. Me moving furniture, absolutely.
I've found the people who tell me wood floors scratch easily are 1) the people who want to sell you the more expensive stuff and 2) the ones who want to refinish them every year.
I've found the people who tell me wood floors scratch easily are 1) the people who want to sell you the more expensive stuff and 2) the ones who want to refinish them every year.
blphome
New member
We have original oak and maple from 1927 throughout the 1st floor. Refinished when we moved in in 1995. Didnt have furniture in living room for two years and the living room was used for children's riding toys and hockey and no significant damage. Added Lewis two years ago and no significant change. Floogers are much tougher to clean from the walls.
Good luck!
Good luck!