Flooring for Living With Pets

Fitzpatrick-I’m still pondering my husband and his Chow and leopard print rug choices. But I digress.

Follow these guidelines when choosing carpet or area rugs for a home that you share with pets:

• Medium value. (Value refers to a color’s darkness. Squint your eyes down to where all colors turn gray. Some are lighter and some darker).
• Multi-colored or flecked.
• Patterned.
• Multi-level, for instance, some cut pile and some looped
  100% nylon yarn. (It doesn’t have to be a brand). This fiber stand up to water and cleaning as opposed to some like olefin, which will mat as flat as a pancake under moisture and never spring back.

Horrors. The perfect carpet for pets is the good old landlord staple; the brown hi-low atrocity. But no; please. No.

Better yet, don’t put wall-to-wall carpet in your house at all. Hard surfaces like tile or hardwood with area rugs are much better for households with pets. The hard surfaces are easier to clean, less damaged by accidents and traffic, and the area rugs can be replaced when soiled, chewed or clawed at a more reasonable cost. Besides carpet is:

• Hands down the most unsanitary material to use as flooring.
• All pets dribble, even those who are housebroken.
• Pet urine is almost impossible to remove from carpet backing and immediately begins to breed bacteria at the site.
• Most people do not vacuum often enough or with the correct equipment (a machine with a HEPA filter that is washed and changed frequently) to prevent their carpet from becoming a blizzard of dust mites and animal dander.

Tile is a great surface for pets

• Use the same aesthetic guidelines for picking pet-friendly carpet; medium value, mottled or multi-colored neutrals, texture.
• Select porcelain tile not ceramic. It’s harder and therefore more scratch resistant and the color is all the way through the body, unlike ceramic tile, which has a glaze on top of a different colored body.
• Beware of wide grout joints. The texture traps hair during mopping.
• Beware of too much texture or pits in the tile surface, for the same reason.
• Use a tile with a coefficient of friction of greater than .06. That’s a commercial specification that ensures that the surface will be slightly abrasive and not contribute to the slips and falls of any creatures.

Laminate is a good surface for pets:

• It’s difficult to scratch.
• A medium value wood grain or stone look hides dirt and hair.
• Accidents must be cleaned promptly or urine can seep into the subfloor through the joints.

Hardwood can be a good surface for pets.

• Remember though, all wood can be scratched by a dog’s claws.
  Some woods are harder than others. (Morrisey fans, cue up). Maple, oak and bamboo are less likely to be gouged than the softer American cherry, poplar and pine, which dent easily.
• The lighter the wood color value, the easier it will hide scratches. Our home has natural and white-glazed maple floors. It’s been pretty well gouged in the inevitable traffic patterns, but it’s not too visible.
• Dark woods will show scratches, dust and light-colored hair.

Natural stone can be a good surface for pets.

• Some stones are softer than other stones. (Is he dead yet?) Igneous stones like granite are harder. Sedimentary stones like marble, travertine and limestone are softer and more porous and prone to scratching, gouging and retaining odors in their pores if not sealed often.
• A very rustic stone in a medium value color can be a good choice for a homeowner with pets who doesn’t mind the surface becoming even more authentic.
• Never use a polished stone on floors. I know, everyone does, but it’s simply too slick and dangerous for all, especially when wet. And our poor creatures just spin out on them like hot rods trying to get a footing. Use a matter sealer or a stone with honed surface; one that is semi-unfinished and gently abrasive.

Vinyl can work.

• I hate most vinyl, and the stuff I do like costs as much as tile or hardwood, so why bother, I say.
• Some patterns can hide claw marks, dirt and hair.
• Purchase a commercial thickness, to provide greater durability.
• Accidents can seep into joints and seams.

Linoleum, Cork and Rubber can work also.

• Observe the same style and color guidelines for hiding hair and dirt.
• Purchase commercial thicknesses.
• Accidents can seep into joints and seams.

My husband and I are part-owners and operators of a commercial flooring company, but you’d never know it by the floors in our house. If you are expecting a new member of the family, four-or two-footed, don’t bother replacing old floors. Let them be thrashed and replaced later when the puppies, kittens, piglets or kiddies are older.

Our flooring replacement choices will be either porcelain tile or commercial-grade cork, with area rugs.

With hope, we’ll still have the Chow, but maybe by then my husband will have outgrown his leopard print stage.