Pet Friendly Flooring
Hamilton Flooring on choosing the best flooring to create a pet friendly home!
Pet owners know that their furry friends are truly a part of their family, so ensuring that your home works for everyone in your household (including those with four legs!) is so important!
Having a pet in the home can cause chaos for your flooring...with scratches and scrapes from excited claws and carpet calamities not to mention muddy paw prints and little accidents.
Pet friendly flooring options are available to ensure that every member of the family is happy! Spoiler Alert - some of the best options for pet friendly flooring also happen to be great options for child friendly flooring, hardwearing flooring and hygienic and budget friendly flooring! Wins all round!
As with any flooring, we would recommend speaking with one of our flooring experts for a no obligations consultation on the best solution to fit your needs. Get in touch today to find out how Hamilton Flooring can help you find the best flooring for Fido and Felix!
What are the main considerations for Pet Friendly Flooring?
There are three key things to think about when looking into pet friendly flooring options for your home. The first being scratch resistance. Our four legged friends have an unfortunate habit of scratching some flooring through daily wear and tear as well as those mid afternoon zoomies which can often take over! Pet friendly flooring needs to provide protection against unwanted scratches.
The second key consideration is comfort to your pet. Flooring which is too hard or is cold can be very uncomfortable for our pets and can even lead to health issues in the future. You should also think about texture and whether the flooring has gaps which may cause pets to slip or trip. Additionally, your own comfort should obviously play a role in the decision making process. Part of this comfort will come from the amount of noise created by your family pet running around on your flooring. We are all familiar with the tippy tap of tiny feet on wooden flooring but if this is a sound that is likely to irritate or echo around your home in the early hours of the morning then appropriate solutions should be considered.
This brings us neatly to the third main consideration - Pet traction! No one wants their labradoodle skidding across the kitchen floor or their moggy drifting around hallway corners out of control! Traction is really important as slips can end up in costly vets bills not to mention encouraging our pets to use their nails/claws for grip creating damage!
On top of all of this, you will also want to keep in mind your own personal style and aesthetic considerations without having to compromise on the comfort and safety of your pets.
Thinking about the above considerations, there are two flooring solutions which are most commonly asked about and which also keep in mind our main requirements for pet friendly flooring, these are; Carpet and Luxury Vinyl Flooring
Pet Friendly Flooring: Carpet
Carpet may not be the most obvious choice for pet friendly flooring options but it is certainly worth considering in certain areas of the home. Bedrooms are often a prime location for carpet and if your pet is allowed in your home's bedrooms, the warm, luxurious feel of carpet may be a very welcomed treat for the whole family!
The variety of styles and colours make it a good choice for many homes and carpet tile in particular is a popular choice because of the ability to change out specific tiles rather than replace entire rooms should accidents happen.
However, there is no getting around the fact that carpet is higher maintenance and more difficult to clean with pets. With fur and dander as well as dirty paws and little accidents, carpet can be problematic for homeowners even with the most well behaved furry friend!
Pet Friendly Flooring: Luxury Vinyl Flooring
We have specifically chosen Luxury Vinyl Flooring as a Pet Friendly option over other forms of Vinyl flooring because of its aesthetic appeal in the home as well as its specific characteristics. Luxury Vinyl Tile and Planks are well suited to many areas of the home and provides a huge array of options for style and design.
Luxury Vinyl Flooring has come a long way in its design options and its ability to mimic natural flooring materials like wood, stone and tile is second to none. Unless you knew it was vinyl many people would assume it was the real thing! Luxury Vinyl Tile need not be a bank breaking endeavour either! There are so many options to suit all budgets. For example, A Luxury Vinyl Tile flooring installation designed to look like natural hardwood is guaranteed to cost a fraction of the cost of the real thing!
Because of the construction of Luxury Vinyl Tile and the hard working wear layer of the tile, Luxury Vinyl Flooring is resistant to stains and scratches. The multi layer construction also means that Luxury Vinyl flooring is warm underfoot and well cushioned - perfect for your pooches comfort! One of the main positives of Luxury Vinyl Flooring - whether for pet friendly requirements or otherwise - is the fact that it is incredibly hard wearing, easy to maintain and keep clean and is incredibly durable. The tile of plank format of Luxury Vinyl Flooring also means that spot replacement is an option making it a cost effective option and a very practical solution for your pet friendly needs. The main downside to Luxury Vinyl flooring is that it is water resistant and not entirely waterproof (like sheet vinyl) this is because of the laying process and minute gaps between the tiles. This means that large spills, if persistent or there is a delay in cleaning, can cause damage to the tile in the form of curling or lifting. In some instances removal of tiles in that area would be necessary and they would either need relaying once the area is fully dried out or new tiles would need to be installed.
Which is the best pet friendly flooring option?
Ultimately this will come down to your own personal preferences and requirements alongside those of your specific pets. For example, a home with a pack of large dogs ruling the roost will have different flooring needs to one with a singular geriatric cat.
The experts at Hamilton flooring are here to advise per your own specific requirements and are able to advise on not only the best type of flooring for a pet friendly home, but also some of the best options and brands within that flooring solution. Weighing up the pros and cons (plus over 30 years of experience in the flooring industry and a lifetime of pet ownership) for us, Luxury Vinyl Tile just pips the post for the most Pet Friendly Flooring. It offers the versatility, affordability and style alongside hardiness and ease of cleaning that most pet owners require of their flooring. That being said, Carpet - especially Carpet tile - may also be suitable in some spaces though we would not necessarily advise carpet as the best flooring option for areas where pets spend a lot of time, such as living rooms and kitchens (we probably wouldn't advise carpet in the kitchen anyway!)
Pet Friendly Luxury Vinyl Flooring
When it comes to Luxury Vinyl Flooring you really cant get any better than the two giants in the industry, Karndean and Amtico. Below are two options showcasing the wood and stone effect Luxury Vinyl Flooring available from these two designer brands. The design and style options are vast and intriguing so we have selected two popular traditional options which make ideal pet friendly flooring options.
Karndean: Van Gogh Rigid Core, Classic Oak VGW86T-SCB
'For a really classic oak timber look to your space, but with none of the challenges of maintaining an oak timber floor, look no further than our Classic Oak Van Gogh Designflooring plank. The traditional oak grain has a rich mix of warm, variable tones for a really authentic traditional look.'
Amtico: Mineral Amtico Form FS7S4350
'With its delicately dappled texture, this cool and natural grey has an authentic, rustic feel.' Amtico
Pet Friendly Flooring From Your Local Experts
Whatever flooring solution you choose, Hamilton Flooring is here from consultation through to preparation, installation and aftercare advice, ensuring that you and your pets have the best flooring for all of your needs. Contact us today to find out more.
Unless otherwise stated, Images are used for illustrative purposes and do not represent work untaken by Hamilton flooring - examples of work completed can be found in our Gallery