wood floors?

[tootsie]

Our Schnitzel submissive pees once in a while,we are considering putting in hardwood floors and are wondering if she will damage the floor. Does anyone have experience with this problem?

[georgette]

Yes, today's hardwood floors have such good finishes that they're really easy to clean up. You can even wet mop them. I do think it's probably still best to get to the stain fairly quickly. Any permanent marks can usually be buffed or sanded - not something you do very often of course - quite successfully. - Georgette

[Oscar's Mom]

I think you'll be ok if you can clean up quickly. But depending on how the floor is finished, the pee could seep in between the boards and that would be a problem.

[Becky's Mom]

We got a 5 year old standard dachshund from the shelter in our area. He is insistent on peeing on the floor. We have hardwood floors and so far no problem as long as we mop and spray a neutralizer in the area. New hardwood floors seem to be the easiest to clean to us. He sure is a sweetheart and worth every puddle.

[Dolly's Mom]

You might want to check out LAMINATE floors such as Formica brand, Manning or WilsonArt....which we have almost all over the house. Notice I didn't say Pergo? Cheap Cheap Cheap. Our Wilson Art has been a dream for clean ups and really can take a beating and keep on ticking.....as Timex would say.

[kkildow]

We live in a house with wood floors. They are waxed. The pee can eat through the wax on the floor if you aren't careful and make the floor look dull. I wish I knew a way to change that.

[Oscar's Mom]

I have a Congoleum laminate floor and the pee gets in between the boards. If we dont get to the pee right away the area between the floor boards swell up for about a week.

[TessieMom]

Guess I will add my two cents worth... I have an early 50's house with solid oak floors (had the sheet linoleum the previous owners put down stripped off a couple years ago. With the oil based polyurethane used to seal the floors, I have had no problems so far (even when I miss a spot for a few days). The water-based sealant (varathane) breaks down with ammonia, so I would not use that. The laminates are more resistant to toenails, but cannot be refinished if damaged. For more information, see this month's Consumer Reports. It has a good overview. Hope that helps. I find the wood floors easy to clean and resistant to the tortures that the pack tries to inflict and would definitely do it again! I just use a wood floor steamer (Eureka) and a dust mop with pledge floor cleaner for most of the cleanups! Rena

[Oscar's Mom]

Two more cents here...laminate can be repaired if damaged. The damaged part is pulled out and replaced. I've seen repairs and you cant even tell.

[OwnedByChaucer]

We too have wood laminate floors and so far, so good. I must recommend the IKEA laminate floors (www.ikea.com)--they are less expensive than anything else on the market ($1.50 sq ft), come in a WIDE assortment of finishes and are a dream to lay. We put our first one in about six month ago so I can't really attest to durability, though I've talked to people who've had them longer and have had no problems. I think they've got a 10 yr. guarantee. It took my husband all of 3 hours to put down almost 250 sq ft in the master bedroom. We've had a bit of puppy pee on them, and no problems with it.

We've also got Mohawk Insignia Laminate flooring in our kitchen-the quality is great, it looks fabulous, it's got a 20 year warranty--but it was absolute HELL to lay.