Have considered laminate flooring but ruled it out because it is too slippy for dogs and noisy when their claws tread on it. Does anyone have experience of engineered wood flooring? Is it just as slippy and noisy as laminate?
Hmm, do you mean hardwood tongue/groove flooring vs. some cheapy thin plastic-like crap? (I believe* "engineered wood flooring" is also typically a laminated design, rather than using solid bits of wood)
Think it covers a few designs. Mine is solid strips of oak keyed and glued into something like traditional sized T&G planks. When assembled properly there are no gaps anywhere. Looks very good and should be as hard wearing as a traditional oak floor.
Yep, that's what we have here - 1-1/2" wide strips of about 3/4" deep (I think the modern stuff's a bit wider, typically). Very hard-wearing, although some types of spills can damage the finish and of course it's vital to put pads on the bottom of the furniture so it doesn't scratch (we used felt ones, but rubber would probably be better).
Our floors aren't particularly slippy - I've never just fallen over on them (if I run through the house in socks I can just about manage a
3' skid... :-)
We don't tend to trim our dogs' claws so they clatter a bit when they run, but not too loud - and we don't hear them at all if they're just walking.
The main downside I think is the lack of insulation offered by a carpet; we've got a full basement which makes the lower floor a bit cold underfoot during the winter. On the plus side, it's easy to clean a hardwood floor (and judging by the amount of crap that gets swept up, it's scary how much dirt and debris must be trapped in the average carpet!)
I'm not sure how long you're supposed to go between re-finishing such flooring (the stuff here could use a new coat really, but I don't know when in the last 60 years it was last done). The guy living next door installs hardwood floors as his job, so at some point I'll just go ask...
Engineered wood flooring is *real* wood - unlike laminated, which has never been anywhere near a tree!
Engineered flooring has a thin layer of hardwood (about 3mm) at the top and (usually) two lots of a softer wood underneath - with the grain going lengthways in one layer and crossways in the other - making a very stable product. The overall thickness is about 14mm - much thicker than laminate floor.
The sort which I used is tongued and grooved - but with the tongues and grooves having a cross-section which snap into each other - so, with the help of a smear of glue, you get a good solid job with no gaps.
You need expansion gaps round the edge of the room, of course, and need to remove and replace the skirting and undercut the doorframes if you want to make a proper job of it.
We have Amtico bathroom flooring, about 6 years old, always cared for with their own product and instructions, certainly showing signs of age, quite grubby in places. Whereas the rather naff laminate flooring in the dining room, which has much more use shows no such sign. Sigh, Her Indoors says it will have to go as it looks, well artificial. ;-)
Ahh, OK - I'd call that a laminate as it's layers of material glued (presumably) together - but that doesn't necessarily make it the right term within the industry :-)
Our stuff here's just solid 3/4" T+G with some form of tarpaper backing (presumably as a moisture barrier)
Ours seems to have been done with a thin barrier of caulking around the edges, which I suppose picks up the slack (there's no sign of there ever having been skirting boards; we're slowly putting some in). I suppose the size of the gap needed varies greatly with the type of wood used.
Hmm, when we moved in we had bright green shag-pile carpet in the bathroom over the top of its hardwood floor. Needless to say, years of moisture had taken its toll somewhat...
Indeed it is, and dogs claws (if they're big dogs) "distress" an engineered wood floor very quickly however dogs themselves don't have problems with either surface. They have completely independent 4x4 drive system all intelligently linked.
We have a Greatdane x greyhound now 14 yrs old whos hips are weakening and he's been fine on the floor for the last 4 years.
The smaller chiohouha x thing also has no problems, so slippery isn't an issue for dogs as long as the dog has 4 legs. :¬)
See my above reply. We have 46m sq open plan (including kitchen) Khaars engineered 14mm oak surfaced wood. Neither of our dogs have had any problems. and one has huge great gangly legs. I wouldn't let that worry you. You'll be paranoid for the first 18 months of a wood surface though as big dogs claws leave small grooves and indentations in the wood everywhere, but the floor is like a stainless steel sink/worktop etc it takes quite a while for it to become "broken in" to the point where new marks just blend in with the old and you enjoy it for it's unique properties and durabillity once newness has vanished.
You have to be careful about the type of rubber. I used some black rubber under furniture on a maple floor and was dismayed to find that after five years or so some of the black had migrated into the floor (very hard to get out). I was planning on using felt next time!
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