Looking to refloor our lounge. Its heavily used by us and dogs . Have tried laminate and wooden floor but not with great success. To be fair OH put the wooden blocks down(reclaimed) but he didnt sand or treat them properly  and they are now lifting. Plus its the hassle of needin to reseal etc.
Have decided on tiles/ slate or whatever else is hard wearing. I have been told that slate and natural stuff can also need  sealing from time to time. Just wondered what others have found to be tough and easy on the eye. I will be putting rugs down anyway as I realiese it could be a bit slippy. I actually put non slip vet bed down as its so easily washed and these days comes in nice colours and patterns. We have ceramic tiles in living room which serve the purpose tghough one or two have cracked. Someone suggested porcelain. Any thoughts based on your own experience welcome. Thanks

We have oak flooring down and used ronseal diamond hard mart varnish and three Labradors and four years later still wearing very well. I think we put about three coats on.

We have pre-treated wooden floors everywhere apart from in the kitchen and utility rooms where our dogs live.In these areas we have porcelain tiles that still look like new 5 years later.Wooden floors do scratch through wear and tear but I suppose it adds to the character and look.Porcelain tiles are extremely hardwearing but I would use darker grout next time as we regularly have to steam clean between the tiles.Porcelain tiles and washable rugs might be a good option.

I lived in Spain for 6 years where it´s standard to have all tiled floors throughout the whole house.  Just normal floor tiles, nothing special.  I had no problems with the dogs (small breeds) even though I didn´t have rugs down in the summer.  However I personally HATE them because they are so dreadfully cold in winter.

We have slate which looks beautiful but needs to be stripped and resealed regulary.

With hindsight I would have chosen a non-porous material as I am sure it would have been alot less hassle...

Tiles and slate does look lovely and is reasonably practical BUT its very cold in winter and also, my friend found that the white grout between the tiles got very dirty very quickly from her 2 dogs muddy paws. She now says she wishes she hadnt had them. Not sure if you could combat this problem from the offset by having a grout thats not white (if that even exists-sorry, am rubbish at diy!)

> by having a grout thats not white

Yes - you can get darker colours :)

I have a wood patterned cushion floor. Reasonably priced and easy to clean. People have often thought it was laminate or wood and are surprised it wasn't.  It is quieter than wood or laminate too and resistant to doggy accidents.  Not slippy when wet either.  and easy to repair on the odd occasion it has got damaged. Just cut out the damaged part and replaced with a matching section  from an off cut.

I have had ceramic tiles in the kitchen and various types of carpet but will now stick with my cushion floor. The best decision I have made.

I fancy that option for our living room. With a couple of oldies that have occasional accidents and with puppies around sometimes, I'm thinking that this will be the easiest to keep clean and will be reasonable warm too. I'll put a couple of nice rugs down and hopefully most people won't even realise :)

Where did you get yours from, newyork? Personal recommendation is always best :)

from http://www.unitedcarpetsandbeds.com/ It wasn't expensive but still looks good now 5 years down the road.

I have Safe Tread from B&Q in my kitchen, it is vinyl but has a roughned surface so not slippy. I love it, can mop up spills easily, no edge strips like I had with Laminate, that used to get dirt trapped.
If I drop something it generaly dose not break like tiles do, and not noisey or cold to walk on.
I am going to have a light oak effect put down in the hall, as it will be a lot easier to keep clean than carpet.
I have hairy dogs, so I do get bit of tumble weed type hair gathering, but I just sweep or hoover it up before I mop, and is done in no time.

we are abroad and have tiles throughout.They are wonderful to keep clean,but are cold in winter.We have a couple of large rugs down in front of the sofa but mainly my dogs use the furniture to keep off the floor in winter.The tiles are very hard wearing,non slip when dry,but do have to laid on a concrete base or they too will lift and crack. I used to live in uk with all carpeted house....I much prefer the tiled floors for hygiene and ease of cleaning.

Took a look at some porcelain tiles yesterday so leaning towards that I think. Carpets not an option with the throughfare the dogs have, been there done it :-)
Thanks for advice guys

I have Safe Tread from B&Q

Can only find safe tread ladders on B&Q site :-( Is it sheet vinyl or vinyl planks?

Edited: Ah, ok found it ... Treadsafe :-D

We have slate, when first laid they sealed it, left it for 24 hours then applied several coats of "polish", this has to be re-applied every year or the slate doesn't look very nice (dull). Not slippy at all, only downside (apart from re-applying the liquid) is that slate is cold.

Ceramic or porcelain tiles will crack if laid on anything other than a concrete floor that hasn't had a layer of flexible "stuff" applied first, our floor tilers have always added flexi floor to the floor cement too. I wouldn't consider white grout on a floor, all of our tiled floors have either black, dark brown or dark grey grout.

I have standard brown grout in my floor and chocolate grout on the wall tiles in the kitchen because it's the main dog area.  You can also get standard grout in grey.

You can get expensive tubs of grout in a myriad of colours (hence the chocolate).

Cushioned vinyl here and I love it - people have thought it's real wood before here too :-)  Mine is a herringbone pattern I found on ebay, nice and warm colour but with the all-important wipe-clean factor!!

It's nice and warm temperature-wise too - very important for me as I feel the cold a bit and especially for Remy, who needs the lounge uber toasty to help combat his arthritis (made considerably worse because of his alopecia).

Porcelain tiles with underfloor heating - go for it!

> Porcelain tiles with underfloor heating

Yes :) We have underfloor heating upstairs and downstairs throughout the house and the floors are never cold whether tiles or wood :) :)

Cant afford the underfloor heating :-(

Sorry got it the wrong way round. Yes Treadsafe is the one.
My husband is an electrician and he would not let me have underfloor heating, as he said if you get a fault you have to rip the floor up.
I could see his point, but then again he is terrible at doing anything at home !!! So probably would have taken forever for him to do it !! LOL.

> as he said if you get a fault you have to rip the floor up

Ours is hot water not electric. Each loop is continous pipe - no joints (OH and I put it all in) so nothing to go wrong under the floor :) :)

That sounds great Daisy !! Wish my OH was more into DIY.