Am about to replace the living room carpet(complete with sick, poo and wee and goodness knows what else) we have GSPs and the living room has a coal fire and is also the through route for the dogs via kitchen. Any thoughts on which is better for dogs? Laminate or ceramic tiles?
Sue

ceramic tile are the best, that's what we got all down stairs,easy to sweep and wash,hard wearing,some have been down 20 years and still look good,and no chips out of them either.with 8 dogs over the years,

We've got laminated floor -it's very good everything brushes up but you have to be quick with the spills or it will bubble the floor . it looks great and doesn't scratch depends on the style of the house I suppose and the age .Ours is fairly modern 60yrs and quite a warm house -happy choosing
liz

Sue, quarry tiles work for us, but if you use them get them sealed at the outset. We'd have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if we had done that :-).

What exactly are quarry tiles and how does the price compare? Also what do you seal them with?

Sue, quarry tiles are unglazed slightly porous tiles and usually come in fairly muted colours. Can't remember what we sealed them with, but will take advice from Management later.

We are slowly replacing all our floor coverings with ceramic tiles. So far we have ceramic in our new extension, quarry tiles in the front porch and real slate in the kitchen. All have been a doddle to lay by a poor weak woman (me) and are wonderfully easy to clean :D The only thing with quarry and real stone/slate is that you have to seal them after laying, but all spillages just bead up on the surface and mop up quickly. No scratch marks and no carpet to get down on my hands and knees to brush the fur out of - just a rug or two! This winter it is the hallway and then the living room, then I am finished. Hurray :)

Sue, we have tiles and quarry tiles down stairs. Not cheap, but the best thing we ever did :-)

I've got laminate floors in living room, dining room and my bedroom. Easy to clean. Toby slides a bit but manages fine. I like hearing his nails on the floor when he starts to run across it. :) but my last dog, louis couldn't walk on it at all for about his last 3 months or so. His legs were so weak he just slid and couldn't keep upright. I used to have to slide him round and then shove him across the floor to the door and out to the hall where he could get a grip on the carpet.:( Poor thing, and he did keep trying to come in :( I even tried rugs on the floor for him but as soon as one paw went onto the wooden floor he just fell down :(
Dot

Tiles, I have laminate and am changing to tiles, as my oldest dog loppy is getting a bit incontinent and his accidents mark the laminate,

Theresa

We've changed to ceramic/slate type tiles downstairs - and they are absolutely brillant for spills & accidents (ie Gypsy & Loki wetting their knickers in excitement when anyone comes!!!). Also - no more fleas lodging in the carpets.

The only downside is that our old lady Purdy, the 12-yr old lab, whose hips are a bit "dodgy" can start doing the "Bambi" bit on them - so she hogs the rug in front of the fireplace!

We have rough type slate tiles all through the ground floor of our cottage, they are very practical be even more importantly with our oldie they are not slippy at all even when wet. Rugs cosy it up.

With 3 dogs running through the kitchen all day, in 5 years I had to change the floor covering 4 times, finally decided that ceramic tiles were the answer and I am now thinking of doing the whole downstairs. They are easy to keep clean & hard wearing, best thing I ever did. Ingrid

Are they less slippy than laminate? I would worry about mine slipping but do want a hard floor in the kitchen. They quite often run in from the garden, into the utility room and kitchen at high speed!

Helen

My dogs hate the laminate flooring weve put in one room . To be honest Ive gone off it myself so Id say carpets (can be steam cleaned if they get smelly!) or tiles if you want to be hygenic and stylish. I like lounging on the floor by the fire so Im just buying new carpets despite the possible odd accident!

I have Lino throughout the bottom floor. It was fairly slippy at first but is a lot better now. There are some lovely designs in Lino these days.

Thanks for the help everyone.Majority points to tiles so that is what i think we will go for. (Just gotta wait for payday now to buy them!!
Sue

We had laminate flooring in our kitchen and it got scratched in the first 5 minutes. Unlike solid wood flooring, you can't sand it down and revarnish, once it's scratched it's scratched.

Hi all,

Just a word on laminate and doing your homework. We put Laminate downstairs in all parts but if you spend a little bit more you can get laminate that is waterproof (even rated for use in bathrooms) and guaranteed for 15 years. Thats what we have used and never a mark or stain has appeared. Given Max is a 7 month Dobe then Im pleased :)

His water bowl is constantly being liberally sprayed all over the floor and never a bubble to be seen. Dont mix this with cheap laminate though - ours was floormaster loc1600 I think.

Max does slip and slide a bit when running indoors - but has learnt better and at the moment me thinks a Dobe that WALKS in the house rather than playing Star Trek warp factor 10 to the front door it a bit of a plus personally.

Just my 2pence worth. Sure it will look lovely once done whatever you decide :)

Daren