Hi, So it appears from browsing that there is no great way to get around dog damage on floors, but at the risk of repeating previous posts..... I would like to put wood in our foyer and great room and have 2 large dogs plus a kid. Previously we installed Pergo in our other house and although I was very impressed how it held up to scratch damage (even the "oh there's the mailman" race to the door), it still looked and sounded like Pergo. Our current house is more upscale and I'd rather put in wood for the resale value (laminate seems to sound like laminate no matter what). Should I just restrict myself to laminate... or consider only distressed wood?? If not, are there recommendations for wood or finishes (prefinished/engineered etc) that could last say 4-6 years without looking really bad. I'd like to install on my own if possible (have done both click and glue applications as well as tiling, but no stapling/nailing yet). Thanks in advance.

I'd go with distressed type wood, but if you don't want that look someone posted a link to this softpaws product as an alternative approach.

www.softpaws.net

Yes, the option is out there but in my opinon (as a vet) softpaws can be a real hassle to keep on unless the dogs are primarily indoors or are actively digging your floors (which is more of a behavioral issue in my mind). Thanks though. Any thoughts on normal wear time for a prefinished floor vs a site finished floor?

Oh, I agree. It's tough enough to keep our dogs nails trimmed, let alone trying to glue those things on, that's why I went with handscraped floors... well that and the fact that I actually prefer the look. Just wanted you to know about the doggie alternative. The pros here will hopefully answer your other question, but as far as I've learned, the factory applied finishes <I>can</I> be more durable than site finished...

Through what I've been able to research, the lower the gloss of the floor the less likely you are to see the scratches and nail marks. I've also read the manufactuered baked on aluminium oxide finishes will hold up better than the site finished.

I currently have a high gloss site finished red oak floor. When the sun comes in through the shades you can see every little scratch or knick in the floor.

I'm replacing it (due to other issues, you can search under my name if you are really curious) with the Mirage product in a "cashmere" finish. The cashmere is only a 10% gloss. The standard semi-gloss is 40-50%.

FYI - I have an 85 lb labrador retriever.

- Jeff

Good prefinished products will have a much harder finish than anything site finished. You may not get quite as many scratches as site finished, but the scratches won't dull as quickly either because of the harder finish.
In the end I expect that noticeable marks will end up about the same for both. The site finished will have more scratches, but many will have dulled so harder to see.
Ultimately if you want wood and have dogs, expect marks. Most wood floors you've ever walked on have marks all over, you just haven't cared to notice. Chances are nobody will notice the marks in yours. Once they get really bad, you get them refinished.
If you chose a penetrating oil, maybe you'll keep the "distressed" look by just topping up the oil every so often.

The first few marks hurt, but then you forget about them.

Good luck!

You can try a REAL hard floor (2,000 plus on JANKA scale ) or, as some have said, stuff happens, and you just gets used to it. I had Maple (on site finish) and the only scratches were the "Oh no, Dad's home, let's slip and slide around the corner to greet him". The rest of the floor was perfect after two years and 200 lbs of dogs (Goldens)

Ever try Trek Plus?? Stuff is as tough as nails! Aluminum oxide, 15 year waranty ... purty cool ... I use it in plenty of homes where people love thier dogs. IMHO it tougher than MOST pre fins I'm familliar with.

William,
I have heard good things about Trex+. What I want to know is:
1) How easy or difficult is it to use compaired with say, Traffic or Street Shoe? How does it lay down? Good flow? What about bubbles? Good open time? You know, all the good and bad.
2) How does it LOOK? It doesn't matter to my picky customers if it wears like iron if it doesn't look like glass! They (and me too) want that perfect look.
3) How much does it cost and where to buy it? No one around here carries it so I'll have to mail order. Haven't cared for Floor Style prices!
4) Anything else I should know/be warned about?

Thanks, your friendly neighborhood floorman, Gary

Thanks for all the info...its great. Couple of things I was thinking of. First was limiting the hardwood to the great room and tiling the front hall (where the"gee someones at the door, lets run and see" occurs) and second was to distress the floor and then wax, thus touchups would be a little filler and rewax. Any comments? I use a lot of waterlox for my furniture and have waxed over it when I want more depth of finish, however, no one typically walks on my furniture and the hardest traffic it typically sees is Hotwheels. Just browsing finish sites it seems this would be an option for a floor. On the onter hand, there's got to be a reason people stopped using waxed floors and went to harder finishes (hours touching up the wax job perhaps)

What is Trex plus, a finish or a floor?

Thanks!

Mornin Gary!
Extremely similar to Streetshoe in application. Just a tougher finish. Although Streetshoe is no slouch in toughness either.
Please remember your taking info from a guy who lives and breaths OMU and preferes not to use waterbornes. But I use Trek + with my dog owners and admittedly active child raising families. I especially like to do a 'hybrid' finish by applying 2 coats Last-n-Last (to give the wood the Oil Look) and then 2 coats of Trek +.
I must admit that last year (at least up here in a dry climate) I felt it was way too fast a drying finish. I found out I wasn't the only one who noticed. Then the rep sent me some 'Dry climate' formula to somewhat slow the dry time and that gave me a better chance to fix any oopses I committed, gave a little more time to let any (accidental) bubbles burst (and no, I don't find any more trouble with bubbles compared to Streetshoe either) and more time to flatten out and give a beautiful even appearance. So thier change was a huge improvement. Ever since then I've enjoyed using it.
One real big bonus is that I've noticed that it doesn't leave any stop/start marks that are notorious especially in satin sheen. Like I said, I don't apply H20 enough to really get good at it so the product actually helps be do a better job.
Open time- never had a problem.
Pot life after adding 2 part component is 6 hours. I've mixed a whole jug, coated 150 ft., seal jug and stored in cool location, came back 4-1/2 hours later, 'rolled' the jug a little, applied the final coat ... no sweat.
Although I felt that was pretty risky (I didnt mean to mix the whole jug ) I typically (with mos waterbornes if I remember to pick one up) remove the lid and cover the opening with a paint strainer then screw the lid back on effectively screening all that comes out. On that day I did that because I wasn't sure about 'pulp' forming during the 4-1/2 hrs away.
No pulp after I was done.

The price is $82 per gallon (OUCH!) again comprable to steetshoe.
So after all that, I gotta say that I like streetshoe and I'm not sure if it has the Alum. Oxide or the 15 year waranty But what I'm most familliar with is Trek + and like most of us floor guys my philosophy can usually be 'if it aint broke--don't fix it'
I tell you one last thing ... I'd rather take a beating than get a job where I have to sand Trek + off of a floor....I typically must use 3 to 4 40 grit belts just to rough of about 800sq.ft. on oak. A DIY'er didn't like ALL those funny ripples (drum marks) his rental sander put in his new 5" white oak floor. I guess he'll be tellin folks to hire a pro to do thier sanding in the future.

dvmmom,
Trek+ is a finnish.
Waterlox has a tung oil just for floors and it builds real nice too. But in your case remember you might be putting down a new coat once a year. But it does a beautiful job in spot coating as well (very DIY friendly)

Waterbornes tend to have bubble issues. If you choose a really distressed floor (lots of chatters and stuff) it could foam up on the rough spots. (have't done a distressed with h20 yet to know for sure)

Read the last post I wrote under the hardwood floor finishing section, post name is 'brazillian wallnut'

Gotta run hope that helps