I have a dog and two filthy cats. All have claws and crazy as hell.
Whats the best wood flooring to use if you have animals. Laminate is not an option. I saw lumber liquidators has a teak and a walnut. Any thoughts?
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IPE
Creation arises, is sustained for awhile, and then things change. That’s the dance.
We have Tigerwood - and two 75# dogs. Finished in place, 4 coats, by pro's. I'm not sure what they used, but it sure has held up very well to the dogs - and the (almost 2 yrs old) twins, and the rolling office chair. I'm guessing any of the high-hardness tropical hardwoods would be similar.
You can get as hard as a wood you want, but with a soft finish it's going to show scratches.
Pre-finished floors that have aluminum oxide finishes is one of the hardest finishes out there.
Here is the janka scale for wood hardness (how much pressure to press a half inch diameter ball bearing 1/8" into the wood.
When asked why is there four engines on a 747------ "cause we couldn't fit six" a Boeing engineer
and here I'm recommending the hardest wood on the list-ipe
and on all my floors I used the softest wood on the list-eastern white pine
my dog only makes it look better..thats one way to look at it..woofCreation arises, is sustained for awhile, and then things change. That’s the dance.
http://WWW.CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
I went for more than just hardness on mine.
I went with hickory---- it is hard, it's multi colored so it hides dirt & scratches + I went with 3 coats of good old fashioned bad for the enviroment sweedish.When asked why is there four engines on a 747------ "cause we couldn't fit six" a Boeing engineer
We love our hickory floor as well - so much character.
Nice exotics, where would maple, birch, oak fit into the picture??
their there
the full scale got truncated
clic on "view full message"When asked why is there four engines on a 747------ "cause we couldn't fit six" a Boeing engineer
Reclaimed well-worn industrial warehouse flooring.
End grain blocks?when in doubt add garlic
Those are cool.
Saw one that a guy did himself, white oak 4x4.
He cut it from shipping dunage & rounded every corner.
Lot of work though.When asked why is there four engines on a 747------ "cause we couldn't fit six" a Boeing engineer
We have a big dog and 5 kids.
We chose maple because it looks good with NO STAIN, clear finish only. Because there is no stain touching high wear areas can be done without redoing the entire floor. Classic look, relatively hard, reasonably priced, easily refreshed.
Toenail clippers and a dremel tool for the dog nails. same for the cat if you don't have it declawed, but give it a tranquilizer first <G>.
We have had as many as six dogs in the house at some time on narrow strip white oak floors. Never had any problem as long as we did routine maintenace on the dogs' nails.
Dave
end grain hardwood
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Excuse my ignorance, but what is end grain hardwood?
Normally wood is sawn so you see the longitutinal grain. But some very unique and beautiful floors have been made by milling it so the end of the grain is what you see. They are tile sized pieces glued in place, sometimes with a grout between. End blocks were once used for many factory floors. Thicker than we use on residences, they took the heavier traffic because end grains compress less than the sapwood thqat is more exposed on long cut wood, and the heavier mass absorbed vibrations.
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JonS
Teak is soft real soft.. Walnut is slightly harder,
But!
It's not the wood, it's the finish that makes the differance.. I have a 150# Newfoundland. He refuses to cut his own claws so to show him I refuse to cut them as well.
That's a 150 pound dog that thinks my floors are the neatest thing to slide on and run and jump on.. He's just a big ol' puppy.
so I expect my floors to show scratches.. especially when you find out what I use for a finish..
It's shellac.. Zinzzer bullseye shellac thinned out three to 1 with denatured alcohol. I slop on a fast coat of shellac. Let it dry for about 15 minutes or so. give the floor a light sanding with 220 grit. (When I say light sanding I do about 500 sq ft. in about 15 minutes). Then give it it's second coat and resand with the same sanding disk, and finally give it the third coat. ( I don't bother to sand that..)
500 sq.ft. takes me a total of an hour or so to do. it costs about $30.00 maybe $ 40 I forgot the last can of denatured alcohol..
Here's the really great thing. first shellac is one of the harder finishes available.however when it scratches you take a rag soaked in denaured alcohol (or a good brand of scotch) and rub it while you say abra cadabra. Now the scratch will disappear!
Given time you'll want to make the floor look all new and shiney again..
Here's how to do it..
get rags soaked in denatured alcohol and rub away the shellac.. Then recoat the finish
Total time from start to finish is a couple of hours..
Fresh shellac smells semi sweet. it goes away in less than a day or even sooner if the windows are open..
Do not drink the denatured alcohol.. If you must drink I highly recommend a good scotch. (Gin for you woosy martini drinkers. Women like wine and Beer for those without a highschool dipolma to bother with..) The denatured alcohol has a distinct smell, kinda like when you walk into a Burbon distillery.. If it bothers you get a respirator.. or open windows.
Shellac is as benign as it comes when we discuss toxic stuff. You eat it every time you take a pill. (the drug industry coats pills with it) alcohol is what you drink on Friday nights. The denatured part is to keep high school kids from getting a cheap drunk.. it's 2% or less.. So as long as you don't drink it, shellac finish is about as safe as you can get.. it repairs insanely easily, is cheap, and durable.
Only real negative is don't get it wet. if you do you will have to repair it..PS if you spill some water just wipe it up quickly but if your drunk brother-in-law pizzes on the floor and falls asleep you'll have to repair it... (or get him to do it!)
PS so far no scratches showing..
That sounds wild. How long ago did you finish the floor like that? What kind of wood is it?
The Janka scale lists Teak as one of the hardest. Walnut being the hardest. Am I reading the scale the wrong way? Its in plumBills rely earlier.
Don't confuse walnut with brazilian walnut.
Walnut AKA American black walnut is 1010 on the Janka scale
Brazilian walnut is not walnut ---there are no walnut trees in Brazil.
Anytime you see a hardwood that has "brazilian" in front of it, it's something totally different.
When they put brazilian in front of it like brazilian cheery---- it looks like american cherry, but it's actually jatoba.
Brazilian walnut is IPE
edit--- cheery----lol----oops CHERRY
When asked why is there four engines on a 747------ "cause we couldn't fit six" a Boeing engineer
Edited 10/18/2006 11:35 pm ET by plumbbill
So, with that being said...can't I just skip a couple of steps and finish it with 2 coats of a good single malt. Problem is, the friends I run around with would want to lick the floor clean after last call. Maybe that's really not a problem.
Edited 10/19/2006 8:25 am ET by ErnieK
It's my experience that the really big dogs (I have a couple 170# Mastiffs) are not as hard on a floor as those midsize dogs (like the labs I used to have that were a bit more hyper) whose toenails tend to mar a floor much more readily.
That being said, I built a big cozy dog house and those big girls of mine are invited in for short periods only occasionally.
Wood floors, without rugs, can be dangerous to a dog due to lack of traction.
Notchman,
Buddy isn't your typical Newfoundland.. At 5 you'd swear he was still a puppy. He tears around and does the Indy 500 for a few laps to show just how ready he is to go for that walk we should take him on. (dragging the lease in his mouth with this pathetic look, flopping it around a few times to make sure that we understand he wants to walk)
He quickly adjusted to the slippery floors (you should see him in a four paw skid) and yes we've tossed a few rugs down here and there. I don't bother to reach down and straighten them. I kick to get them close to flat and I'm off. I gotta house to build..
He quickly adjusted to the slippery floors (you should see him in a four paw skid)
What NASCAR could learn about coping with tight-on-entry, loose-on-exit, by just observing quadrapeds on wood floors . . .
Of course, when I saw the thread title, I was thinking about barn floors for livestock, which is a slightly different answer than OP wanted . . .
Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
"barn floors for livestock..."
I initially thought the same and was going to suggest 4 X 12 Doug Fir planking (which served my Shire horses well for several years).
I initially thought the same
Something about like minds or the like <g> . . .
I remember seeing a frugal-built barn in Indiana where the original builder had used the slabbed-off, bark-on, lumber/mill cuts for flooring with the bark down. Probably 3-4 x 12 and however long the flitches were. Had held up two milkings of dairy cows for better than five decades when I saw it.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Actually, my barn is an old dairy barn, from the days when a dairy partially supported a family and was made up of a dozen cows or so.
When I bought this place, the barn floor was as you describe....just slabbed flitches with bark on the underside....Port-Orford Cedar mostly with some Doug Fir here and there.
The barn had been unused for about a decade and I had to replace the floor along with some of the rest of the structure.
the barn floor was as you describe....just slabbed flitches with bark on the underside
LoL! Wonder if that's a dairy thing?Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Wood floors, without rugs, can be dangerous to a dog due to lack of traction.>>>You're right but its hysterical watching my Belgium Terverian, "Chakra" come in after she's been outside all day. She knows the wood floors have no traction and she comes running in as fast as she can and goes sliding around the kitchen everytime she comes in like a kid on ice at the Icecapades. She's been doing that since she's a puppy. she loves it..lol. The floors actually don't really have the scratch marks from her with. Dents and bruises, yeh, but no dog scratches to speak of. Three coats of good poly did it!
First coat was high gloss then the rest in matte'.Creation arises, is sustained for awhile, and then things change. That’s the dance.
http://CLIFFORDRENOVATIONS.COM
Hey man, Its been a long time. Its taken me about a year to finish my house and I want to go the shellac route with the floor finishing. I have many cans of the Bullseye product. I have what is essentially a 2lb cut in the seal coat and I have the regular 3lb cut stuff in the yellow can. I know the first coat should be a "spit" coat thinned to a 1lb cut. What about the remaining coats? Should I go straight out of the can with it. If I need to thin it, should I go with additional coats for added protection? I have also been told the best way to apply it is with a wide lambs wool applicator. Any advice on that? I figure it will be faster. I have about 1,900sf to do. Any other tips/advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Jon S
I use a 1 pound cut for the first coat because it dries so fast and you need to sand the little nubs or fuzzes that are raised up. You can use either a 220 sanding sponge made by 3M or use a DA sander with 220 grit paper.. this is really fast light sanding don't try to "perfect" the finish because each coat melts the previous coat and you simply waste time. I figure about a second to a second and a half per sq. ft.
the second and third coat are up to you. I keep using 1 pound cuts because they dry quickly and I'm a lousy painter. With 1 pound cut coats you use twice as much DNA but the floor doesn't have ridges or other mistakes..
You can use it directly out of the can but application gets far more critical plus it takes a lot longer to dry.. One time I tried it it wasn't really dry the next day, when I recut the can it dried in the normal quick time..
1 pound cut dries in 15 minutes the first coat 30 minutes the second coat and hour the third coat etc.. straight from the can it's taken 48 hours to dry the second coat.
would a lambs wool applicator make sense for a large area?
Jon S
absolutely!
I have prefinished bamboo in my kitchen and VERY large dogs from 70 pounds to 160. Three Irish Wolfhounds plus a fourth that I am fostering for a few days, a giant Schnauzer and an Airedale.
No scratches on the bamboo floor, but the dogs hate it. It is just too slick for them to get any purchase. anti-slip throw rugs solve that problem, but add more steps to getting the floor clean.
So, next house will have hardwood floors in the rooms the dogs aren't supposed to be in anyway and good vinyl flooring in the rooms they have constant access.
I have a frisky 105# Newfoundland and in the kitchen I put down Brazilian Cherry which if you check the list posted is considerably harder than domestic flooring. It's scheduled to be topped with Basic Coatings Emulsion then Street Shoe. But while the floor is still naked it has only the lightest of scratches.
The Street Shoe I used on the original 80 year old oak parquet upstairs, really impressive stuff.
http://www.basiccoatings.com/asp/contractors/products.asp
Edited 10/19/2006 1:43 am ET by cynwyd