[momoftwo]

Okay - So I have ~500 square feet of oak hardwood floor in my house - entryway, kitchen, eating area, hallway, and powder room. Several weeks ago a part failed interior to my refrigerator resulting in water seeping under the wood floor causing buckling and cupping in ~10 square foot area. Despite getting commercial dryers on it right away a large section of the floor is going to have to be replaced and the whole thing refinished.

I am trying to decide if I want to fix the floor or just rip it out and install porcelain tile. Can anyone help me with the pros and cons?

I don't want to have to go through this again. I wish I had a good way of leaving some of the hardwood and doing something else in the kitchen put with the floor plan I don't have a good place for a transition.

I keep Dante's nails short but the wood does still get damaged with the kids dropping an occasional toy and me dropping canned goods and other assorted kitchen items. With the wood you just can't spot fix - you have to refinish the entire thing.

I know that anything that gets dropped on the tile is going to break but how will the tile hold up? If you do break a tile, is it easy to just replace one broken tile or do you have to replace a large section?

Any advice or experience would be appreciated!

Heather

[Linda]

I have had both hardwood and tile. I LOVE both. Currently, I have some hairline cracks in some tiles, not sure how easy it is to fix them, but I'm guessing it is not too hard if you can find someone who knows tile.
If I had a choice I would probably prefer hardwood because of the warm look, but if I was in a warm climate (FL(hi mtd!), New Mexico (hi Vanessa!) or Arizona I would opt for the tile. Especially if had a pool. I love the large tiles and I would pick a dark grout color (gray) because it always changes color where it wears anyway.

[debbildog]

I much prefer the look of hardwood, but I have to say... I put brand new hardwood floors in right before we got Sandy a year ago - they are wrecked - it makes me sick to look at them when the sunlight hits just right (when the damage is most evident). If I had it to do over again I'd have done hardwood in the office, but not the kitchen or hall where most of our dog traffic is.
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Kristin & dd Annie with our crazy doodle crew - Sandy, Iris, and Maggie
We are officially outnumbered by the dogs!

[annabelles mom]

I've had both and loved both, when we were in Fla I had CT put in foyer, kitc/dinin and hallway - it was sooo easy to take care of with 2 lab puppies
I put in a multi color grey with a little bit of "bite" to the tile so it wouldnt be as slippery when wet - loved it and miss it, the hosue we bought in TN has carpet and vinyl throughout which we will be replacing in the next year or two, some ceramic, not sure on the rest
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Mary & Annabelle
Zippity Doodle, Zippyity ay, My O My what a WonderDoodle Day !

http://www.picturetrail.com/luvlabs

[lmtoth2]

I agree with Kristin...we have a mix of hardwood, tile (and then rug/laminant) through our house. I love how easy it is to clean tile (I have my swiffer) where I wind up washing our hardwood on hands and knees. Our hardwood is pretty dark, we have some area rugs and isn't in our highest traffic area so I cannot see any damage from doodle nails.

Given your situation - I would either go tile or could you fix your floor and refinish so that it's a color of that won't show any damage (or a distressed look where any "damage" would just contribute to the look). We have tile in our entryway and haven't dropped much on it so I don't really know how durable it is...
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Leslie M

[Doggonecrazy]

They have tile now made to look like wood. Maybe that would be an option. If you do an internet search on "wood look porcelain tile" you should be able to see some examples.
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Vicky (Jett and Copper)

[MaxandMe]

here's one place that is good

www.floorone.com
they're reputable , have great prices, and deliver to your door.

i saved $900 with ordering my laminate online versus going to the stores here
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Annmarie, Max,& Peanut
Forum BLOG ARTICLE LINK http://blog.labradoodle-dogs.net/

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." Anatole France

[sdrudge]

Thanks Annmaire. I will be redoing floors next year, first a new doodle, and fence this year.
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Samantha, Cacao and Beau

[jenkirk1]

I love my tile!! I do love the look of hard wood but I don't like the distresed look much. Darker grout is the way to go it does darken even if sealed. I live in TX. in 100 degree weather and our whole house is tile. It doesn't break that easily if thing are droped on it. Tiles can be change if they get broke. They tile person will chip away the grout and then the tile. Yo just have to make sure you have a box or two extra tile. When the lot of tile runs out the next one maybe a different shade.
Hope this helps a little.
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Jenkirk1

[MaxandMe]

I absolutely LOVE Hardwood floors...but my daughter used to clean homes for a company and sometimes i'd see these beautiful homes that had dogs and scratched up floors and you really do need to get on your hands and knees to clean them properly.
and now with the price of wood....for someone like me who was doing over 2000sq ft well tile and laminate was easier on my bank account

NOTE: if anyone installs real Mexican Tile floors, they are the same temperature as your rooms meaning they don't get cold.
HOWEVER when wet you can fall on your butt easily but they dry fast, always look shiny/clean but are not perfect looking like porcelain tiles.

Laminate floors clean in minutes so if someone calls and says they're dropping by you have enough time to sweep and mop
and they don't scratch easy.
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Annmarie, Max,& Peanut
Forum BLOG ARTICLE LINK http://blog.labradoodle-dogs.net/

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." Anatole France

[Cinsmom]

I have porcelain tile in my kitchen and I love it. I don't have hard wood, but my kids do and they have dings and scratches in them, even though they don't have dogs, so I can't imagine what it would look like with a dog around.

My advice for tile floors - go for porcelain, not ceramic. Ceramic will have to be glazed as ceramic is porous. Porcelain is naturally non porous, so you don't have to worry about sealing them. And go for good quality grout. The stuff at Lowes & Home depot is not good grout. Ask your local flooring store about what kind of grout they use. We've had to replace our grout because of the grout coming up in high traffic, chair scooting across it, and so on. It's a pain to replace - trust me!!

If you get a color of tile that's got kind of a multi shade thing going through it, it won't show dirt as bad! Oh and go for gray grout - great color!!

[momoftwo]

Thanks for all of the replies. We have a new flooring store in our small town that is getting rave reviews by the folks that have used them. I stopped in yesterday and talked with the owners. He is doing all the installation himself right now as they are still growing the business and the quality of his work, the products he uses and super thin grout lines are amazing. They do have the wood look tile as well. I am 99% convinced I want to go with a 20x20 porcelian tile instead of refinishing the wood. It breaks my heart to tear up a floor that is 75% still looking great but in the long run I think putting in the tile will be easier and less expensive to maintain. (Plus I won't have to yell at my 5 year old so much for trying to play hockey on it and scooting toys across the floor!) Now all I have to do is get my DH into the store and convince him. So much for that Digital SLR I was going to get for mother's day Maybe for Christmas.

Heather