hardwood floors?

We live in an older home in Butler-Tarkington with traditional wood floors. Fortunately neither Zoey or Hannah has ever had an accident, so I can't speak to the urine absorbing into the floor. However, I have spilled liquids on it and have had no issues. I would think there may be different types of sealant for the floor and maybe you would want to choose a stronger one. My parents have the newer snap together hardwood flooring. I think it's a little easier to clean than the traditional hardwood and looks really nice installed. Either way, I think you will be much happier without the carpet :)

We have Pergo laminate flooring now and life is much better than it was with carpet. Accidents and spills are easy to clean up.

I gave up carpet long ago. We have laminate in 3 rooms, and I LOVE it. We have old hardwood in the rest of the house, and the only thing that seems to have stained it is not urine, but any pet vomit stains that didn't get cleaned up immediately. It's probably due to the enzymes in the digestive tract. On the laminate everything is easily removed. Be aware that they say it is not guaranteed for liquid damage, but I have never had a problem with anything so massive that it leaked through or that sat there long enough to soak through. Pee just usually gets kind of gummy if it isn't cleaned up right away. The only damage we have is when one of the cats knocked a heavy statue off of a cabinet and it left a little divot in the laminate. Also be aware that the cost of having it installed is usually higher than the cost of the flooring itself, and many people have told me that it is easy to install yourself. Good luck

Our mom wishes for it... Seems to think it would make cleaning up hairballs easier?

Mom and dad have looked into this also because we have ruined the carpets. Heck mom even got a second job so that they could pay for it without taking out a loan. Anyway, they looked into both real hardwood and laminate floors. They got many different opinions depending on who they talked to. Like Mamma Muttblood said, if you want real hardwood, I'd go for it. Mom's best friend has real harwood floors and 3 LARGE dogs that sometimes have accidents. They have not noticed any urine being absorbed. Mom and dad were leary of laminate so they decided on this really cool vinyl flooring and they are going to put extra padding under it. Good Luck with your decision making.

We're at a point where I've about given on carpet. Our house has carpet throughout, except kitchen and bathrooms. Of course, the dogs don't have accidents THERE! I LOVE the feel of soft carpet, but we have 3 dogs and I just don't know what to do. Great question....maybe I'll get info, too!

We have hardwood in part of the house and laminate in another part of the house and mom likes the actual hardwood better. she has never had any problems with anything being absorbed and thinks the laminate is harder to keep looking clean.

We have laminate in the kitchen and hardwood everywhere else (except the bathroom, which is tile). We haven't had a problem with either, although, if you don't clean up "the mess" right away on the hardwood, it can sometimes stain a bit. They are much easier to clean than carpet and a lot less "harboring"! Good Luck!!

We have real hardwood floors. When we moved in, there was an ugly carpet, when we pulled the carpet, there was a pretty big humidity stain on the hardwood. When we refinished the hardwoods, the stain wouldn't come out so we put our couch on that spot. Since we refinished the hardwoods, Maverick has puked on them, but as long as you clean up messes quickly, you won't have any problems. My big issue with hardwoods was all the cleaning. Maverick sheds a lot, and when we moved in, I was sweeping 4 times a day and vacuuming. Then I discovered the Swiffer (with a vacuum integrated) and my life is back to normal. I usually vacuum with the Swiffer once every other day, then I use the moist towelettes to mop. It's great!

Honestly, I would go with the Pergo--it's much more durable than traditional hardwoods and stands up to pets better. We have real hardwood (I HATE CARPET) and it scratches very easily with nails, moving things, etc. The old 30's, 50's hardwoods are so much better than the new stuff they use today (unless you get the super expensive really hard woods). Part of our house (the addition) has new hardwoods, the other part has the old 50's hardwood. We have so many straches on our new hardwood, which is only 2 years old, from dog tonails and other things, it's drives me absolutely batty! It's much worse if you have big dogs that run around the house...the little dogs don't do much damage as far as straches go. So, honestly, Pergo is the better way to go with pets because it hold up so much better.

We built our home 3 years ago, with lots of hardwood. They have such good finishes now, you really can't hurt them. yes, its very scratched, but the stain isn't gone where the scratch is; when we get around to it, we can re-sand and refinish (which you have to do anyway, every so often). We decided we like the look of the wood, and now its just aged!
My brother got some special acrylic for his wood that's practically like a basketball court...NOTHING could hurt it!
P.S. Can you sand the laminate/pergo floors? Or, once its scratched, is it ruined forever?

I saw some 'Amish' hardwood flooring that was hand-smoothed, so it had more texture than typical hardwood... methinks it might hide scratches better! Dunno if it actually would though, I was afraid to ask how much $$ it was.

our home was built in 1920, and we have the original hardwoods. they are coated with polyurethane, and any time anyone has had an accident, it wipes right off! i'd never have carpeting again after having these floors!