Blondesense

Sorry to write a book here, but I could use some suggestions.

We purchased our house knowing our carpet was trashed and would need to be replaced. Cigarette burns, pet stains, lousy repairs etc. It currrently covers the downstairs living area, three upstairs bedrooms, upstairs hallway, stairs and landing.

Three years later and the main reason we haven't done anything yet is because I, feeling like a typical female, can not seem to make up my mind.

First consideration: We have hydronic heat. Hot water pipes embedded in the slab, so something that makes efficient use of that is top consideration. Upstairs are hydronic baseboard heaters. I don't know what is the best flooring for a hydronic system. I've tried researching it online but all the web sites I've found just want to sell me their systems.

Second consideration: Dogs. Two are shown in the pic, and there are two other bigger ones. So it must stand up to, what?... 64 dog nails attacking the floor. The white one also likes to "paw" in the carpet so I've pretty much ruled out any looped pile carpeting. While they are house trained, three of them are 10+ years old so I'm anticipating accidents down the road.

Third consideration: Aesthetics. Our home has lots of brick and lots of stone, so while tile is a strong consideration, I'm afraid it just might be too hard looking.

Fourth consideration: We have an open floor plan. The kitchen has still more brick along with red brick tile on the floor. If it is appropriate for a kitchen, tearing out the red brick floor and using one flooring throughout the entire downstairs is definitely an option!

Fifth consideration: Upstairs hall, stairs, and landing. If we go with something other than carpeting downstairs I'm not sure how to transition this area since most likely we will keep carpeting in the bedrooms.

So my question is: What would you put down, and why.

I just can't seem make a decision and would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.

Attached Thumbnails

   

Attached Images

 

rusty baker

There isn't anything that will really hold up to 4 dogs.

__________________
We Fix $97 installations!


Lord, help me be the kind of person, my dog thinks I am.

Snav

Hahaha - I have 4 dogs and find my laminate flooring in the kitchen to be very rugged.

I've never dealt with piped systems like you have, but they are common in large things such as schools. I've always seen tile used with them as it is #1 - rugged. #2 - easy to repair and maintain. #3 - it conductive to hot/cold and will make the most use of such systems. But *real* tile is, also, expensive and time consuming - you have multiple layers that have to let it all dry and cure in the whole tiling process. Tiling a whole house-floor would be unbelievably time consuming. (Hydronic heat is also called 'radiant heat' and 'hydronic radient heat' - so maybe a term-change will bring up more search results).

However, tiles come in a variety of types - of course *real* tiles are time consuming and tedious - but things like peel and stick vinyl squares (with a properly pre-treated and leveled floor) can be very nice looking with the huge vareity of styles and looks that are now available.
http://www.nextag.com/peel-and-stick-tile/shop-html and http://www.lowes.com/CategoryDisplay...atalogId=10051

So - don't turn down the peel-and-stick or the glue-down thin tiles. They just might be great for you.

Wood is good as an insulator - so I would avoid wood, either hardwood or floating slats (especially floating slats as you also have to use an underlayment and that is often insulative) - this would keep your hot/cold from working well.

Carpet is also has insulative properties - not to mention it can be expensive.

Laminates will do well. http://www.lumberliquidators.com/cat...gory;274500012
And they come in a variety of styles and designs. They are cost-efficient (as low as 1.80/SF where I live for something that would actually look nice and cozy instead of 'I'm laminate, hate me'. - Most common are the wood-looks but a good net-search can churn up non-wood look styles as well.

When people want to insulate under laminate it's preferable to lay down cork. So - you can use laminate without the cork and probably make the most of your money without sacrificing looks.

Then consider area rugs for coziness overtop of your laminate or peel and stick (or glue down) tile - Each room can have it's own style of rug. They can be picked up/cleaned under/shampooed or hung out to dry - and swapped out in 5 years if you hate them.

If your rooms feel *dark* then a high-gloss or semi-gloss finish would reflect light.
You can get a light-colored flooring or a medium color flooring, as well. . . and your rugs can be beige if you'd like - or colorful, whch would brighten things up. Not to mention with your focus on area-rugs you have a huge variety of styles and patterns - everything from geo shapes to nature scenes and florals. Gawdy and ornate to subdued and neutral.

So I would say to keep your flooring basic and neutral (but it doesn't have to be the same in all your rooms) - as well on the low end and then be more colorful and creative with your area rugs.

And your house looks so cozy! I really like it - if you don't like the brick stuff in the kitcen I'd suggest to paint it or stain it because it's in really good condition!

__________________

rusty baker

Dog nails scratch laminate very easily.

__________________
We Fix $97 installations!


Lord, help me be the kind of person, my dog thinks I am.

Snav

Do they?

Perhaps different types of laminate don't handle it so well - my kitchen is done in a vinyl, I suppose, and it doesn't have any problems - but the vinyl squares I have don't look relaly nice, either

Maybe you need to pick up a few samples and see what can handle abuse and what can't!

I'm planning on redoing my kitchen and I was considering some laminate flooring - but now I wonder if that's a good idea at all. I'll get a sample, then, and abuse it a bit and see what happens to it

Thanks, Rusty - you might have just saved the both of us!

__________________

rusty baker

We have solid oak hardwood floors. About 100 years old and our dogs nails scratch those too.

__________________
We Fix $97 installations!


Lord, help me be the kind of person, my dog thinks I am.

Blondesense

Thanks for your comments guys.

I understand there are new ceramic tiles that are supposed to look like wood. This might be an option if they look pretty realistic. I haven't seen them in person.

I guess it is time to pick up some samples and get serious.

Thanks for the complement. If we didn't like brick this was the wrong house to buy! LOL. Every single room has brick in it. The brick stays. The paneling, on the other hand, is a different argument (and possibly a different thread).

Snav

Yeah, there's no substitute for looking at samples of tiles - and their display floors that are laid out.

Besides, it's a heck of a lot of fun!

__________________

kaypee65

I think the suggestion to buy some flooring and put it in for a demo is brilliant.

One thing to consider. Older dogs may have balance and footing problems. Other dogs may have slippery floor issues. My one boy thinks that laminate flooring = death. So you may need a combination of hard flooring and carpet runners.

I have two dogs and two cats, someone is always puking. So I went with Karndean vinyl plank flooring. It's supposed to be extremely water resistant and the wear layer is so think that scuffs and scrapes won't take out the color. I'm just about to glue down this afternoon, and will post photos as I go. One more thing about vinyl planking, I like is the ability to remove a severly damaged piece and slap in a replacement.

Snav

I always buy single tiles (or a few) to see how things will look - I can never tell from just a color swatch, photo or small sample. I have to have the real thing laying around for a while.
As long as I'm careful with such things my store doesn't have a problem with me returning them.

__________________

YesMaam27577

I'd consider pre-finished hardwood flooring, and I'd want white oak.

Pre-finished, because the finishes that they use in the factories on that stuff are just about bullet-proof.

And white oak because it is reasonably available, and amazingly tough.

Please note that when I talk about white oak, I'm talking about a species of tree -- not some flooring company's description of a color or grain pattern. And there are numerous flooring sellers who call stuff "white" oak when it is really red oak, which is WAY softer.

And I'd be certain that my dogs NEVER EVER peed on my floor, not even once. Their nails are nothing, liquids are a BIG problem, especially the ones that stain.

Blondesense

I had forgotten about this issue. I wish I could say thanks, but it does seem to make this decision even more complicated.

I agree. Not only do I want to "live with it" for awhile before committing, but I have to convince DH.

Thanks again, you've all given me a lot to think about.

Grampa Bud

Blondesence, I sent you a message in reply to your ?private? message,but I don't know if it went through. Anyway after reading your thread here and looking at your pics I think your only issue with flooring selections that I could make would be for your lower level concrete radiant floor. You said you have copper tube & fin baseboard everywhere else. For your concrete floor you can run 140 deg. F hot water in the floor for bare concrete or a brick, stone, slate, or tile surface. Any hotter and you stand a chance of burning your feet or the dogs feet or cracking the stone/slate/tile/brick surface. You could also choose to lay a wood floor (mastic only) or carpet it, but you would need to run 160 deg. F water in the floor to overcome the insulating value of these coverings.

Blondesense

Thanks Bud, I appreciate your taking the time to respond. I got your PM too. It was very helpful. It helps to confirm my decision to tile the entire downstairs.

Sorry it took so long to respond, we got about four inches of snow yesterday. While I'm sure it would be no big deal in your neck of the woods, it really messed things up down here in Missouri.
Northern Illinois? I grew up in Waukegan and this is about as much of this stuff as I ever want to see anymore.

.

rusty baker

You are lucky. I live in West Central Missouri. We got 8 inches of snow.

__________________
We Fix $97 installations!


Lord, help me be the kind of person, my dog thinks I am.