We currently have carpet throughout our house, but due to having dogs, we hate the carpet. While hardwood or laminate seems the logical choice, tile would hold up much better to their toe nails. My concern is how having tile throughout the entire house (even in the living room, computer room, bedrooms, etc) would look. I know it is done sometimes, but I just can't picture it in my mind. How do you feel about it? Would the tile (it would be very neutral in color) be okay through the entire house or should we go with laminate deal with the scratches when/if they happen?
Ok I would tile the whole house accept for the rooms that you would not want the dog in like your bed room, my parents have 4 dogs, 2 grey hounds and 2 smaller dogs and with the tile its a lot easier to maintain remember you don't have to keep it one color put borders in different tile borders to show distinctions between the rooms and your Life will be great. why bother with the scratches, and if its done right, making sure you seal the grout first, you will have no problems.
A couple considerations first tile is brittle and not flexible. On the other hand wood floors flex. If you have the bare minimum joist size in your floor for the span they cover, then tile isn't an option, it would simply crack up. Make sure you check that first. Just laying down a layer of plywood, or concrete board won't fix it either even though many will try to tell you it will. Once you know you have a flooring to hold tile, you can make your choice. My recommendation is to mix tile, laminate, and area rugs. By now you know where the highest traffic areas are, that is where you need tile or rugs. Laminate is sturdy stuff, and casual use by even dogs usually won't harm it. It is safe to use everywhere else.
We have Pergo flooring and it doesn't show dog scratches. I think tile flooring throughout an entire house is cold and echoey! But if you go with the tile, you could always get rugs.
wanting to change guest bedroom with tile or laminate flooring.. Have tile through out house. Any idea of what would look best?
Well its totally up to you but in my experience tile in every room is cold and not very inviting. Also we made the mistake of ripping up the carpet in our house so we could refinish the hardwoods underneath...bad idea. The floors were ruined and unsalvageable and and we found out our foundation was not suitable for laying laminate or tiles because it was raised in the middle of the house and sloped towards the edges. So seeing as we didn't have the money to lay carpet (we were going to lay the tiles or laminate ourselves) we have had a bare floor for over a year. If you (like us) have dogs that shed. The hair will be a daily nuisance. Between our two dogs and two cats there is hair blowing around the house constantly...which is not good especially when it ends up in the kitchen where your food is. Also we didn't realize how much the dogs preferred the soft carpet but as soon as we got an area rug for under our dining table they sleep there or on their dog pillow all the time and hate being on the hard floors. If you do decide to do tile make sure your floors do not give. My parents found out the hard way. Last year we laid their tile in their kitchen...we told them the floor had some give and that if we went ahead the grout may break out...after re-grouting twice and getting ready to try (hopelessly) again they finally realized that we were right. A few rooms are not as bad as the whole house. Hope this helps. Oh and keep your dogs nails clipped and that will cut down on snagging....if when walking through the house on hard floors and you hear them clicking they need to be trimmed if possible.
