Having a pet in your life can do wonders for your mental health. There’s something special about coming home and seeing a creature so full of life and devoted to you. Of course, sometimes you come home to see that your loving pet has absolutely destroyed your living room.
There isn’t anything you can do to save your pillows, but there are steps to take to make sure your floors are not one of the victims.
What to Know About Flooring for Pets
Residential Carpeting – Bit of a Snag?
Residential carpeting is a great flooring option to have in many scenarios, especially if you sometimes see freezing temperatures like Nashville in the winter.
Residential carpeting is not very nice with pets, however. For one thing, animals can be messy. Even if you meticulously wipe your dog’s feet every time he comes in from the outside, there is still a much higher chance of stains showing up on the carpet than on something like vinyl plank flooring.
Cats cannot resist the urge to give carpet a good scratching every now and then, ripping up looms and making the area look awful. If none of that is a concern, the pet hair that floats around the room can get trapped in the fibers of the carpet, making life difficult for anyone with allergies.
This isn’t to say that you absolutely cannot have carpeting and pets in your life, just that it will take a little bit more work than normal.
Hardwood Flooring – Old Reliable
If carpeting is a no-go, what kinds of flooring are good for pets? Hardwood flooring is a great option. Depending on the species of wood, hardwood flooring is generally one of the most durable options available, meaning that you won’t have to worry about claws coming out and damaging the floor.
If you are concerned about the impact of a pet on your hardwood floors, try putting a rug down. The rug will absorb the majority of the damage and can easily be replaced when it looks ragged. The nice thing about hardwood flooring is that if it does end up receiving a lot of damage, it can be sanded down and refinished. This process can be repeated several times throughout the life of the floor before it needs to be totally replaced.
Other Pet-Proofing Tips
If you really like the floors in your home as they are, you can take a few other steps to make your life easier. For one thing, be sure to clip your pets’ nails regularly. This will minimize the amount of scratching you see on the floors and will cut down the amount of snagging in carpets and rugs. Additionally, make sure to groom your pet regularly. This will cut down on free-floating fur in your home, which in turn will lead to less cleaning on your part. For homes without carpet, try waxing the floors. This will give your animals a little more traction, leading to less scuffing.
Pets are great to have in the home. With a little work and understanding, you can cut down on the damage they do to your floors. This will lead to a happier home for all involved. If the damage gets to be too much, give Ozburn-Hessey a call to find a more pet-friendly alternative.
