Do Pets Damage Your Wooden Floors?

Hardwood floors are the heart and soul of your house, but can you do away with your four-legged friends? That might not be a good solution in the long run. Now, the pertinent question is, “Do pets damage your wooden floors?”

Pet owners might feel their pets would scratch and deface their solid oak flooring and engineered oak flooring eventually. In all entirety, the chances of such an issue happening are quite bleak and rest assured, hardwood flooring and your pets can survive in perfect harmony with each other.

Taking the necessary precautions with your pets

Pet parents should ensure they trim their pets’ nails at regular intervals of time, to avoid any unwanted scratches on the floor’s surface. Alternatively, there might be some minor (or major, at times) accidents in the house, wherein your dog/cat might pee on the floors. If you clean them up in time, even such accidents can’t dampen the surface of your hardwood floors.

Subsequently, there might be situations, wherein you might not be able to clean up the pee accidents in time. If a pet’s urine has been standing on the hardwood floor’s surface for more than 4 hours, you can still clean up the spotting. Douse the spot with some vinegar, which should curb urine’s corrosive ability.

Before attempting any corrective measures, it’s best to leave the stained area for at least 2 weeks.

Things you can do to keep your hardwood floorings intact

1. Use rugs, wherever possible: Assuming your pets are well trained, you can use rugs throughout the house. While this might not be possible in certain areas, try and put some rugs/carpets in areas where there is hardwood flooring.
2. Recoat existing finishes: Recoating an existing finish is always an option, even when you are not sure about your hardwood floor’s initial finish. Do speak to an expert, in case you are not sure about recoating your solid oak flooring and engineered oak flooring.
3. Use a tougher finish: Re-sanding hardwood floors might not always work with deeply stained hardwood floorings. There are some brands in the market, which consist of waterborne finish, which are further catalysed with cross-linkers. These brands provide a tougher finish and are harder to wear through.
4. Use extra coats of finish: By having sufficient coats of finish, your pet’s scratches will not go through to the wood. These would remain in the layers of finishing only; this way, you can recoat the floor and ‘almost’ hide the persistent scratches.

Having pets around the house might not be a deal-breaker for people with hardwood flooring. With a few simple precautions, you can rest assured there is always a solution at hand.