Best Flooring For Pets and Kids – Wood Floors

By Tim Fowler

A man and women with their dog sitting at a table on a balcony with hardwood floors

Kids and pets can be dangerous – for your floors, that is.

The combination of small humans and animals running around, doing what kids and pets do can take a toll on your house.

Your floors are the single surface your family touches the most in your home. Your floors should handle all that your family throws, drops, or spills on them.

When most people look for a durable floor, they’re often recommended to get a waterproof floor. While these floors stand up well to daily wear and, of course, water, they’re not the only option for families wanting a durable floor.

So, why can a wood floor be the best flooring for pets and kids?

Wood Floors Are A Clean and Healthy Choice

Hardwood floors are easy to clean because you can see when they are dirty and know when they are clean.

A regular sweep or vacuum and an occasional mopping keeps them dirt and dander free. Spills or accidents can be wiped away easily, unlike the dread of a spill that permanently stains carpet.

Read more about how to clean and maintain your wood floor here.

Wood floors are a healthy choice for your family because they don’t trap allergens like carpet. Dirt, hair, pollen, dust mites, and pet dander can swept or vacuumed easily.

The truth is, even if your carpet looks clean, it really isn’t. Debris that falls on your floors or is tracked in from outside will get worked into the carpet fibers. Eventually this can all get trapped in the pad underneath.

Wood floors reduce the pollen and dander irritants in your home that aggravate allergies. It won’t trap dirt, germs, and bacteria like carpet does.

Hardwoods Are Warm and Durable For Everyday Life

Even the priciest carpet traps dirt and debris over time.

Stone and tile are another clean and easy to maintain surface. But, without radiant heated subfloor, walking barefoot on tile can be like walking on ice.

Unlike tile, hardwood is a natural insulating material that retains heat and feels warmer to the touch. Compared to a hard, cold surface like tile or stone, hardwood floors are great for kids who love to go barefoot.

Additionally, although wood flooring is considered a hard surface floor covering, it is actually “softer” than tile. Kids will be less prone to injury from any accidental falls.

Area rugs can be added to accent furniture or for decoration and sometimes where it’s nice just to have extra cushion as in next to your bed or sofa. A rug offers the best qualities of carpet, while still being easy to clean or replace. No need to worry about what could be a costly replacement of wall-to-wall carpeting.

Refinish Your Wood Floor to Look Like New

It’s true – dogs and other active pets with sharp claws and bad habits are able to scratch wood floors. Kids can certainly leave their mark dropping heavy toys or dragging furniture across your floors.

Even so, any floor covering will start to show its age over time:

Carpet can be deep cleaned up to a point, but eventually needs to be torn out and replaced.
Vinyl plank flooring must be replaced if it starts to show wear, edge curling, or scuff marks.
If tile starts to crack or the color is no longer trendy, it has to be completely replaced.

By contrast, wood floors can be recoated or refinished many times and made to look brand new. If you want to have this capability, choose a solid wood floor or an engineered floor with a sandable wear layer.

A quality wood floor can last a lifetime.

There’s a couple things that you can do to prevent or minimize the appearance of scratches:

Choose a prefinished wood floor with hand scraped or wire brushed textures. These textures disguise the normal wear that kids and pets add to your flooring.
Avoid scratches by filing pets nails and use rugs where your kids play.
Get more tips for how to prevent wood floor scratches here.

If you want a new look for your wood floors, you can have them refinished and choose a different stain color to give your home a total makeover. With other flooring options, you’ll have to opt for tearing out and installing a brand new floor.