Hardwood Floors and Dogs
IS IT POSSIBLE TO HAVE HARDWOOD FLOORS AND DOGS IN YOUR HOME?
Having pets in your home is amazing, but it also means more work in keeping your home clean. Besides their friendship and cuteness, pets sometimes can cause problems to furniture and flooring.
When you have hardwood floor in your home, eventually you will learn that hardwood floors and dogs are not a good combination if you don’t take certain precautions. First of all, dogs’ claws can leave scratch marks on wooden flooring, it doesn’t matter it is a small or large dog. The more active your dog, the bigger impact will be on your floors.
Other problem is pet urine. As you may know, spills and moisture is not good for hardwood floors. Certain spills will leave stains on your floor if they are left long enough. Pet urine will leave a dark stain that is more visible on light color hardwood floors than on darker ones. The other problem is it will leave a smell on your floor; this is because hardwood floors absorb liquid.
The last issue is dealing with dog hair and dirt. Dogs shed. This makes your furniture and floor looks untidy, unless you clean it on daily basis. Dogs’ feet also bring outdoor dirt in to your home after they go outside. In the long run this dirt and grime built up will harm your floor if not cleaned regularly.
So here comes the question; do hardwood floors and dogs get along?
The answer is absolutely, with a bit of effort. To minimize scratches on your hardwood floor:
- You can use rugs or mat over high traffic areas.
- Use carpets in the area where your dog usually plays.
- And keep your dog’s nail short to minimize scratch damage.
- Putting mats and rugs by entrances can also reduce the amount of dirt from outside.
CLEANING HARDWOOD FLOORS IF DOGS URINATE ON THEM
Well trained dog will know where to go when they need to go. This training will minimize accidents in your home. But if accidents do happen:
- Clean the spill immediately.
- To absorb the liquid, use paper towel.
- Make sure you drain all the moisture from your floor.
- Then clean it using warm water and some vinegar to get rid of the smell.
- Clean it again with warm water and dry it with paper towel.
- Clean thoroughly till the floor is perfectly dry.
- Buy special-stain and odor remover. You can use it to clean the stain and the smell so that your dog doesn’t go there to mark it again.
To clean your dog’s hair and dirt that shed around the house, you need to sweep and vacuum your floor on daily basis. If you have hairy dog, then it will need regular grooming. You should probably look into a hardwood floor vacuum that is built for pets.
If you have to often clean and polish your hardwood floor, maybe you should invest in a floor buffer and a floor scrubber!
