Porcelain tile is the most durable. Are you in a warm place?

We live in Canada, so gets pretty cold during the winter.

We just built our vacation house and installed porcelain floors. Our dog runs around like a crazy man- not a scratch! Here's a pic during one of his calmer moments, looking out the window.

By the way I live in Canada too and would find tile floor pretty cold and I am older and find them very hard on my feet and back.

I see porcelain and laminate wood plank floors in many local businesses including my vets' office. Cali Bamboo sells a wood floor product that is advertised as having a very high janka hardness (5,547) that is resistant to dog scratches.

I think the best option is real hardwood floors with a wire-scrubbed surface in a slightly distressed barn wood type of finish. The wood is scrubbed so that the softer parts are removed -- those are the parts that the dogs nails will scratch, the remaining hard wood is tougher than their nails. Don't get polyurethane coating, instead get Danish oil or teak oil, which can be spot repaired for scratches and pet accidents. The floors will need to be re-oiled every year or two, but this is more or less like having them polished, not nearly as difficult as having the hardwood floors rescrubbed or refinished. I would not do porcelain tile floors unless you have radiant heating in the floors, or you live in Florida.

Consider also a wood, like acacia, that has a complex grain and color pattern. Scratches don't show up as well, nor does dog hair. We have engineered acacia, and our small dog, two cats, and Husband the Destroyer have not made a mark.

We are almost done building our house in Northern MN and our main level is ALL tile floors. We have in-floor heat and it is WONDERFUL! No issues with our dogs, our children, or our visitors messes. =)

To clarify, oil finished floors need to maintained by thoroughly cleaning and applying more oil -- every year or two depending on how hard you are on the floors. Oil wears down to a patina giving you a much more natural, antique wear pattern that some people actually like to see. After a while you will notice wear patterns in high traffic areas. It's very easy to touch up - clean the floor, blot on some oil over the affected area and feather it out. When it's time to recite the entire floor, you can do it room by room, remove all the furniture, wash the floors then apply the oil and allow to dry for several hours.

The good part is you don't have to remove the old layers like you have to with Polyurethane. The other problem with polyurethane is that the poly itself scratches, so scratches that aren't deep enough to affect the wood are still visible as scratched floors. And you have to strip polyurethane completely off and start over, it can't be repaired.

Porcelain is a great wearing tile. But there is another product and I would only use for a particular type of home. It is called Allure and it is sold at Home Depot....looks and wears amazing!

Thanks for all the comments everyone.
Your input is really appreciated.

I love all tile floors. If it's done properly it almost looks like a very well done concrete floor. Very clean look. Very durable and easy to clean. However, my wife is afraid it will be a hard surface for our young kids to play and fall on. Although I love tile floors with heating, I think she might be right (did I just say that?! :)).

I redid the main floor of our current home with hardwood: huge mistake. It's all but wasted imo. In the basement and upstairs we have laminate. It resisted to scratching very well but it does have water damage in some areas.

So far, laminate is our best bet. Even though it's not totally resistant to water damage. It's unfortunate that a water resistant laminate doesn't exist.

If you have other ideas, keep 'em coming.

Thanks again everyone!
Cheers

There are water resistant laminates on the market...they are in the $5-$7/sf range in Canada. You can also look at high(er) end vinyl planks that have the wear resistance that you need with the water resistance that you desire.

Be sure to make sure the HVAC system is capable of keeping the humidity stable throughout the year. Vinyl is finicky when it comes to swings in humidity. It moves a little bit more than anyone thought possible for an "inert" substance like vinyl.

Put a little bit of extra money into the HVAC and then go with the floor that suits you best...CoreTech vinyl will certainly handle the "water resistant laminate" request that you want. A glue down vinyl install is "the bomb" when it comes to durability...but it requires a professional flooring installer who KNOWS vinyl glue down....a GC should not be hiring "joe" to install flooring.

That's my advice: put more money into the HVAC and get whatever floor floats your boat. Canadians do NOT like tile or concrete...even in temperate Vancouver the tile is total no-go....not without the $25K in-floor radiant heat bill...and even then they decide that tile/concrete is TOO HARD and they try to cover it up/rip it out inside of 5 years.

I've seen this so often I could cry....and some homeowners do cry...'cause that expensive in-floor system is a problem and it limits their flooring choice for the rest of their life in the home. Not many are brave enough to abandon the $25K system and go with another heating system. Its hard to swallow.

Here in the southwest almost everybody has tile, often Saltillo. And, up where we are in the mountains, it does get cold in the winter. Clearly, it's a personal choice, but I love the look and durability of tile. We even put it in our second home. We are not crying and are happy with our floors. Good luck with whatever option you choose!

In Canada as well with two Labradors. If you're just beginning the design stage of your new home, be sure you insist on under slab insulation to retain heat if you opt for any kind of in floor radiant heating. This will allow you to use polished concrete as your flooring material (or porcelain, marmoleum, cork) and have a warm floor. As the dogs age, you might need to put down rugs so that slipping doesn't become an issue for them. If you orient the house to a South exposure, the mass of the concrete floor will also act as a means to store that solar heat and radiate it once the sun goes down. This is great in the winter and the use of sunshades or vegetation can prevent the solar gains in summer allowing the concrete mass to remain cool, which helps keep the house cool. If you aren't familiar with the Passive House standard, I would encourage you to hire an Architect or home designer who is familiar with it and design your house to this standard. The use of super insulated walls and windows, solar orientation, etc. result in a home that uses up to 90% less energy than a standard built home. In fact, there is no need for a furnace. And HRV will circulate the air and replace old stale air with new fresh air. Heat can be supplied with a heat pump attached to the HRV. The air quality and level of comfort are far better than a standard built home. Depending on where you are in the country, there may be one near you that you can visit and experience. Here is a link to a very informative booklet that describes what Passive House is and how it works:

http://www.passivehouse-international.org/index.php?page_id=70

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I have a pet shop at my home I had laminate looks like wood it got ruined so we went with vinyl and 50 year warranty but it scratch up so bad , so we just replaced with butcher block real wood it is so strong and dogs run on it all day and I have 4 big dogs worth the money .

We have 2 large dogs on laminate floor. They both slip a lot on it to the point we are concerned about their long term joint health. We laid hardwood with polyurethane in our bedrooms. After my wife rejected all the pieces with nicks or scratches, our dogs laid down on the completed floor, stretched and, you guessed it, scratched the floor. I'm not sure what I would suggest, but we are definitely glad we stuck to carpet on the stairs and landing and have area rugs in main living areas.

We have huge dogs and young kids. Porcelain tile with infloor heat is the best for mess and non slip for dogs. We had that in our previous place and it was amazing. Now we have hardwood and my old dogs can barely walk in the house. I would never put wire brushed wood in the house with kids and dogs. It's really hard to clean. There are entire countries and continents that have tile as a standard floor and kids survive. Tile is the only thing that's completely inert and hypoallergenic. Most high end houses around here (vancouver) have large scale porcelain go in with radiant floor. In my personal ideal house I would have tile on the main floor and glue down cork tile on the top. One day. ...

You can try for resilient floor types, which resist scuffs and stains and are also aesthetically appealing.I think you can have some stone flooring especially in the room where you are going to keep two boxer dogs. That’s the best option for scratch-resistant flooring. And, go for Tarkett’s sheet vinyl flooring for the rest of the house so you can get an attractive and sturdy floor.There are some great options is you’re looking for resilient flooring: American Biltrite’s Natura collection,Centura’s luxury vinyl and Tarkett’s sheet vinyl are all amazing. However, I recommend avoiding laminate flooring as they are not really good at handling scratches.