After hemming and hawing over flooring, I think I finally have a plan.
For one, I cannot stand laminate. It creeps me out, particularly when it creaks and sounds hollow when you walk. So the next logical option was hardwood. It is beautiful, but there’s a dramatic price increase from laminate to hardwood. And we have a concrete foundation. I have heard that there are potential problems with installing hardwood on a concrete foundation. Although it sounds like there are ways to make hardwood work on concrete, it also sounds like a huge pain and only adds to the cost of the already expensive hardwood floor. And to pay all that money and do all that work, I would really hate if my dog’s claws gouged it.
So, hardwood was out too.
And to replace the carpeting (which I loathe) with brand new carpeting sounded like absolute madness. It would just get destroyed again in a few years.
The solution seemed to come when I took our dog to the vet several months ago. Yes, THE vet. Our vet had moved to a new location, which is beautifully built with brand new everything. While waiting for our dog’s checkup, I remember looking at the lobby flooring.
It got me thinking. It was pretty. Was it…could it possibly be….laminate?? I tried to be sly while doing a little jump test. Hey, wait. That’s concrete underneath. And there was no chintsy creaking. No way…
Passed my foot tapping and "jump test" with flying colors.
I watched one of the staff members roll out a mop bucket and slop a soaking wet mop on the floor. Another dog was busy digging his claws into the flooring while his owner tried to drag him into the exam room. The flooring looked flawless, despite whatever abuse the pets could dole out. I immediately adored this flooring, for it was 1) attractive, 2) mop-able, 3) dog claw proof, and 4) soundly installed on a concrete slab.
New flooring is not realistically in our budget, so I put it out of my brain for awhile. Not too long ago, I came across a post on The Yellow Cape Cod‘s blog. My flooring selection was immediately confirmed when I saw this:
Long story made short, it sounds like this is very similar to what I found in the vet’s office. It is slightly larger planked, looks like individual pieces of wood, and has a color variation that seems perfect. I am leaning toward the darker version of this flooring, and have decided that I will start my Momma-Needs-a-New-Floor fund immediately once we get home from our cross-country road trip.