The thing is a quick hoover is no good when your carpet clearly needs to be taken up and put in the washing machine!

We have engineered oak on our floors which is basically a thin layer of oak on top of a layer of cheaper wood which makes it cheaper than solid oak. It has a few scratches from doggy claws from when they have been playing or have taken off at 100mph when it's walk time ha ha! But I think the scratches etc actually add to the character of a real wood floor. We have had laminate before but found it much noisier and 'bouncier' than the engineered wood. We have stone tiles in the kitchen and utility.

We have had laminate down for about 5 yrs now and I love it.

I refused to have carpet with having kids and puppies in the house,it's very easy to clean and our's hasn't chipped and stuff has been dropped on it.

I sweep it every day and mop it with floor cleaner every few days to a week depending on how dirty it gets.

Our dogs haven't had any problems with it,but then I have never allowed them to play or charge around in the house.

We have wooden flooring in some of the house , its 3 layer parquet oak flooring , it was expensive but not as slippy for the dogs as laminate ,and feels really solid, it cleans well and shows you how much dirt gets trodden into a carpet when you sweep the floor each day , for me the best flooring from a cleanliness point of view with dogs.

Nice!

If fitting laminate, more expensive is better as the cheap stuff swells easily from spills, steam etc

Quickstep laminate.Pretty expensive but is laid as planks and loads of people think it is wood.Do not go for their tiles though as they have chipped.

IMG_2977 by *Fudgeley*, on Flickr

IMG_2978 by *Fudgeley*, on Flickr

These are the tiles that I would avoid......


IMG_2969 by *Fudgeley*, on Flickr

That laminate is very much the same as the type I'm looking to get, big planks with bevelled edges to make it look like wood flooring. Yours looks lovely!

What was wrong with the tiles?

They are individual tiles and the recessed edge keeps chipping.the planks have had the same wear,been down for the same time and no chips whatsoever.The planks also need less cleaning.

Be aware though you are not supposed to mop laminate and water can damage it.It may also invalidate any guarantee you have.You are supposed to use a laminate spray and dry mop.

This is the same for all laminates by the way to my knowledge! It is certainly not designed to get very wet.

http://www.cleaning-laminate-floorin...ring_JCTS.html