Cat, Rabbit or Dog? Here’s a Flooring Guide.

20th April 2019
Alternative Flooring

Whether you are looking for a luxury vinyl, real wood, carpet or laminate, if you have pets in your home, it’s important to a floor that is pet-friendly and hardwearing – but what other properties should you consider when choosing flooring for pets?

Is carpet suitable?

You might think that pets and carpet don’t go together but many carpets today are made with stain resistant fibres and a lifetime stain guarantee. We offers several brands that have polyprop composition and these are bleach cleanable. So whether your’e worried about accidents from pets messing on the carpet or muddy paws walking through the house you can dilute bleach to warm water and it will lift and stains right out and kill any bacteria. 

Fibre Carpet

Although hairs might look beautiful on your beloved cat or dog, when they are on the carpet it can be very annoying especially if you have a thick pile. It may be best, therefore, to choose something that has a short pile and won’t hold as much dirt and debris. 

There are several carpets that we strongly don’t recommend if you have pets. First, a berber wool carpet has a looped pile that can be easily ruined with sharp cat or dog claws, and once the loop pile is broke it can be impossible to fix. It can also end up making your tight, neat carpet pile look messy. In addition, the natural fibre carpets such as sisal, jute and seagrass can be easily ruined by liquid which can be difficult to dry out or sanitise. These natural fibres can also be easily pulled by cat paws – and you may find that they use it as a scratching facility!! 

You could also opt for a polypropylene/wool mix carpet but again make sure you are careful it’s not a carpet that will be easily ruined – and we definitely don’t recommend a wool or wool mix carpet with a puppy. If you are getting a dog – talk to us in the showroom and we can provide you with off cuts to protect areas of your floor. 

Hard floors

Woodpecker Harlech White Smoked Oak

We would highly recommend a luxury vinyl or laminate floor for your pets, but it’s worth considering that if you have an excitable dog these can be quite slippery. If you opt for an embossed luxury vinyl you’ll find this has more grip as well as being warm underfoot, scratch resistant and hardwearing. Laminate and luxury vinyl have extra durability against scratch marks, but we advise making sure you trim your pet’s claws. 

If you want something that is accident proof – a luxury vinyl can be more water resistant for any liquid left for a long time, for example if you aren’t home to clean it up. A laminate can absorb the liquid and lift at the edges so this is worth considering. If any spills or accidents are cleaned straight away it shouldn’t be an issue but you can’t be home with your pet all the time. 

The benefit of a hard floor is that any pet hairs and debris can be easily swept up and cleaned. You can also easily sanitise any areas where your dog or cat has had an accident whilst training them. 

Protect your floor

French Oak

We recommend having mats down in high traffic areas such as doorways and runners/rugs in certain areas. Some entrance mats are absorbent and rubberised with will catch a lot of the dirt and grime as pets enter the home. Also clean off their paws before they come in the home. 

Patterned flooring

Flooring with a pattern can be a great option as it can disguise marks and fur. Amtico has a beautiful range of patterned flooring. 

flooring for a small space

Talk to us in the showroom and we’ll talk you through the options and help you to weigh up which floor will suit your budget, pet, decor and lifestyle and ensure your choice is the best flooring for pets.

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Customer Reviews

First Floors

Customer Reviews

Jim Hillier 1st June 2022

TrustPilot
Absolutely Delighted with the Conduct and Quality of Work. My Wife and I decided to replace our Bedroom Carpet and lay down wooden flooring for our Hall. We noticed that there was a possible supplier for flooring at first floors shop on Fenwick Road. We met up with David and Graham and explained that we were looking for quality products for both Items. We were shown flooring possibilities from their extensive range of designs and thicknesses and soon found a product that we were interested in. We were delighted to find out that they had carpet selections at the back of the shop which surprised us; you could not appreciate the size of the place from the shop front! We chose a carpet that we thought met our specifications and were given a reasonable sized sample to take home to see how it would look in our room taking into account of our particular lighting conditions. First Floors sent out a guy to take measurements for floor, accessory fittings and carpet.
Being very happy with the proposition given to us and estimates of work completion dates and prices we went ahead with the order. Graham kept us updated with the schedule and I am happy to say that the work was carried out on time and was completed to a very high quality with which we were both delighted with.
I would be happy to reference this company for anyone who is interested in upgrading their floors or replacing carpets.

Alastair Barrie 2nd June 2022

TrustPilot
Good selection, service and fitting.We were able to take home some samples to select the carpet that was just right for our room. There was a delay in our furniture arriving and First Floors were very accommodating in putting our fitting date back to suit. The fitting went very well indeed - couldn’t have been easier.

Olive Leitch 1st May 2022

TrustPilot
Excellent service from First Floors. All staff including fitters have been helpful and gave a friendly professional service. My new stair carpet has been fitted very well and already received many complements

Linda McBrearty 27th April 2022

TrustPilot
Excellent service with care. On our first visit to the showroom, David advised and helped us with our choice but never rushed us and gave us lots of confidence in making our final choice of engineered wooden flooring. Our new build home was delayed for a few months and during this time David and his team waited patiently with us until the flooring was able to be fitted! The fitting throughout our new house was more than excellent. The care and attention to detail was everything we could have hoped for, our thanks to the fitting team. We would have no hesitation in recommending First Floors, their professionalism and customer service was 100%.

Anna Smylie April 2021

Google
Fantastic service. David gave me great advice on which flooring would be most suitable for my business premises. Within the week Steven came to fit the flooring and, as promised, was in and out in a day. Can’t recommend this local Company enough. Anna Smylie ZuZu Giffnock.

Dawn Henry November 2021

Google
We recently purchased engineered oak flooring and carpets from First Floors. The customer service from David and team was exceptional. We had just moved home from overseas and bought a house with no floors so we did not have access to allow First Floors to measure. Theye allowed us to use our own measurements as we wanted the floors laid ASAP once we had the keys. The floor is beautiful and laid very professionally (thanks Steven). The carpets are also lovely and exactly what I wanted. The only thing I would change about the experience would be to have First Floors assess the house in advance. We have fire doors which were a problem the day the carpets were laid. This was not the issue of First Floors and it was resolved quickly. Thanks again David, we would highly recommend First Floors to anyone.

Ian and Lesley Proctor January 2022

Google
Another Great Job Done!!
Just had our third floor project in seven years completed by First Floors once again.
Great service from David and his showroom team from assisting in the selection of materials through to arranging the installation. Chris and his team worked tidily and efficiently on the hardwood flooring with great attention to detail. Gordon who fitted the stair carpet was very professional in his work and was able to resolve some problematic details to our entire satisfaction.
Would definitely recommend First Floors.

Gavin Reid 18/08/20

TrustPilot
We recently had First Floors install laminate flooring in our lounge and hallway and are absolutely delighted with the final result! It has been finished to a high standard with great attention to detail.

Having had a rough idea of what we were looking for, David helped find the perfect flooring for both rooms.

We were booked in quickly and kept informed throughout the process.

We would definitely recommend and use again.

Christine Sharp 23/08/20

TrustPilot
Wee have recently had a new laminate floor laid in our upstairs hall. We are very happy with the result and feel the level of workmanship and finishing detail was excellent

Chris Milne 30/08.20

TrustPilot
Excellent service from first point of contact. Staff took time to discuss and review options, then worked to suitable timescale based around my schedule.
Work completed on time and to a very high standard, delighted with results.
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