Green Shoots Blog
Bamboo Flooring and Dogs
Bamboo flooring is a great option for dog owners because of its durability and scratch resistance. Bamboo provides a unique looking floor for your home and is easy to maintain. The hardwood surface makes it easy to clean up after your pup.
Cali Bamboo Customer Story
Hey, my name is John and welcome to my house in Reno, Nevada. The last place I was living in, I had hardwood floors, I’m not really sure what kind but they just got destroyed by my dogs. I ended up having to have the floors refinished for the landlords sake, I had to re-stain them, re-sand them, everything. No deposit back in my pocket. My fiancé Stephanie and I bought this house back in October of 2011. We decided to go with a bamboo floor, simply because of the durability, and it looks different from anything we’ve seen before. I’ve got two very large dogs and the durability had to be there otherwise I wouldn’t spend the money on the floor in the first place. When I started looking at the bamboo floors with Nate at Renew Bamboo, I told him I wanted the best bamboo on the market and he told me Cali Bamboo was the only way to go with the durability and the style I was after. Originally with the floor, I was kinda babying it. I’m like I don’t want to scratch the quote unquote unscratchable floor. Now I have no apprehensions to throwing a ball down the hall and having my dogs chase after it and having my nieces and nephews play on the floor with their toys. I really have no worries about durability anymore….That’s the beasties. Heh. Almost a year later, we are by no means gentle on the floor and I couldn’t point out one scratch to you. I actually found salt and pepper shakers, I had to have it cause you gotta match!
More Photos from John’s Home
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I have large (100+ lb ) dogs and very small cat. To date the only thing that has managed to scratch my fossilized bamboo has been metal corners getting dragged on moving a furniture. Durable, smooth, and nice underfoot, the animals are quite content on it, though sometimes they will still take a running slide down the hall when excited.
Ha ha! I’d love to see that! I’ve actually considered starting a hashtag for “ice skating” pets on hardwood flooring. Got any ideas? I was thinking #thefloorisice
Hello,
I’m considering the Cognac Fossilized Wide Click that I saw at Lowes since I have All Dark Cherry in Kitchen, Living room, Dining room and Bathroom. I have a 20 lb Beagle Mix and he likes to run around. How durable is it if he had an accident on the floor ? He likes to run around, would it scratch these floors? Also, I want some nice thick padding underneath. What do you recommend?
Thank You,
Kimberly
Hi Kimberly,
While I’d love to tell you it won’t scratch or get damaged by puddles, the truth is it is wood so it will perform as you would expect a wood floor to perform. Most of our customers are pet owners and love their Cali Bamboo floors and yes, we have extremely scratch-resistant finishes, but if you don’t keep your floors clean they can scratch. If your pet has an accident and you clean it up within a short amount of time, you’re probably fine, but puddles left overnight, maybe not so much. That said, maybe real wood is not a good choice for your lifestyle. If you want a beautiful looking floor that can take some abuse, maybe our vinyl plank is a smarter way to go? If you’re dead-set on real wood, maybe our bamboo GeoWood floors are the perfect blend of real wood and water-resistant piece of mind.
Best,
Walker
Walter,
I’m looking at the fossilized bamboo for my condo for the same reason many others do…I have a dog and, even though I keep her nails trimmed, the floors are getting all scratched from her chasing the ball and playing. It looks like I will need at least a 2-month lead time to get the bamboo ordered and then to let it acclimate to my environment. It also sounds like my best bet would be to have Lowe’s do the installation since they are familiar with the product. I have concrete underneath my floors. Is it better to glue the floor when concrete is the base? For that matter, can you even float the floor if there is concrete underneath? Do I need a subfloor to go on top of the concrete before installing the bamboo? I like the Moonlight shade although when I received the sample it was darker than I thought it would be.
Hi Mary,
Yes, depending on where you live, acclimation can take 5-10 days or longer in extremely dry or humid areas. I’m happy to hear you are planning ahead! If you purchase from Lowe’s they do have pretty good installers from what I hear, but don’t assume they all know about Cali Bamboo’s unique requirements, the acclimation, expansion spaces and using t-molding between large spans, etc. Print out and hand them our Pre-Installation Guide. For concrete, your only options are glue-down or float. Gluing down costs a bit more since you’ll be buying adhesive, and requires a skilled installer while floating is a bit cheaper, faster and more DIY friendly. The biggest difference between the two is the way the floors feel. Glued down floors are very solid feeling, while floated floors have a bit more give and you can use underlayments with floated floors to give additional moisture protection, insulation, and comfort. People that are used to older hardwood floors or have had glued or nailed down floors in the past think floated floors have a “hollow” sound when walked on. I floated my floors and used the cork underlayment and don’t think they sound of feel hollow. When I first installed them, they creaked more than I expected but after a few months, it totally went away. I like the moonlight too, it has a nice light beachy feel. The sample may seem darker in your hand but when you get the whole floor down you’ll be surprised at how it brightens up your space. Let me know if you have any other concerns.
Best,
I have 5 year old cali bamboo floors and the finished has gotten hazy and spotty. I put in black floors which I cannot get clean. I’ve tried various recommended floor cleaners but still the floor finish looks shot. I’m thinking a top coat might help. Anyone suggestions on a topcoat?
Thanks
Steve
Hi Steve,
Unfortunately, we haven’t found a topcoat we absolutely love and can enthusiastically recommend. If you do try one out, do it in an inconspicuous area first, and if it ends up working well, we’d love to hear about it.
Walker
Please send me a sample of all your shades. Planning to redo my condo.
Thank you
Hi Bessie,
I forwarded your request to a Green Building Specialist, who will contact you about your project.
Best,
Walker
Can this floor be placed over radiant heat cement floors. This is new construction slab on grade . What is the cost per square foot?
Hi Jane,
All of our solid flooring is radiant heat system safe. Our flooring ranges from $3.99 to $6.59/sqft. One of our Green Building Experts would be happy to talk about your project, call 1(888) 788-2254.
Hi Walter,
My husband and I are looking at a Mocha Fossilized Wide Click flooring from Lowes, it says strand woven solid bamboo. Does that mean it is made from the grass of bamboo or is it bamboo? I have read the grass ones are not as durable.The Lowes we bought samples from stated they had only been selling it for about a month, so feel it is new to everyone around here. We have 3 dogs all small so wanting something that is going to last through nails or accidents. Was reading about the 10 coat Alum. Oxide Finish, how do you know if that is what you have? We went over all the samples with the flooring manager and that never was mentioned. Thanks so much! Pamela
Hi Pamela,
Cali Bamboo flooring is beloved by pet owners for its hardness and scratch resistance. All of our flooring is made with 3-5 year old Moso Bamboo, the hardest and strongest species of bamboo. Our solid bamboo floors have the 10-coat Aluminum Oxide finish and resist scratching very well. No hardwood floor is scratch proof however and lighter colored floors will hide pet hair and minor scratches better than the dark colors.
HI, a question regarding “pet issues” How does this flooring stand up to “moisture” urine, water ,etc?
Our flooring is beloved by pet owners. While none of our flooring is waterproof, the 10 coat aluminum oxide finish is more than enough protection for drips and spills that sit on the surface of the plank. If the spill occurs at the seam of a plank that is where prolonged exposure can start to be a problem. Generally as long as you wipe up spills within a few hours, no damage should occur. Best advice I can give you is to put some samples thru some real world tests. Gather up at least 2 samples of each floor brand you are considering click the samples together and put a small puddle in the middle of the plank and a small puddle on the seam, let sit overnight and see what happens.
Just picked up our new bamboo flooring. We got the click lock and proceed to lay some down just to see how we liked the color. It’s very hard to click together and doesn’t want to lay down. It makes cracking sounds when you push it down. We also found that it is coated with some kind of wax. Some of it is quite thick in spots.
Hi Bobbie,
Some batches of flooring are a touch harder to click together than others, and it is difficult to just pull two planks out and try to click them together because they move around on you and it’s tricky to try and hold one plank down on the ground while trying to get the leverage and correct angle, etc. It gets much easier once you get a couple rows clicked together because the floor gets heavy enough to not move around on you. The wax you mentioned is actually supposed to act as a lubricant of sorts but I’ve also seen too much wax inhibit the clicking too. The best bit of advice I can give you is to “prime” all of your planks prior to installing them. This is a technique I discovered while installing my floor and basically what you do is you use a 6 inch piece of flooring and click that into the full plank up and down the click mechanism to “loosen” the click system. It’s pretty quick and it really helps. If you are hearing cracking sounds, that means the click system is not fully engaged and you are putting strain on the click mechanism which is generally bad. Give the “priming” technique a shot, it made all the difference for me.
Best,
Walker
Hi , I have just installed Cali bamboo wood floor. It already have some scratches , I guess to ongoing renovation. However, I am thinking of getting a dog soon, and I am concern about durability of the floor. I have the gray one and it looks amazing.
Hi Aga,
Sounds like you are talking about those pesky fine white scratches? They are superficial and can be easily hidden with a touchup marker. We are actually rolling out a whole series of touchup products for our flooring this month. I didn’t see you in our system, did you purchase through Lowe’s? We have two gray colors, Eclipse and Moonlight, let me know which one you have and I’ll get a marker sent to you.
Hi , we have Eclipse and yes we purchased the floor from Lowe’s. Also we are going to adopt a puppy soon, is the floor safe for pets ? Is it scratches easily ?
Ok, I’ll make the request to get the marker off to you asap. Our flooring is beloved by pet owners and most of are customers have large dogs so don’t let a few surface scratches concern you. As long as you keep the floors clean and free of dirt and debris, use Bona Pro floor cleaner you’ll be all good. Thanks for the comment Aga!
Hello Walter
I just had Java Fossilized Wide Click installed by Lowes. WOuld you have a marker for that that you could send me? THere were a few scratches. Also I would be interested in your touch up products are there are a few deeper marks. Thank you for any help you can give me
Hi Sally, we sure do, and I’ll have our service dept get one sent to you right away.
Do you recommend these floors be nailed or glued down? We are about to get the Cali Bamboo installed in our entire downstairs – 1,000 sq feet. The company wants to glue to floors down; however, I heard from a few friends who had bad experiences with glue. But they had engineered hardwood not bamboo.
When you say downstairs, do you mean 1st floor (on grade) or do you mean downstairs as in basement (below grade)? As long as we aren’t talking basements it’s really whatever your installer is most comfortable doing. Our bamboo flooring can be floated, glued or nailed down. I will say we have both floated and glued down bamboo flooring here in our office and the floated bamboo has a slight hollow step sound but also has a slight cushion from the underlayment below the flooring vs the glued down bamboo is hard as a rock, and has a very solid feel to it when walked on. Everyone here seems to prefer the glued down feeling over the floated floor experience. Either way, confirm that your installer plans to properly acclimate the flooring for a minimum of 5 days and seals the slab with 531+ prior to installation.
What do you mean seal the slab before installation?
To “seal the slab” is to apply a moisture barrier to keep the moisture from the concrete from affecting the wood flooring. We recommend Titebond 531+. It’s very similar to a paint, you roll it on and it dries clear.
Walter, I am concerned about floors being to slippery for my Large dog and Little cat. I don’t want them to break their legs. Can you comment please ?
Beverly I know what you are talking about, dogs that have never lived on hardwoods look like they are walking on ice. I was concerned about my chihuahuas going down bamboo stairs they are over 10 years old and have adapted nicely. Best advice is to keep your pets claws trimmed so they have good contact with the pads on their feet. I’ve never heard of a pet injuring themselves on the floor though, I think they just over compensate at first and look all awkward but over time they get better and better on it and eventually it becomes second nature. If it becomes too much of an ordeal for your pet, a few strategically placed rugs will help them lily pad across the house, as a last resort there’s also those shoes for dogs, they may give the needed traction.
I have two very large German Shepherds one is 127 lbs and the other is 94lbs .
I am looking for the best flooring possible for 2200 sq. ft home, something that will definitely looking for durability from scratching as the dogs do run through and play in the house. What type of Bamboo flooring would you suggest ,and where may I see the flooring in person? I live in St.Charles, Missouri.
Rita, you’re looking in the right place. Cali Bamboo floors are beloved by pet owners for their durability and pet friendliness. While no hardwood can claim to be scratch proof, ours have been tested at over 5000lbs. on the Janka Hardness Test and feature a 10-coat durability Aluminum Oxide finish. That said, I would recommend lighter floor colors, they will hide pet hair and any scratches that may happen. If I were you I’d request one of our Flooring Flavor Packs and get a variety of floor color samples sent direct to you for FREE, then you can feel first hand the Cali Bamboo difference! Also, if there is a Lowe’s Home Improvement near you they may have our flooring on display, but I’d call ahead, we’re not yet in every store just yet. If you want to watch more of our pet lovers’ stories, check out these videos.
I just confirmed, the St Charles Lowe’s does have our flooring.
what about pet accidents will it still hold up
Hi Camille,
Our bamboo flooring will react to spilled liquids much like any other solid hardwood floor, and depending on how much liquid, how long it sits, it’s hard to say what will happen. I can say most of our flooring customers are pet owners, and they choose Cali Bamboo for it’s durability and scratch resistance, and I haven’t heard of a pet mess ruining a floor so I’m assuming it’s not an issue. One thing I can suggest is that you may want to avoid the hand-scraped floors, their surface has pits and grooves where dog mess can be tougher to remove. If you haven’t already, you could get some samples of our flooring and setup a little spill test and compare our flooring to some other brands and see how each one performs. Even better, take a video of it and send it to us and we’ll share it on the website to help other folks. Thanks for the comment Camille!