How to Prevent Your Pets from Wreaking Havoc on Your Hardwood Floors

May 13, 2015

While cats are cute and dogs may be man's best friend, pets are certainly no friend to your wood floors. It is true that pets are capable of causing far more damage to hardwood floors than to floors composed of stone or tile, but this doesn't mean that you can't have them in your home, or even that you can't keep them looking nice. Luckily, most wood floor damage is not irreparable, and a wood deep cleaning can resolve most unsightly sights and smells. Does your floor resemble the "before" image in the photos below? If so, there are ways to reduce, prevent, and fix most pet-induced problems that your wood floors may face. Let's take a look at some of these problems and how to prevent them:

Problem One: Your Pet's Claws are Scratching Your Floor

How to Prevent Your Pets from Scratching Your Floor
The first way to prevent this problem is to maintain your pet's claws. You can minimize scratches in the wood by keeping the animal's nails trimmed.

The finish on your hardwood floor can also be used as a prevention method against severe claw scratches. If more coats of finish are applied to your floor, when the floor is scratched, it will only damage the finish and not the wood.

How to Fix Scratches on Your Floor
If severe enough, damage to your hardwood floor caused by claw scratches might call for refinishing. Sir Grout's no sanding wood armor refinishing process can help fix the damage. Our refinishing process removes all embedded dirt from your wood floor, and then adds two or three coats of Wood Armor finish to restore your floor to its pre-scratch state.

Problem Two: Your Pet Isn't Perfectly Potty Trained

How to Prevent Your Pet from Having an Accident
Because animals aren't completely controllable, you may not be able to entirely prevent them from using your floor as their bathroom. This can be a huge problem because uric acid will erode the wood as long as it remains on the floor. The longer it goes without being cleaned up, the more damage that can be caused. However, you can keep the damage to a minimum by taking a few precautions. First, if you are going to be away from home for a while, make sure you have a pet sitter who can clean up if a mess is made. Second, if your pet has an accident on the floor, you need to clean it up IMMEDIATELY. If cleaned up right away, there will be less chance of serious damage. Third, remember to take your dog on walks frequently.

How to Fix Damage from Pet Accidents
When this becomes a repeated problem, discoloration of your wood can occur, and if you see dark stains, it means it's time to get the wood replaced. If the stain is lighter, it can probably be repaired. To do so, you will need to sand off the finish covering the spot, scrub down the stained wood with wood bleach, and then refinish the spot.

Problem Three: Your Pet is Bringing Dirt and Debris into Your Home

How to Prevent Dirt in Your Home
From playing outside, a pet's paws get dirty, and they then track this dirt into your home. To help alleviate the dirt problem, you can make an effort to keep the fur around your pup's paws trimmed because this is a spot that dirt commonly gets stuck in. On extra muddy days, wash off your pup's paws with soap and water before letting him or her back inside.

How to Fix Damage from Dirt and Debris
When the dirt problem gets bad, Sir Grout can help by deep cleaning your wood floor. It is impossible to keep all dirt from getting tracked into your home. While vacuuming and sweeping can get rid of some of it, only deep cleaning can remove stubborn, embedded debris.

Don't let your kitty or pooch keep you from having beautiful wood floors! With the proper care, both can coexist happily in your home. However, if you do find your floors needing some fixing up, Sir Grout is here to help! To schedule a wood floor deep cleaning or sand free wood refinishing for your floor, just fill out the form below or give us a call today.

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