Laminate Flooring?

[AZChins]

I know that I have mentioned this before because it is a huge thing in my life. I have carpet in my house and in the chinchilla rooms. It takes a lot of effort to maintain it around the chins and no matter what there is always a problem with it. Either I am cleaning it or talking about cleaning it...and honestly, I have spent a fortune on it with buying a carpet shampooer, having people come in and professionally clean it and even on spot cleaners.

Oh yeah...forgot to mention, it's white! The dumbest color for carpet ever....when you have animals. Let's say I accidentally spill a few drops of water when I am refilling bottles or drop a waterbottle on the floor - it leaves a water stain. It shows everything and I just don't have the energy anymore. I think I have shown diligence the last decade with keeping it clean....so, I deserve a new floor.

I was thinking of putting in a nice laminate floor and I would probably want to do the installation myself. It seems pretty straightforward and I think I can handle it with the many webpages offering advice and showing step by step instructions.

Does anyone have experience with this and chinchillas? Will it hold up to the wheels on the chins' cage racks? Should I be looking in another direction?

The only thing that the carpet offered that nothing else will is that it is soft if a chin slips out of my hands and falls to the floor. Being able to get on my hands and knees and possibly bleach the floor would probably outweigh that benefit, right?

 

[RDZCRanch]

I had laminate flooring in my chinchilla shed at my parents' house. I will never do laminate again. I'd prefer to spring the extra for tile or just do plain cement for the flooring.

1. Laminate rips SO easily...I had to have help to move EVERY cage or a corner would catch and rip.

2. The bumps that developed all the time just from me tripping were causing more bumps that made me trip more.

3. When it gets dents and grooves, they are next to impossible to clean chinchilla urine out of.

My problems could have been due to the confined space...but I cleaned urine off the walls and "mopped" or got down on my knees to rub off urine the floor every week and it did nothing to help with the urine not coming out of the dents and grooves.

The only good thing about it was that it had some cushion. I don't think it had enough to be safer than cement when dropping a chin...but it did save a couple of my glass bottles that got knocked off.

 

[AZChins]

Did you have the wood floor type of laminate?

I was thinking of this:

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=111745&navAction=#desc

I have vinyl flooring in my kitchen that are awful. It's been cut up so bad just by maybe a dish or something. Is that more like what you had in your chin shed? I guess it's considered laminate, too...

I can go to the more expensive laminate with the 25 year warranty...that stuff is supposed to be really tough.

My husband wants me to use commercial vinyl tiles. I know that those things last forever, but I don't want to put that in my house! I have it out in the sheds and it's worked wonderfully...I'd put it in a chin barn in a heartbeat. I just want everything to be fairly consistent in the house. I don't like the carpet in the human/dog parts of the house either.

 

[Rickman]

Have you ever considered those clear hard plastic 'carpet-savers' [?] they use under rolling office chairs?
Seems that'd kill two birds with one stone, as I believe they're 300 lb. plus rated.
Someone else here uses them, too.

 

[AZChins]

I have some of those and they help tremendously....but the carpet is just so old. It just needs to be replaced.

 

[JennyBug]

I'm actually thinking of using some of those plastic carpet protectors on my walls (I have a few chins who LOVE to pee outside their cages!). I have an old piece of carpeting under my cages, that way if I need to, I can clean that, but I do wish I had something easier to clean...

 

[Chinmama]

Look into the vinyl plank flooring. We put that in our kitchen and living room, and I love it. I have two dogs,and two quality cage mansions and haven't had any problems with it in the year or so that we've had it down.

We have cork look-alike in the kitchen and then the wood look-alike in the living room. We went from having beige carpet too.

http://www.homedepot.com/Trafficmas...ation?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[AZChins]

I put towels under the cages that sit directly on the floor. When they get dirty I can just throw them in the laundry. I've heard of people using shower curtains in back of their cages so they can clean the wall more easily.

My trick for walls is to paint them with semi gloss paint. When they are dirty or pee peed on I just get out a bucket of soapy bleach water and wash them down. I tried putting up things to make it easier to clean, but really the best thing has been using paint that can be scrubbed and comes clean!

Thanks, Ann. I will go look at that sometime when I go to Home Depot.

 

[wingittim]

As long as you get a mid-range laminate you will be extreamly happy! I took out all my carpet in my house exept two bedrooms 7 years ago and you can't hurt the stuff. We installed ourselves and it is really easy. But be carefull i have a friend who bought some really cheap stuff and it is garbage. I would recomend Armstrong or Pergo. I have used both and they are good quality. Armstong is cheaper but i think it's a better look.

 

[Riven]

We are down to carpet in two bedrooms, and it will hopefully all be gone by this fall, one will be gone in the next two months for sure. I love our lam. hardwood would be better if I had that option, but with a large house... there is no way I could afford doing it all in hardwood. We have a big dog, two little dogs, used to have a 125 lb dog, two kids ( plus whatever neighbor kids are invading at the time ) two cats and a destructive husband all in the house. I've never had any problems with "bubbles" or ripping. There is a difference in floorings though, look how thick the top layer is and stuff like that.

They are pretty easy to put in and you shouldn't have any problems with that, but don't skimp on your pad! The only area I have had problems with it in my office in the basement, we have had water issues in the past and with all the rain I'm getting some bowing from the moisture. What I need to do is pull it all up and water seal the concrete, which I didn't think about doing before I put the floor down...

 

[RDZCRanch]

I already said this in chat, but the laminate hardwood, as long as it's put in correctly works awesome! You may get a few scratches or small dents but nothing bad. It is also easy to clean and scrub down. I was thinking more of the vinyl type laminate flooring.

 

[Marie5656]

I do not have laminate floors, but a friend does. she does not havechins...but She does not have chins..but she, herself is in a wheelchair, and she has a cat. Her floor is wood laminate and she had it installed a few months ago. It seems to have held up well under her chair and the cat. She said it is easy to care for as well.

Also, someone mentioned the plastic mats for under office chairs...I have one under Trixie's cage and love it. It is very easy as I can just move her cage and sweep under it, and occasionally will go over it with a mop. Easy yo move her cage too

 

[Riven]

Also about your wheels, if you can get the larger soft rubber wheels then you shouldn't have any issues!

 

[Rickman]

I've used 4 x 8 sheets of inexpensive melamine paneling behind the cages - saves the painted walls every time.

 

[Olallie]

I used to use cardboard boxes to put under and around my cages, only worked for so long. But I was living in my moms house and her carpet was thick, and fluffy. So the poop got stuck waaaay deep in there! lol