Flooring options

Hello,

Even though we've been working on renovating our house for ten years, it's still far from being done and one of the things that hasn't been done is flooring. And my husband began trying to talk me into tiles, when I hate tile flooring and hate, hate, hate cleaning tile flooring even more. His reasoning is for when dogs are at our house. At this moment, we have two dogs that come over every January 1st. This last visit, they took a very long nap on the rocket. I love wood and wood flooring. To me, wood flooring is easy to clean, with just sweeping and a very slightly humid mopping with linseed oil and black sioap. Or, at least that was all I did when we lived with a wood floor when we lived in our yurt. Tiles involve back-breaking scrubbing on a regular basis.

I had decided that I wanted bamboo laminated flooring ( https://www.parquetdebambou.fr/produit/parquet-flottant-contrecolle-xxl-bambou-densifie-ambre ) over the existing tile flooring, where there isn't the height for anything else, wood flooring where there is the height, waxed cement flooring in the bathroom, tile in the entry, where shoes are changed from outdoor to indoor ones, and a earthen floor near the rocket stove. Would anyone with experience with these types of flooring please share them with me to help me convince my husband? We don't have a dog now, but it is possible that we would have one again one day. How have they fared with dogs? And cats, which we do have.

Cordially,
Tiffaney in Brittany,  France

I grew up with tile flooring and I have no memory of lots of scrubbing.  Glazed tiles should be even less permiable and more durable than wood, right?

The only issue i remember with tiles was thay sweeping over grout lines was annoying, and with a vacuum that wasn't an issue. That, and you always need to buy a bunch of extra tile because replacement  of a cracked tile with the same kind of tile in 10yrs is often not possible.

What kind of scrubbing are you worried about with tile?

Now, from a natural building standpoint, you might consider tile for thermal reasons.  Tile will add thermal mass to your home, collecting winter sun and sending it back into the house in the evening. Wood wont do that, but wood will feel warmer on your feet even though the house air will be colder

Personally I'm leaning towards a clay floor with waxed coverage in my plans.