Care Tips for Pet-friendly flooring

Pets are wonderful members of the family, bringing an abundance of love and joy to those in the home. We all have a special place for our special ones. Cute little (or big) bundles of fluff, they can do no wrong…until…

While we love them, we also love our floors! Sometimes, our love for our pets can turn into frustration when scratching or (scent) marking occurs.

Do you find it funny that pets seem to have a tendency to mark on the carpet rather than on the tiles where it would be easier to clean up? It’s like they know and it’s never when you’re looking, of course!

The other balance is finding a floor that is pet friendly and strong enough to withstand those excited paws and claws running down the hallway to greet you at the front door at the end of the day!

Clever Choice does not do carpet, so we cannot suggest any best tips, however, being pet owners and lovers ourselves, we certainly do supply pet-friendly floors! Above that, we offer extra tips for caring for your floors when one or more of your family members has 4 legs.

Scratching

All Clever Choice Floors have strong, durable, and scratch-resistant coatings. This can withstand those excited paws and claws, however, we do recommend ensuring your pets claws/toes are trimmed and maintained to avoid excess wear on the coating. It is important to remember that every hard floor covering can scratch, with strong coatings this can reduce the likelihood and ease of pet claws having an effect.

If you have a certain area of the floor you particularly don’t want to be damaged, rugs can also be used to protect the floor. Just be sure to move them regularly, so the floor oxidises equally and receives equal exposure to sunlight. For more on this, refer to our Clever Care Maintenance fact sheets available with each product category.

Scent Marking

Hardwood floor coverings are sensitive to moisture and prolonged exposure can have adverse effects over time.

If your pets do make a mess on your hard floor, we recommend cleaning it up as soon as possible. If pets are inside alone during the day, the moisture protection ratings on our different products ranging between 8 and 96 hours and beyond, will give you peace of mind that you can clean it up when you get home.

It is recommended to clean a few inches around the spot to deodorise the spot thoroughly to avoid re-marking by your pet in that same spot. Avoid products that contain ammonia, as this can encourage repeat marking.

It is important to use a slightly damp mop or rag only when cleaning your Clever floor. Use a PH-neutral wood floor cleaner. We recommend Bona products, check out our Clever Care Cleaning page for more information!

Shedding

It’s inevitable. Something in their DNA tells them when it’s time to shed – and let’s face it, don’t we all like to shed a few layers as the weather heats up?

When cleaning up pet hair – or just doing your spring clean sweep – an antistatic mop is all you need. If a vacuum cleaner is used, check the condition of the brushes regularly to make sure the metal head doesn’t come in contact with the floor so as to avoid any scratching.

• Technology – Keeps dust and fur off your floors with modern innovation. Robotic vacuum cleaners are a wonderful modern-day innovation and investment that will pick-up some of the slack around the house.

• Keep your pets clean and maintained – After walks or being outdoors rolling in dirt and grass, consider giving your pets a quick wash or even baby wipes for their paws. This means the mess stays outside and not tramped around your floor. Brushing your pets daily is also helpful, whilst maintaining trimmed claws/toes regularly will alleviate damage to the surface layer of your floors.

• Designated Pet Areas – Keeping your pets in one area of your home, will alleviate the need to continuously check, clean, and maintain floors. Having to only attend to one area of your home will help save you time and keep you busy with other homely duties.

• Use a quality floor cleaner – Consider the type of floor that you have and look into a good quality wood-floor cleaning product. Review our care and maintenance tips for each flooring type to discover useful information in this space.

• Attend to accidents – Accidents and mess are inevitable when you are a pet-owner. To avoid issues, and damage to your floor ensure you attend to accidents, spills, and messes immediately. Also, keep your pet’s food and water area neat, clean, and tidy! You’ll be surprised where food and water can end up sometimes.