Q: It seems we have inadvertently turned one of our bedrooms into a cat box. As our cute little feline would have it, the carpet is now destroyed. Under the carpet was once beautiful hardwood. I had bought a nice Berber to replace the carpet, but have since thought twice about installing it towards its certain doom.
Is there something I can lay on top of the hardwood that can withstand frequent “spills” and daily mopping? Something that won’t totally destroy the hardwood underneath? (If not already destroyed)
OR
Is there something I can use as a sealer / protector for the existing hardwood after its reconditioned? Like several gallons of shellac?
Your help and advice is greatly appreciated.
Jeff
A: With wood floors, pet urine can do some pretty nasty things. Unlike normal spills of other moisture, pet urine tend to causes a blackening when absorbed into wood as well as any other warping issues. Assuming the floor is still in good shape once you remove the current carpet, you will want to have the wood flooring sanded down to prepare for a finish. Before applying any finish, if you wish to stain the floor, make sure you apply your stain.
As far as a finish is concerned, this will act as a seal to prevent moisture from getting through to the wood, but it is not fool proof. Even with multiple layers of site applied finish, there is still a chance that some moisture can get past the finish layer to the wood beneath. Now if messes are attended to fairly quickly, within a couple of minutes or so, then you should have a slim chance of any problems happening to the flooring, but if its likely some messes will be left for several hours, while at work for instance, then you might be better off looking into a product which is waterproof such as vinyl or linoleum.
Unfortunately, despite what is applied to the top of the wood surface, there is no way to make a floor truly prevent any chance of moisture damage despite sealing products and finishes – so if you will be having to keep up with your feline friend, your best bet is to look into a flooring option which is built to take this type of abuse.
