Pet Friendly Flooring for Humber Bay Dogs and Kids

Pet friendly flooring in a Humber Bay Shores tower usually means SPC vinyl or AC4 laminate floated over the slab on the underlay the building approves. Both cope with claws and wet paws off the lakefront trail better than wood, though engineered hardwood works if you accept dents. Get the corporation's flooring rule first, then choose room by room.

Why do Humber Bay floors take so much grit and water?

Humber Bay Shores is mostly high-rise towers beside lakefront parkland, so the daily dog walk heads for the water. A typical loop follows the Martin Goodman Trail, crosses Humber Bay Park East or Humber Bay Park West, or runs along Humber Bay Shores Park beside Marine Parade Dr, then comes back through the lobby and up in the elevator. Sand, wet paws and winter sidewalk salt from Lake Shore Blvd W all arrive at the suite door.

That puts most of the wear in two places: the first few metres inside the door and the floor around the water bowl. Every tower here, from Palace Pier to Eau du Soleil, also stands on a concrete slab, so the new floor floats or is glued down rather than nailed, and it has to meet the corporation's flooring rule. Read how condo approvals work before you shortlist anything.

Which pet friendly flooring suits a Humber Bay suite?

SPC vinyl is the easiest floor to live with when the dog comes home wet from the lakefront, AC4 laminate is close behind in dry rooms, and engineered hardwood suits owners who accept that it will mark. The deciding facts are what the core does with water and how hard the top surface is.

The Marina Collection has an attached pad and a 25 year residential warranty. The laminate lines click together and float on the underlay your building accepts. Plank sizes and installation methods are on the pages for SPC vinyl plank floors and AC4 laminate floors.

What do children change about the choice?

Children add dropped toys, spilled cups and running feet, and in a tower the running feet are also the neighbours' problem. Some Humber Bay suites are big enough for a family: Palace Pier's 433 suites, completed in 1978, run from 920 to 3,595 square feet. A hard floor in a suite that size covers a lot of slab, and every room of it sends footsteps to the suite below.

So the acoustic underlay matters as much as the plank. Rugs with a dense pad in the play area and the hallway soak up most of the thumps, and keeping a Humber Bay condo quiet underfoot explains what the underlay does. Spills follow the water bowl logic: SPC tolerates a forgotten cup better than laminate, and engineered hardwood least of the three.

Is the old floor safe to pull up in an older tower?

Not before a test, if the building is old enough. Carpet that has lived with a dog for years is often why owners start this project, and the older towers may hide earlier flooring beneath it. Buildings from before 1990, Palace Pier among them, can contain asbestos. Health Canada lists floor tiles among the older materials that may contain it and advises professional testing before renovating.

On every Floorrable job the bare subfloor is photographed before the new floor goes down, so what was under the old one stays on record.

Habits that keep claws and grit from marking the floor

No floor shrugs off a dog, and the manufacturer's warranty does not pretend otherwise: dents and scratches from pets, heels, grit or moved furniture are excluded, as the flooring warranty terms set out. Routine protects the floor.

• A washable mat inside the suite door, big enough for all four paws, to catch salt and sand from the lakefront paths.
• Keep a towel by the door for paws after a wet walk in Humber Bay Park.
• Put the water bowl on a rubber mat and wipe around it each evening.
• Trimmed nails reduce scratching on every floor type.
• Felt pads under chairs and stools, replaced once grit embeds in them.

If your suite opens onto a balcony facing Lake Ontario, the balcony door is a second entrance for wet paws whenever the dog goes out in the rain. Give it its own mat, and run the same floor up to that door so the most-soaked strip is not the weakest one.

What to do before choosing floors for pets and kids

1. Ask the property management office of your tower on Lake Shore Blvd W, Marine Parade Dr or Annie Craig Dr for the flooring rule and the approved underlay, in writing.
2. Decide which rooms the dog and the children really use, and whether one floor should run through the whole suite.
3. Narrow the shortlist to SPC vinyl or AC4 laminate if water and claws are the main worry, or engineered hardwood if you want real wood and accept the marks.
4. Then get a price range for your unit in about two minutes. Floorrable confirms the building's rule and approval before anything is ordered, and a free measurement sets the firm price.