CAM endorsed flooring range

CAM logo

CAM’s mission is to improve and extend lives for dogs suffering from arthritis, and we’ve developed a range of services to help us achieve this.

  Hannah Capon, Founder of CAM      CAM logo

Hannah Capon – Founder of Canine Arthritis Management

“For many years I have been promoting the benefits of safe flooring in the home for dogs. Many homes now have wood, laminate or tile flooring, particularly in areas such as kitchens, where dogs spend much of their time. Dogs have to work hard to prevent themselves from slipping on these surfaces. This becomes more difficult as their muscles become weaker with age and their joints are stiff and painful with arthritis. Slips stretch inflamed joints and tight muscles out of their normal range, and this causes small injuries to the muscles, ligaments and tendons. Injuries cause scars and scars cause stiffness and pain. Preventing this repetitive trauma and pain using simple measures is likely to make life easier both in the short and long term for the arthritic dog.

Floors For Paws sent me a roll of their new PawSafe anti-slip flooring for me and Luna to trial and I was delighted with the results. Luna ran across it happily without slips and I feel that this flooring can prevent unnecessary injury and indeed Vets bills for dog owners. 

The PawSafe flooring is the first ever CAM approved product and we will be recommending it to our community.”

https://www.floorsforpaws.com/commercial/ 

Christmas Information

Hello dog lovers. What a year! Thank goodness for the love, companionship and fun that dogs bring to our lives.

Despite very difficult circumstances, we have had a good year thanks to our wonderful clients and our small dedicated team. We have raised lots of money for Dogs Trust and helped those dogs less fortunate than our own.

The offices will be closed from Wednesday 23rd December to Wednesday 6th January 2021. We will be picking up emails and voicemail and will get back to you as soon as possible in January. The last date for orders will be Friday 4th December and any samples ordered after Friday December 18th will be delivered in the new year.

We look forward to a much happier and healthier year for everyone next year would like to join in the thanks to all essential workers, and specifically health professionals who have acted selflessly over a very tough few months.

We wish everyone of you a Happy Christmas and New Year. Don’t forget to spoil those doggies!

Lots of Love

Team FFP x

Covid-19 UPDATE

Hello Dog lovers

We are open for business and doing the best we can to offer the same high level of service we always do, despite the second lockdown.

Unfortunately there will be occasional delays in deliveries as the UK courier system faces challenges brought about by the Pandemic and the Christmas rush. We cannot guarantee your order will arrive on the planned date of delivery up to Christmas this year, although we are confident it will arrive within 48 hours of that date.

 

COVID-19 MAY UPDATE

In line with government guidelines we have temporarily closed our offices, however we are still processing orders, enquiries and samples.

Our staff are working from home and will offer the same high level of customer care we always offer.

To limit the spread; only myself and my better half will be in the warehouse to organise deliveries and dispatches.

Our deliveries are now contactless so your order will be left outside your door to avoid breaking social distancing guidelines.

We will of course be monitoring the situation and reacting as necessary to government advice.

Surveys & installation:

We are carrying out surveys and installation for clients as long as social distancing is possible and installers have clear access to all areas to take measurements/carry out work.

We will initially offer you a guide quote based on your given measurements. If this is acceptable contact us @ info@floorsforpaws.com or on 01973 830 948 to arrange a survey.

Floors For Paws Team x

Abandoned pets: 

There has been a large increase in the abandoning of domestic pets worldwide since the start of the crisis. I can be sure that all of our pet loving followers would not dream of it, however please spread the latest information to all from the WHO who have stated;

‘pets such as cats and dogs cannot be infected with the current type of coronavirus affecting humans. At present, there is no evidence that companion animals such as dogs or cats can be infected with the new coronavirus.’

Simply practise the usual good hygiene practices you would normally use after interaction with pets.

Covid-19 Update

Covid-19 November Update

Hello Dog lovers

We are open for business and doing the best we can to offer the same high level of service we always do, despite the second lockdown.

Unfortunately there will be occasional delays in deliveries as the UK courier system faces challenges brought about by the Pandemic and the Christmas rush. We cannot guarantee your order will arrive on the planned date of delivery up to Christmas this year, although we are confident it will arrive within 48 hours of that date.

Cleaning and maintaining your Floors For Paws

Cleaning and maintaining your Floors For Paws

Once you have had your beautiful new flooring laid you will want to keep it in tip top condition. 

The first piece of good news is Floors For Paws is ‘factory finished’ which means you never need to polish, seal, wax, re-sand, or apply any special maintenance techniques. 

The day after the installation give the flooring a clean with a flat head mop and a light detergent (We recommend a PH neutral floor cleaner if possible. It’s better for the dogs 😊) Be sparing with the floor cleaner for two reasons;

  1. It’s better for the environment and your dog
  2. Excess cleaning fluid can cause the floor to become slippy

Despite the grooves in the flooring, which aid your dog with grip, the floor can be cleaned the same as a smooth floor system. 

  1. Vacuum the floor regularly. All vacuums are compatible with our flooring but from experience we recommend animal friendly vacuums – some vacuums will clog up with dog hair! If you prefer you can sweep up loose debris (keeping it old school) 
  2. To remove muddy paws marks and spills you can spot clean with Floor wipes. Don’t worry if you don’t catch them straight away – Floors For Paws won’t stain from household marks such as mud, coffee, wine, spilt water bowls etc. 
  3. Overnight wee and poo stains are no problem, although it is best not to leave dog wee on it for days at a time due to the production of ammonia (as if you would wait that long to clean up!) All nasties will stay on the top surface of your flooring and not impregnate beneath or into the flooring itself so you can be sure your new floor is 100% hypo-allergenic and there will be no bad odours from your floor. 
  4. A flat head mop and your mild floor cleaner will lift any marks on your floor. Work up and down the length of the planks (wood effect only) for the best results. You do not need to pour a bucket of water on your flooring. A damp mop with some floor cleaner is enough. 
  5. During winter and the unavoidable mud baths your dog will want to take, you may want to give your flooring a deep clean. You can use a nylon medium bristled brush on Floors For Paws without damaging or marking the floor. 
  6. Steam cleaners will eventually loosen the adhesive used to secure your flooring. We do not recommend them. They were designed to lift stubborn stains and dirt impregnated into flooring. You will not have either of these with Floors For Paws. 

Please do not drag heavy furniture over your flooring. This is tough stuff, but as with any flooring heavy furniture should be placed into position to avoid marking. 

If you do mark/damage your flooring by accident the good news is you can replace individual planks/tiles by heating it with a hair dryer or heat gun, lifting the incriminating plank/tile and replacing it with a fresh one. Be sure to clean off the old adhesive underneath and apply some fresh adhesive before replacing the new. 

The Floors For Paws team x

How your dog will react to new flooring

Blizzard on wychwood flooring

As you know Floors For Paws has an industry leading slip rating and is embossed with grain effect to aid in your dog’s safe movement around the home and at work. If the area you have laid Floors For Paws has had another floor covering previously this will be a significant change in their environment so it is important to look at the factors involved for them when you have your Floors For Paws installed.

If you have previously had smooth flooring such as engineered wood, ceramic or porcelain tile, or any such non-profiled floor covering your dog will enjoy the extra grip our flooring gives them, but it still a change in their lives that they need to adjust to.

If you have had carpet down previously your dog may well expect to be able to move the same on Floors For Paws as on carpet – again; there needs to be a period of adjustment for them until they realise and make the connection between the change in the floor and its effect on their behaviour patterns. To aid in their adaptation it can be advisable to add ‘islands’ of soft flooring such as rugs until they are fully confident on the new floor.

In either case we recommend that your dogs are introduced to the new floor slowly (rather than letting them charge in as normal only to find that their normal movement over the floor has a different result.

Walk them in, let them have a sniff of the new floor – this is a bigger change for them than it is for us as they cannot process the change in the same way we can.

Over the last few years we have found all dogs soon find happiness on the clean, anti-slip, and hypo-allergenic floor they now have in their lives.

On Floors For Paws dogs, if traveling at full pace will enjoy a controlled slide bringing them to a gentle stop like they would on grass or concrete – This is important as a dead stop at full pace can cause over exertion on joints. Equally; it is better than on smooth flooring in which dogs can slide out of control without being able to stop which can cause injury through collisions with walls and furniture and strains and tears of ACL ligaments through over stretching of joints while trying to regain control.

For more advice please visit:
http://www.pet-sense.co.uk

Dog wary of smooth flooring

man high fiving dog

Our four legged friends develop the same mental associations as us. If you slipped on a certain flooring you would be vary careful when approaching this flooring again. The difference between human and canine recognition is dogs may consider any similar looking flooring as the one they originally slipped on. This can develop into an anxiety for the dog and make taking them to certain homes, shops etc difficult and even wary of your own flooring in the home.

Over the last few years we have met many dogs who have a fear of smooth flooring due to an incident from the past, and this was one of the reasons we decided to find a flooring that would be resilient, easy to maintain and waterproof for our benefit, but more importantly safe for dogs.

The process of building up a dog’s confidence with flooring requires a few things;

  • Time
  • Patience
  • The right flooring
  • Encouragement
  • Re-assurance

In situations when dogs with this condition first see Floors For Paws they may associate it with a similar colour/type of flooring that has been an issue previously, and as such will need a lot of encouragement to step onto the floor in the first instance. This can’t be rushed and doing so will make the situation worse. We start by letting the dog have a good look & sniff of the floor before stepping on it. Then we use a favourite toy to encourage the dog to step onto the floor.

Once this stage is achieved it is important to give lots of positive encouragement. Once the dog realises it is not slippery then we spend some time slowly walking with the dog around the whole floor.

In all but extreme cases; after 10 minutes the dog will have built up confidence on the floor.

Floors For Paws has been installed in vets and recommended by animal physios. With an 85 PTV slip rating you can be sure you are giving your dog a safe, clean, hypoallergenic environment.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR DOG FRIENDLY FLOORING

Glue Down or Click?

Two dogs on Rockingham floor

Glue Down LVT or Click? A fitter’s perspective;

Luxury Vinyl Tiles used to be a floorcovering few could afford. Now with the arrival of many new brands and manufacturers, it has become a huge growth sector within the flooring industry and with the new build sector installing so much in new homes, the term LVT seems to be a term the buying public are embracing across all walks of life.

From low end budget tiles and planks to top spec designer floors the demand for this kind of floorcovering seems to be ceaseless in the south east of England and seemingly across the rest of the UK.

As a flooring installer of 30 years I am often asked to lay the lock or click together LVTs, these are relatively new player in an established game, but I struggle to see their place in an ever expanding market.

LVT flooring has always been about its versatility, combining wood look planks with stones and metallic styles, adding borders, compasses, hand cut motifs all the skilled parts of the job we’ve been trained to do, that set the Luxury vinyl tile market apart from other flooring – these things aren’t, as far as I have seen, possible with a click or lock system.

The preparation for the dry backed floors is often spoken about as being to expensive and puts the end user off the purchase, but it is my experience that the lock system flooring needs as much and sometimes more preparatory work before the installation can commence and the underlay has to be stuck down I just cannot see a benefit in these floors within the professional flooring industry. I haven’t even touched on the fact these lock tiles need an expansion gap to the perimeter of the room, but they do. I’ve also found that in direct sunlight such as an orangery or in front of patio doors, these lock tiles seem to ‘tent’ in the heat that is to say the tiles expand against each other pushing on the joint causing the tiles to lift and look extremely unsightly. With dry backed tiles we have high temperature adhesives to overcome such issues. During the hot summer we have just had in 2018 I looked at, at least 5 jobs fitted by others that had failed in this way.

Then there’s the maintenance, a dry back tile damaged by the end user can easily be lifted and replaced by a decent installer, whilst the lock tiles are replaceable it’s a substantially longer process to do and far more invasive.

Despite my negativity I do see that these lock together tiles have a place in the DIY market, and maybe even for commercial use where flooring can be installed and removed with little fuss to for example a retailer of office environment – but if you want a statement floor, that is unique to you and your home dry backs such as the Paws for Floors range are the way to go, the Floors for Paws can easily be laid with a single plank border or fitted at 45 degrees without the need for an expansion gap or unsightly mastic to the perimeter making them in my opinion an exceptional choice for those with or without pets.

Richard Fordham
Registered installer for Floors For Paws LTD

https://www.trustatrader.com/traders/r-fordham-flooring-carpet-repairs-southend-on-sea

Check out our glue down luxury vinyl planks today and ensure you are getting the best flooring for you and your dog

Pawsafe Domestic Range

Is Luxury Vinyl Flooring Expensive?

Kinver floor in lounge

Yes…..and no.

It is certainly more expensive to buy than laminate, carpet, roll vinyl and some ceramic tile. The initial outlay for the customer is relatively high but the life cost of the product is very low.

It is guaranteed for 15 years and upward.

It will stay looking great for the total lifespan of the guarantee.

The maintenance cost of the flooring is next to nothing. No expensive chemical cleaners are needed and you will not have to spend money on restorative processes.

The installation price is cheaper than wood, ceramic or stone flooring.

It will save you money on heating bills. It is second only in warmth to carpet.

It is resistant to water damage.

Luxury Vinyl will not chip, warp or yellow.

Floors For Paws Luxury vinyl has a 0.6mm wear layer, a 30 year domestic guarantee and a slip rating of 85 PTV (BS:7679) It has undergone a new process called photogravure which is used to create remarkably realistic 3-D photo replication of natural wood.

Wherever you dog goes; go Floors for Paws

Preparing your floor for Floors for Paws

Preparing you floor

To ensure you have a lifetime of hassle free flooring it is essential to have your sub-floor prepared in the correct manner. If you have a perfectly smooth and dry sub-floor you can simply adhere Floors For Paws directly onto it. Unfortunately this is rarely the case, so we would like to look at the best solutions.

Latex sub-floor
This option is a quick and trusted process to ensure your FFP is fitted onto a suitable base. It is used on existing concrete floors that need to be smooth and levelled. Quick drying options such as the Stopgap 300 is ready to walk on in 2 hours and to work on in 4. This solution is also ideal for going over existing tile floors (who wants to take out all the tiles and build up again!) The photo below shows a kitchen diner before and after being latexed. As you can see the grout lines show through while it is drying but as long as 3-4mm is applied onto the tiles the surface will dry completely smooth.


1. Tiled floor


2. Two hours post latex


3. Floors for Paws Greenwood flooring

SP101 Ply board – Flooring Grade
Ply board should be used over existing wood flooring, or when you need to bring up the level of the floor by over 4mm. In the case below the carpet that was removed was 10mm and therefore too deep to apply a latex without the need for Grano chippings. This depth of latex would take two months to dry! The 9mm ply board is cut into place and secured with mechanical fixings at regular intervals to ensure no movement. The ply board is then ready for FFP to be adhered directly onto it. We recommend a minimum of a 6mm ply board base.


4. Build up with 9mm ply


5. Floors for Paws Wychwood flooring

If you are not a DIY nut; don’t worry because our recommended installers can carry out the preparation and installation for you.

Here our superb installation engineer John carries out fitting of 130 sqm of Greenwood to Rigsby Wold Holiday cottages new accommodation. For more details on this Dog friendly holiday please visit Rigsby Wold Holiday Cottages.

Call us today to discuss any aspect of your project on 01937 830948.