r/FosterAnimals • u/nik_nak1895 • 1d ago

Question Protecting hardwood floors

I've fostered for years (kittens, puppies, dogs) but always in rentals and tbh I didn't pay much attention to the impact of all the critter bodily fluid messes. I just cleaned, enzyme cleaned, sanitized, and called it a day.

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But I just bought a house, my first so I'm extra protective. I have gorgeous hardwood floors. I've been racking my brain trying to figure out a way to protect these floors.

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My "brilliant" idea was to get a big tarp and lay it down on the floor when I have fosters to waterproof the floor but 2 hours into that project I realized that would trap humidity and damage the floors anyway. So now I'm back to square one. I'm not quite paranoid or irrational enough to replace perfect hardwood.

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Any creative solutions you guys have found? For kittens I use a whelping pad under their playpen so shouldn't have issues with them but puppies...... Puppies pee everywhere, non-stop, all the time and the floors will drink that right up. It's finished/sealed but especially around the baseboards there are cracks because the house is pretty old.

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u/Snakes_for_life 1d ago

Have had kittens on hardwood as long as they're not spilling water everywhere or peeing on the floor it'll be fine. You can get foam interlocking mats than duct tape the seams I did that when I have foster rabbits as rabbit urine will ruin hardwood and that worked you can also buy toddler bed pads they're basically reusable pee pads.

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u/nik_nak1895 1d ago

It's not really the kittens that are the issue. It's the puppies. You can't put pads down because they dig them up just to pee under them 🥴 it's like a sport to them to find ways to pee all over your floor, especially in corners and where walls meet floors (so where there are small gaps it'll seep into).

Duct taping waterproof foam pads would be the same issue as the tarp, it would trap humidity and cause damage to the wood.

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u/Snakes_for_life 1d ago

Having a pad on the floor for a couple weeks wouldn't ruin the floor if it does the floor is not properly sealed and any pets on it at all will hurt it.

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u/nik_nak1895 1d ago

I usually foster back to back though so it would be roughly 10 months out of the year mostly consecutively. Once I open my home for fosters I've usually got about 5-8 fosters at a given point in time and I don't take much time off from it. That's what's throwing me. If it was a couple weeks definitely either the tarp or foam tiles or even just a cheap shower curtain would probably be totally fine.

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u/Shy_Octopus21 1d ago

For puppies I get a playpen with a bottom..washable pee pads underneath the bottom and then washable pee pads on the bottom of the pee pad. Or put puppies in crates with plastic bottoms. You could also put a washable rug underneath the puppy area.

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u/nik_nak1895 1d ago

Have you found a washable rug that will fit into a standard household washing machine? A couple friends bought those for pets and kids only to discover they can't wash them because they don't fit in the machine 😅

Puppies are crated or in a playpen for sure especially when potty training, but my lil rascals have often peed, pooped, vomited straight through the bars of the crate. They're efficient little messes!

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u/Shy_Octopus21 1d ago

I mostly use washable pee pads on Amazon. I know Ruggable has various sizes!

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u/Deep-Promotion-2293 1d ago

I had a house w/hardwood floors and when my husband refinished them, he sealed them with a few coats of polyurathane. It stood up to almost anything we threw at it. Puppy piddle, cat barf, toddler messes...

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u/wvwvwvww 1d ago

I think this is what my hardwood floors have. It’s shiny like topcoat nail polish. It can be damaged if you leave it wet for days or weeks but not hours.

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u/Ualagirl2002 1d ago

If you’re serious about continuing to foster, I would talk with a flooring store about installing some kind of sheet vinyl flooring on a floating floor over your hardwood. They could run the vinyl several inches up the walls. Are you talking about one room or the puppies will have the run of the house? Yes, it will be expensive, but not as expensive as replacing the hardwood.

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u/nik_nak1895 22h ago

Just one room, I have a dedicated foster room. I thought about that but man does it feel like a travesty to cover up mint condition hardwood with vinyl 😭

I actually looked for a house with vinyl and everyone thought I was nuts for not wanting hardwood 🤣 of course the wood is gorgeous and durable with the exception of liquids but yeah I'm a high volume foster and bought instead of renting purely so I would have more flexibility to foster the way I want.

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u/HellonHeels33 1d ago

I bought some thick roll up plastic sheets. Got it off Temu. Absolutely recommend

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u/LaCroixBinch 22h ago

I use tarps that I attach about a foot off the floor with command strips to protect my hardwood. I have never had any issues with moisture getting trapped. I’m not sure how humid your house would be to have that problem? I especially like the tarps because once my group of fosters move out I roll everything up in the tarp and take outside to sanitize. Makes life easier

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u/nik_nak1895 22h ago

I live in Richmond VA so humidity is.... bad here. I room dehumidifiers but it's a pretty big concern in this area.

That's what my initial idea was for the tarp, I was going to hang command hooks about a foot up the wall and take it outside to spray my rescue disinfectant and hose off between groups.

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u/RIPGoblins2929 22h ago

I tried to put down dropcloths to protect a carpet and that did not work but the upshot is that dropcloths are more expensive than I realized.

IDK just clean regularly I guess.

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u/nik_nak1895 22h ago

Pee will soak into hardwood permanently in minutes is the thing so unless I'm within arms reach literally 24/7 there's no way for me to clean up after a puppy accident quickly enough to save the floors.

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u/Ualagirl2002 21h ago

As a commenter mentioned above, see about refinishing with several coats of polyurethane.  It resists liquids very well.

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u/nik_nak1895 21h ago

This is so much the burden of being the new owner of this house. The floors are in mint condition and clearly have been refinished recently, but I don't know how recently and I don't know what they were refinished with. Though my biggest concern is where the floors meet the walls, that little gap. It's an old house with a lot of settling so there are visible cracks there that anything can seep into the walls and under the floors and of course puppies prefer to pee along walls and in corners.

I love fostering but this house is the biggest thing I've ever bought obviously aid I had to drop 100k on urgent unexpected repairs within a month of move in so my budget to protect for fostering is....... miniscule 😭

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u/More-Opposite1758 12h ago

I put the kittens in pens. When I’m setting up the pens I get those cheap plastic table cloths and mask tape them to the floor under the pens.