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I live on a farm with my husband, kids and pets. We are looking to tear out our carpet and replace it with something else. I have been looking at laminate flooring and luxury vinyl tile, but do not know what would be best for our situation. I am in need of something that can withstand a beating, the dirt brought in from outdoors, the pet accidents that go along with owning pets, and any type of fluids that may go along with everday life.

Any and all suggestions would be welcome and greatly appreciated.

I would think if pet accidents are a concern laminate would be a bad choice unless you get the mess cleaned up quickly, I'm thinking urine here where it could get between the pieces and soak into the MDF core of the flooring.

If a spill or pet accident is cleaned up quickly laminate could be a good choice. You don't say what rooms you are looking at installing the flooring into so that would play into it as well.

I'm not a farmer, but my wife grew up on one - that is the extent of my experience. However, I'd recommend you consider VCT, or vinyl composition tile. It is thicker than most other vinyl and the color/pattern goes all the way through the material. It is used commercially in stores and other public buildings. It is darn near indestructible. I used to get it at a home center for about $.65 per 12x12 tile (plus the adhesive) and there are many patterns to select from.

You glue it down over a smooth sub-base with a latex adhesive, and the installation is very easy for even an inexperienced person. Sort of fun, once you get the hang of it. It is best to apply a sealer as soon as recommended to preserve that new floor sheen.

I have laminate in one house and vinyl plank in another. One dog.

They have both held up well. The laminate shows no marks from the claws or anything else. (felt pads put on all furniture feet so they can be moved for cleaning). Use a rug under the water bowl so it absorbs the water.

The vinyl has some marks fron the dogs claws but they do buff out... it is just more work. But it holds up better to water. You can mop any which way you want; spills don't bother it.

Nothing is perfect. You just have to pick what you think you can put up with.

Thank you, everyone, for you great suggestions. We are putting the floor down in our kitchen, family room, dining room, and living room, it is all one big open space.

Does anyone think a different type of flooring would be better?

Thank you!

I would go with one flooring surface since it all one large space and then use area rugs to define some of the spaces. A rug under your dining table, a rug in the seating area. A good neutral VCT would work well and as Bob advised the stuff is near indestructible.

Laminate would be OK as long as you get spills quickly. I haven't seen vinyl plank installed anywhere so I have no experience with it to add.

I had a boss once who'd been in the flooring biz all his life. He was in his 70's, along with his brothers had taken over the family business from his father. They sold rugs, carpet, hardwood, custom vinyl cut tile, sheet goods, ceramic, granite, marble, limestone, cork, even leather.

That company had a fantastic reputation for quality, and was well known for their exceptional stone finishes, along with the outstanding carpeting.

My boss was in charge of all the hard and resilient finishes. In his opinion, the flooring material that gave customers the best value and was the easiest to live with and enjoy for years was - high quality sheet goods.

His observations were, that it's more forgiving of subfloor factors - no cracking, you can pretty much flood the floor with no problem, it's easy on the feet and back, and if you spend a little more to get the quality, and take reasonable care of it over time, it will look great for many years.

I ran flooring and countertop jobs for them, in addition to estimating, and spoke with many folks who'd been customers for 40, even 50 years. Many of those folks were installing all the expensive finishes, yet spoke highly of their sheet goods experiences.

For what it's worth.

Oh, I grew up in farmland, btw. As I recall, we had sheet goods in the back room, where we came in from the barn to get out of our overalls and boots. Looking back, that boss was right about going with a better quality sheet good, and being able to flood the floor without problem. That farm floor took some abuse, and looked great for years.

Again, thank you everyone for all your great suggestions! I will look into everything that everyone suggested here to find what floor will best suit our needs.

This might be late or crazy, but a friend of mine who is a builder did the wood look tile in their master bed, bath, and living room. I don't remember if it was porcelain or ceramic. But, living in FL, we track in water and beach sand, mud, the high humidity, etc. When they did it the wife said to me, "Well, he fishes and brings that yuck in, the dog tracks in, the sand from the shoes, the claws...we wanted something indestructible that looked good and was easy to clean." And on a quick look, it looked really nice.

Check out Allure Traffic Master sold at Home Depot. It it individual vinyl planks that stick to each other to become a floating floor. I've had it in my bathroom for 4 yrs, kitchen for 2 yrs. and just put it down in the dining room, hallway and living room this spring. 25 yr. warranty and I have 2 cats that love to play in the water dish.