Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
rainlan

Hardwood floors too slippery?

rainlan
11 years ago

I'm trying to make a list of the things I'll like for building a house in the next few years.

We have hardwood floors now, love the look, but it's really slippery even if not polished. Am I the only one who thinks it's dangerous to have them, esp with young kids or older people living with us? (We remove shoes and walk barefooted in the house btw, may be a factor)

I hate the carpeted look. Is there an alternative?

Comments (18)

  • auroraborelis
    11 years ago

    I don't find our hardwood floors to be more slippery than other hard surfaces, though, maybe if this is a concern for you then you should look at hand scrapped hardwood?

  • dekeoboe
    11 years ago

    Because we did not want our site finished hardwood floors to be slippery, we had them finished with Bona Traffic Anti-slip. You cannot slide across the floors with socks on - it had been tried.

  • LuAnn_in_PA
    11 years ago

    We have not found our hardwood to be slippery.

  • sis3
    11 years ago

    No problems with slipping here.

  • chispa
    11 years ago

    No slipping in our last 3 houses with site finished hardwood floors throughout house. Sometimes using the wrong cleaning product can leave the floors slippery.

  • EngineerChic
    11 years ago

    I think the matte polyurethane is less slippery than the shiny one. I don't slip on our floors, but our last big dog found them slippery so we used a ton of the rubber-backed cheap indoor/outdoor carpet for him. Fortunately he only hung out in half the house (the cat owned the other half, they didn't get along).

    But, in this house we have the matte finish on the floors and they are a lot less slippery. You might want to try those out and see if that works better for you.

  • chiefneil
    11 years ago

    No slipping problems with my hand-scraped hardwood. We walk around barefoot though. I could see it being a problem in socks (but then all smooth hard surfaces are slippery in socks).

  • mojomom
    11 years ago

    Same as EngineerChic - the the humans in our household have never had a slipping problem, but the young husky with furry feet can sometimes hit this skids when careening through the house to answer the door and our old girl tends to have a problem with getting up and getting her feet under her. We have strategically placed mats for her too.

  • minneapolisite
    11 years ago

    @chiefneil, our ceramic floors are not slippery in socks. :) I think they are JUST textured enough.

  • Ray72
    11 years ago

    We used to have wood (standard oak) in the foyer. In the winter it became really slippery when your shoes were wet. I replaced it with textured tile and we never had a problem. I suspect hand scraped wood would do about the same but we haven't tried it.

  • susanlynn2012
    10 years ago

    I had a flood in my home not too long ago so I will be replacing my Brazilian Cherry Floors and now I am thinking I need a floor less slippery since my little dogs are having problems walking on the floor. I will be following this thread to see other options.

  • zone4newby
    10 years ago

    Growing up I remember losing my footing on our site-finished wood stairs and landing on my butt a few times, but I never had trouble apart from that.

    Pets can definitely slip and slide on wood.

  • Annie Deighnaugh
    10 years ago

    We went with luxury plank vinyl flooring instead of hardwood for durability and maintenance reasons and we are very happy with the results.

  • CamG
    10 years ago

    Annie, what brand/line did you use? We are likely going to do our kitchen, dining, entry and hall in wood-print vinyl tile. I just got a section under my chair at work, excited to see how it holds up!

  • susanlynn2012
    10 years ago

    AnnieDeighnaugh, I would also like to know what brand you went with. Was it glued down directly to the floor and what subfloor was it glued to? I wonder if I did decide to go with hardwood floors again, if hand-scraped would be less slippery? I have three little dogs and two of them are having problems walking on my floor. The smallest one has no problems and is not afraid of the floor but the other two keep slipping and need to walk right next to something to feel safer in case they slip.

  • brickeyee
    10 years ago

    The only time I have found them slippery is when some yahoo uses furniture polish on a dust mop.

    They can be like ice then.

  • M K
    8 years ago

    I am that yahoo described above! My floors are now like an ice skating rink. The cleaner used Method clean for good wipes (cheap and easily found) took the bright purple acrylic paint off without any struggle. Now I am off to mop with a touch of white vinegar to erase the slippery. whoops.