Hi all! I keep my birds in the living room so they can always be part of the activity and have a nice view out the window. The drawback is that I have hardwood floors in my living room and they are starting to take a bit of a beating with cages rolling across them, flung went food sticking to it, and me sweeping or vacuuming daily and mopping several times a week. I put newspaper down on the floor to catch droppings, but I worry about the long term wear and tear on my floors (and I am kind of embarrassed by the poopy newsprint when I have guests over!).

Does anyone here have hardwood floors? What do you do to protect it from messy birds?

We were thinking about getting the plastic mats that people put over carpet in their offices (to roll your chair smoothly) but I wanted to get other ideas too.

I'd be wary of plastic mats on hardwood floors - they can discolor it. I have hardwood floors myself and have thought about the same thing, but with the constant washing/drying of mats, it's just not worth the time/trouble/damage. Stick to newspaper, or if you don't wank the ink to discolor your floor, something neutral like butcher paper.

Maybe some cheap canvas or some carpet odds and ends to make a small rug that you can toss when it gets too icky?

hardwood floors need a good coat of wax to keep things from sticking. I use rubber roofing or pond liner to make mats that fit under the cages and stands. You can roll them up and carry outside to hose off. If you know someone who installs either of these products, you can "weld" a 1 inch lip around them to trap trash. Power washing is a good way to clean them but you need someway to hold them down in place(use my foot).

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Long time amazon parent/breeder and many rescue zons. We are breeding 2nd generation of our Yellow Nape ,Double Yellow Head, Panama ,Orange Wing Amazons and TAGs, also outdoor aviary with flock of Cockatiels. If you need help or advice please feel free to contact me,if i can't help maybe i can find someone who can.Capt and "Jake" the YN
Avatar is myself and "Juanita" 12/59 Guatemala CA
Rescues looking homes,Mumbles(DYH male)Echo (YNA male) Rockie(BFA male) Nitro (YNA male) Yeah, Echo found a home

I have tile floors and would never consider carpet or hardwood floors again after installing new hardwood floors in my dining room and living room only to have a pipe burst under my sink two weeks later while I was away. I returned to find 2 inches of water covering my beautiful hardwood floors. Once the water was removed and the fllors started to dry the wood started cupping badly. That was $3500.00 I won't ever see again.

We live in an apartment, and don't want to pay a fee when we move out if the carpet gets ruined by a certain messy eater in the home :-p

We put a big, cheap rubber backed (to keep stuff like berries from staining through) rug under Kiwi's cage to protect the carpet. It was only like $40 at Ross and made of the synthetic fibers, so it can easily be hosed off when it gets too yucky and we don't worry about stains or other ways it can get ruined. We've replaced it twice in 4 years, and they do a excellent job protecting the floor. I would imagine this would work well on a wood floor as well. Just a suggestion regarding poop- let it dry completely before cleaning it (on any surface). If you try to clean it while it's wet, it spreads and makes a big, nasty mess. If you let it dry, you can just vacuum it up, or if your not squeamish, pick it right up with your fingers. We rarely get poop stains using this method, even on the rug, furniture, clothes and other soft surfaces. It works even better on hard surfaces.

Ouch..

My old apartment had hardwood floors and it didn't seem too bad. Of course it was a rental andpeople before me never took great care of the floors though. I was always moving, sweeping, washing floors but I moved them out of the room and used pledge floor cleaner. Seemed to do a good job and still leave a bit of shine behind.

I think papers are as much a part of owning birds as their food is! My GGC's cage doesn't have a "seed guard" (read: poop) so I have to cover the floor all around his cage, my grey just under his door. If you don't like pooped on papers when company comes change it before they come? If they give you notice. Or perhaps change it more often. Sadly birds poop, it's just what they do.

That's the reason why we went with pergo flooring so I can wipe up easily!

One thing we do is put towels around the cages on the floor and change them out often. We take them outside to clean off dry stuff then just wash them in the washer. We've tried newspaper method and it does work, but towel was a better choice for us. We sweep and vacuum daily no matter what....

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Caution about the plastic mats from the Office Depot. Some of them have small bumps that are suppose to keep it from moving on a carpet. If put on a wood floor they dig into the wood or scratch it. I bought a roll of butcher paper and a dispenser roll. It's easy, no ink print. Good luck

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LindyLou277
Owned by 3 cats: Sullivan, (15 yo blk/wh DSH); Guenevere, (3 yo ragdoll); Lancelot, (2.5 yo ragdoll) and Coqui, a 9 yr old B/G Macaw,
http://www.parrotforums.com/groups/m...-alliance.html

I reckon butcher paper would be your best option.
Thank goodness we have tiles, so easy to clean

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