Wood v Carpet for bedrooms

[packrat]

We've been talking about ripping up the carpet and linoleum in the kitchen/living room and putting down wood or laminate. I had assumed we were going to take the carpet from the bedrooms and put it in there as well. My brother is putting down something called Pergo in the kitchen/living room/hallway and then carpet in the bedrooms, so JD wants to do that too. Their reasoning is that the laminate is cold on the feet when you get up in the middle of the night or in the morning and the carpet would be warmer during the winter. What I don't get is-you have to walk on the laminate in the hallway and the tile/linoleum in the bathroom *anyway* so..I figure your feet will be cold anyway when you get to that part of the floor, so I highly doubt those extra 10 steps are going to make such a massive difference in the comfort of your feet. (maybe the initial feet touching the floor moment but-jeez put some slippers by the bed) The carpet isn't heated, you know? We always have slippers/socks on and generally even wear flip flops or crocs during the summer in the house too. The kids are the only ones I have a hard time keeping anything on their feet.

My other problem is, the rooms are SO small, part of the bedroom carpets don't get vacuumed b/c I can't get the vac in there between furniture. (Unless I lay the vac on the bed and use the hose attachment) London's bed I have to move clear over to one wall, vacuum, and then move it clear over to the other side, vacuum, and then move the bed back to the middle. I figured at least if the carpet was gone, I could just use one of those sweeper things, like a Swiffer or whatever.

So, I don't know what to do. I say that since I'm the one who cleans, and I'm the one who gets up 5 times a night, it matters more to me than to those who don't have to mess w/the vac and moving furniture, and those w/20 gallon bladders.

Am I unreasonable?

 

[elrohwen]

I'm a big fan of hardwood in bedrooms. I agree with you that while it might be cold, by the time you get to the bathroom your feet are cold anyway. Besides, that's what area rugs are for!

Carpets are also bad for allergies because it's impossible to get all of the dust out, so I like hardwoods in bedrooms for that reason too.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

Carpet. We have hardwood and natural stone tile in our entire house. It actually hasn't gotten too cold for us but trying to keep the bed in place is a real PITA. Especially during time. Rugs don't help much either. Also if you're not very very careful, it is so easy to accidentally scratch hardwood with the bed. Adding carpet to just the master bedroom is the only thing I would change about our floors.

 

[PinkTower]

The choice depends upon the allergy/asthma situation within a family.
One of my children has completed the shot treatment, the other child is in the middle of treatment, and I have completed the treatment.
The allergist strongly recommended no carpeting and no drapes in our home. We have a 5x7 area rug in the living room, and each bedroom has a 4x6 or smaller area rug. These can be lifted and vacuumed on both sides. We have no drapes. We use plantation shutters on all windows. Unless you have health issues in your family, I would get what you like.

 

[diva rose]

I'm a big fan of hardwood in bedrooms. I agree with you that while it might be cold, by the time you get to the bathroom your feet are cold anyway. Besides, that's what area rugs are for!

Carpets are also bad for allergies because it's impossible to get all of the dust out, so I like hardwoods in bedrooms for that reason too.

I'm with Elrohwen - big fan of hardwood. Besides the allergy issues - it is much easier to clean.

 

[luv2sparkle]

I have always wondered about this. Pink tower, I am in the middle of allergy injections, this is actually my 5th round of them in
my life. What I don't get is this: I have heard it said that wood floors are better for allergies, buy why? It seems to me there will
still be the same amount of dust, and dust that you can't remove. Behind the bed, shelves. It seems like the dust will stick anywhere
anyway, so why is it better. It seems easier to vacuum carpets than wood floor, and that it would suck up easier.

Packrat, I would be interested to hear what your thoughts are on laminate and how you feel cleaning it. Did you choose laminate
over hardwood for the cost? Isn't laminate less durable than hardwood?

I have always liked wood floors but wondered how hard they would be to clean.

 

[elrohwen]

I have always wondered about this. Pink tower, I am in the middle of allergy injections, this is actually my 5th round of them in
my life. What I don't get is this: I have heard it said that wood floors are better for allergies, buy why? It seems to me there will
still be the same amount of dust, and dust that you can't remove. Behind the bed, shelves. It seems like the dust will stick anywhere
anyway, so why is it better. It seems easier to vacuum carpets than wood floor, and that it would suck up easier.

I have always liked wood floors but wondered how hard they would be to clean.

I'm on my 4th round of shots

Basically, carpet traps dust and allergens forever. No amount of cleaning will make them completely clean. Wood floors, however, are easy to clean at any time and the dust comes right off. Sure, there is other dust in your house that you probably aren't cleaning, but you *can* clean it. You can move the shelves, the bed, etc (which some allergists have told me to do - unfortunately I'm too lazy) if you need to. Carpets just look clean after you've vacuumed them, but when hardwood looks clean, it actually is clean. For people without allergies it doesn't really matter, or if your allergies are to pollen or food or something, but for those with strong dust and mold allergies it can make a big difference.

 

[february2003bride]

Hardwood with area rugs over them get my vote!

We're currently going through the same thing (but with Bruce hardwood floors). We are going to replace the carpet in our family room this spring with hardwood floors. We weren't planning on it doing it for the bedrooms but my son was just diagnosed with allergies and the allergist highly recommended hardoowd for the whole house. Given that we're going to go with Bruce (only b/c we have Bruce on 60% of the main floor so we want the color and style to match up) it's expensive! So we're doing it in phases.

But I don't like how cold hardwood gets so we'll be adding some area rugs that can be easily vaccumed and steam cleaned.

Also, for resale value, I believe hardwood is preferred!

 

[Trekkie]

I hate carpets. I think they are disgusting and unhygienic.

My neighbours replaced their carpets with hardwood floors two years ago because their son has asthma. It has turned out to be beneficial to the entire family - not one of them has had so much as a cold or sniffles since then.

If your husband complains about the cold, he can wear his slippers. That's what they're there for.

If you're the one doing the cleaning, you get the final say.

 

[HeatherL]

We just went from carpet to hardwood in our bedroom this fall... At first I was really worried that I would miss the carpet but since we have had the hardwood, I absolutely love it and would never go back to the carpet. And I don't really think its all that cold, we all wear slippers all the time anyhow, so that's probably why. But definitely consider the hardwood, we love it!!!

 

[mary poppins]

We have hardwood floors in the bedroom and I don't really notice my feet being cold. If feet are cold, slippers and socks can cure the problem. I notice cold feet when I walk on tile in the bathroom. We clean the wood floors by sweeping or using a Roomba.

I think the hardwood is better than carpets because dirt, dust, mites and other allergens get buried deeply in the carpet. Even after vacuuming, the carpet is never really clean. Plus, hardwood floors wear better than carpet. Carpet gets stained, track marks from walking paths, and flattened. After a while, for resale purposes, it would bring down the value of the house or have to be replaced.

You can avoid furniture scratching the floor by sticking soft round cloth on the bottom of the furniture feet. That makes the furniture slide instead of scratch. I forget what those stickies are called, but they are available at hardware stores and some drugstores.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

i like carpet in bedrooms.

 

[asscherisme]

I hate pergo. I had pergo in my last house and its so noisy when you walk on it. Plus if you drop something, you can chip it and there is not much you can do.

I have hardwoods in my whole first floor and in the future want to rip out the carpets upstairs and put hardwood. I hate carpet! I have always hated it.

Now that I have 2 long haired cats, I hate it even more! I had a some litterbox training issues a few months ago with one of my kittens (thank goodness its solved now) but having carpet was a pain. cleaning it was awful and I was wishing for hardwood then. Hardwood is just so much cleaner. My cats are almost one and I know that in their lifetime there will be more accidents or hairballs or whatever and just from cleaning, I dread cleaning it off the carpet.

Plus I hate that the dust settles and its harder to get really clean like hardwood.

 

[redfaerythinker]

\I have heard it said that wood floors are better for allergies, buy why? I

I'm not pink tower, but the reason that hardwoods are better is simply the fact that dust mites cannot live on hard surfaces. Many people who are allergic to dust are actually allergic to the mites or their excrement. If you take away the places in which they live, then you will see a huge drop in your allergies. There will still be dust, but it will most likely be composed mostly of dead skins cells which are not as bad for allergy sufferers.

 

[atroop711]

I grew up with wall to wall carpet throughout the entire apt. Now that I have my own place, my husband put down Bamboo throughout the living room, dining room, foyer and our bedroom. The kids rooms have wall to wall carpeting. I love wall to wall carpeting in bedrooms. I love the feel on the feet and the warmth it gives. I also love it for kids because it's helps reduce bumps from falls. It also filters out the noise a child may be making and I am very aware of my downstairs neighbors. Our kitchen still has it's original 40+ yr old tile. We will be redoing the kitchen a year and we will have some sort of stone placed on the floors.

Now that I have the bamboo flooring throughout the majority of my apt, I can say it looks beautiful but I miss my wall to wall carpeting. I like to walk bare feet in my apt and the floor is cold. I did buy area rugs for the living room, dining room and also runners for the foyer..but the when I walk on the bamboo...my toesies are COLD!

 

[movie zombie]

we have tile everywhere...i was told it would be too cold for the area i live.....

well, its not. all you need to do is have house slippers by the bed at night. how hard is that?! put a throw rug under them......

for the record: my allergies are vastly improved.

MoZo

 

[soocool]

Your feet may be cold in the winter, but you'll welcome cool tootsies in the summer. Put down a runner near your bed and/pr slippers and you will be fine.

 

[aviastar]

I LOVE my hardwood floors! I put the prefinished BellaWood down in my bedroom last year and it's beautiful, so much easier to clean, and, really, it's so cold getting out of the warm bed anyway I don't even notice the floors making a difference. I shopped around and found the BellaWood on sale, so it was almost exactly the same as the laminate- it helps that I installed it myself. I have put laminate down, as well, and there are some nice high end options; as long as it is installed correctly it looks great. I think the laminate is slipperier than the hardwood, but I prefer either over carpet-ESPECIALLY with pets!

 

[makemepretty]

We don't have carpet anywhere in our house(maybe a decorative throw rug for color but that's it). I wear slippers or socks all the time. Cleaning is so much better without the carpet! If you've ever steam cleaned carpet, that's enough to put you off of owning it.

 

[movie zombie]

We don't have carpet anywhere in our house(maybe a decorative throw rug for color but that's it). I wear slippers or socks all the time. Cleaning is so much better without the carpet! If you've ever steam cleaned carpet, that's enough to put you off of owning it.

or have one removed and see all the junk trapped in the carpet, between the carpet, in the padding and under the padding. never will i have carpeting again!

MoZo

 

[packrat]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

I'm guessing Pergo is some sort of laminate, is that right? We'd looked at some laminate, and then decided on real wood, thru Lumber Liquidators. But then my brother got the Pergo and my parents were raving about how wonderful it's supposed to be. I think I recall hearing the name a time or two before, but I know nothing about it. I don't know much about laminate in general, really. They said they were told this stuff is so much better than wood b/c it's sealed tight and no worries about water, and it's a lot cheaper than the real wood, and has some sort of 30 year warranty on it or something. It looks nice, but, I don't know, I still like the idea of having real wood, personally, even if the bedrooms had to wait a year or two.

The Pergo my brother got is a click together kind, and he and my dad did the living room and hallway in 2 days, so that was another reason we'd thought about doing the laminate-it will just be me and JD. Can you get real wood that is easy to lay like that or does it all need to be nailed?

The bed moving..haha that made me laugh. He's *supposed* to be building us a new bed, that will be solid wood frame down to the floor, so it won't be moving. It took 3 guys to haul Trappers twin size that JD built into the house.

I like going barefoot during the summer too but I seriously dislike having the bottoms of my feet dirty-no matter that I just swept and mopped the linoleum and vacuumed the carpet, it just seems to stay dirty. JD does have allergies too, so I think it would be beneficial to have no carpets.

Plus, I've been dying to get a roomba haha!

 

[Haven]

We have hardwood in our bedroom and love it.

As for the moving bed issues--DH puts these sort-of sticky protective feet on the bottom of all of our furniture. They stick right to the furniture, and they keep it from moving. (He puts them on EVERYTHING, even on decorative platters and such that rest on our wood furniture.) They work--our bed doesn't move around.

These feet come in rubber, felt pads, gliders, etc. The rubber ones would help with the moving bed issues. DH puts the felt on smaller pieces that he fears may scratch the wood surface, and the gliders on larger furniture that is heavy.

His family owns a furniture store, so he's more careful than usual about these things.

 

[mayachel]

My parents ripped up there wall to wall carpeting after years and years to put down pergo flooring, that sounds just like what your brother's is. They were able to do it themselves, and loved how much easier it was to clean.

When DH and I renovated our home, we put in wall to wall hardwood flooring. He was very concerned about the floors being cold. I admit in the winter-they are! BUT I was very concerned about the dust/allergy/mold factor that carpeting contributes to, since we both are in need of those miracle shots everyone else here is getting. (I did a round about 6-7 years ago and it was great for 3 years but now I'm back on daily meds).

Anyhoo-we've been here for 3 years now with our wood floors, and wouldn't change it. In the bathroom, the tile is always colder. We have nice plush throw rugs in the bathrooms, and otherwise are most always wearing socks or slippers. All I have to do is drive the swiffer around to clean up. Love it. We only own a hand held vac.

 

[Jennifer W]

I have always wondered about this. Pink tower, I am in the middle of allergy injections, this is actually my 5th round of them in
my life. What I don't get is this: I have heard it said that wood floors are better for allergies, buy why? It seems to me there will
still be the same amount of dust, and dust that you can't remove. Behind the bed, shelves. It seems like the dust will stick anywhere
anyway, so why is it better. It seems easier to vacuum carpets than wood floor, and that it would suck up easier.

I have always liked wood floors but wondered how hard they would be to clean.

I'm on my 4th round of shots

Basically, carpet traps dust and allergens forever. No amount of cleaning will make them completely clean. Wood floors, however, are easy to clean at any time and the dust comes right off. Sure, there is other dust in your house that you probably aren't cleaning, but you *can* clean it. You can move the shelves, the bed, etc (which some allergists have told me to do - unfortunately I'm too lazy) if you need to. Carpets just look clean after you've vacuumed them, but when hardwood looks clean, it actually is clean. For people without allergies it doesn't really matter, or if your allergies are to pollen or food or something, but for those with strong dust and mold allergies it can make a big difference.

DH is an architect, and he showed me some research on this when we were looking at flooring a few years back. I'll see if I can find it, it's around somewhere. Basically, there are an equal number of particles, whether you have a carpet or a hard floor. With a carpet, more of them are trapped at floor level, ie stuck forever in the carpet, as Elrohwen said. The result of that is that the air in the room has fewer particles (including allergens like pollen and dust mites) and is actually healthier. Don't roll around the floor, though! If you vacuum regularly and get into all the corners (and ideally with central vac, so particles are not re-circulating in the air) then carpet will result in a cleaner environment.

The only room we have carpet in is the bedroom, but to me, it is counter-intuitive. I believed it when I read the study, because it was fairly rigorous methodology, but I don't quite believe it, if you know what I mean.

 

[CJ2008]

We have carpet in our bedrooms, but I'd rip it up in a minute. Hate it...always hated carpet. I feel like I can never clean it good enough.

 

[zoebartlett]

I've never had hardwood floors in any of my bedrooms, so I'm used to (and like) carpeting. It's cozier, in my opinion.

 

[Echidna]

We have hardwood floors in the bedroom and I don't really notice my feet being cold. If feet are cold, slippers and socks can cure the problem. I notice cold feet when I walk on tile in the bathroom. We clean the wood floors by sweeping or using a Roomba.

I think the hardwood is better than carpets because dirt, dust, mites and other allergens get buried deeply in the carpet. Even after vacuuming, the carpet is never really clean. Plus, hardwood floors wear better than carpet. Carpet gets stained, track marks from walking paths, and flattened. After a while, for resale purposes, it would bring down the value of the house or have to be replaced.

You can avoid furniture scratching the floor by sticking soft round cloth on the bottom of the furniture feet. That makes the furniture slide instead of scratch. I forget what those stickies are called, but they are available at hardware stores and some drugstores.

I couldn't agree more with Mary Poppins. I vacuum my hardwoods then mop them with hot water. You do have to clean them "twice" but they are super clean then! My FI often vacuums and then I follow with a mop. Spills are no big deal and they're easily repolished down the track. We have little feet on our furniture because we don't have a single area rug. We also washed the walls of our place not too long ago and it was nice not to worry about splashing the floors.

I would not have anything else

 

[Pandora II]

Hardwood in the whole house except bathrooms which are marble tiles. Made a HUGE difference to my husband's allergies when we got rid of carpeting - especially in the bedroom.

Although I have oak floorboards in this house, I put down high-quality bamboo in the last one and it really was beautiful and hard-wearing. It also doesn't warp so you can use it in places like bathrooms.

For those with cold toes... have you thought about underfloor heating? It's lovely!

 

[diamondringlover]

I have carpet and HATE it, I want to rip it all out and put in laminate, I dont want hardwood to much maintance and I am lazy lol, I have a 100 year old farmhouse and my floors arent level, the slant down hill, they go up and down, ect, so in order to put in laminate I have to have a subfloor laid and parts of the floor leveled, so no laminate for me for awhile...anyway, I do have laminate in my son's room and the hallway, I have a 2 story house so my upstairs stays pretty warm, so I dont notice it is too coldwhen I go from my room the the restroom..

 

[iheartscience]

I have hardwoods throughout and love them. Maybe I keep my house too warm but the hardwoods are really not particularly cold. The tile in the kitchen and baths are colder, but even those aren't that cold. I vote hardwood everywhere!