My cat just ate a hair tie!

[wsuffa]

Carpet hides the dust and dirt much better.

I know the new thing is to go to wood or laminate floors but I wonder how well they hold up, as far as scratches are concerned, especially if you have an animal. My carpeting is the original (17 years old) and is not close to being ready to replace yet. I had a dog here originally for about 5 years, and then cats.

Despite the naysayers, I prefer hardwood floors with area (oriental) rugs. The rugs keep a lot of the noise down, the hardwood is easier to clean & is far better looking than slightly worn, dirty, light-color carpet.

If carpet gets worn or excessivly dirty, you gotta replace the whole thing. For hardwood, you can usually have it sanded and refinished - depending on the size of the area, it's a project that takes a day or two or three. Easier to move things across wood floor, etc.

Carpet is warmer underfoot, so I do perfer that on concrete slabs and (depending on the house) the bedroom.

You get odor in carpets: never goes away. You get wood wet and never clean it up: it will stain or warp (can avoid this with appropriate sealer).

Ultimately, it all comes down to what you like and what looks good in the house.

 

[Ted]

I know the new thing is to go to wood or laminate floors but I wonder how well they hold up, as far as scratches are concerned, especially if you have an animal. My carpeting is the original (17 years old) and is not close to being ready to replace yet. I had a dog here originally for about 5 years, and then cats.

The apartment I grew up in has hardwood floors in it. I would rollerblade on them in high school. We always wore our shoes indoors. I don't know how old they are, but they've been around since before I was born so 30 years minimum, and they're still in great shape.

Meanwhile, the carpeting in my house could stand to be replaced at 17 years or so (assuming it was new with the house). The dogs have certainly had a negative impact there between scratching and a few accidents, but the carpet also wasn't perfect when I moved in, either.

I wasn't around in the 60s, but my mom said that per her recollection wall-to-wall carpeting started then as the "in" thing. In my grandmother's last house there were hardwood floors that she'd forgotten about as they carpeted it as soon as they moved in. When they redid the carpet about a year before she moved out, they pulled it up to find beautiful hardwood floors in very nice condition. Go figure.

I suppose we have opposite experiences.

 

[Everskyward]

I wasn't around in the 60s, but my mom said that per her recollection wall-to-wall carpeting started then as the "in" thing.

That's what I recall too. The house I grew up in only had wall-to-wall carpeting in the living room. I think the bedrooms had wood floors and the kitchen and family room were vinyl floor tiles in garish colors. I don't remember seeing much of the wood floors in the bedrooms because they were mostly covered by rugs. My only memory of wood floors come from an apartment I lived in in college where the boards in my bedroom were warped so nothing lay quite flat. I thought it was strange when wood floors became desirable again. I do agree that they can be nice looking but I can see from being in other people's houses how they might show the dust more and require more care unless you are a vigilant housekeeper which I am not.

 

[Jeanie]

We used to have some carpet in the house and then the cats had an ongoing discussion w/ each other regarding who was the best cat... and due to the smell that I couldn't get out we pulled it up and replaced it w/ tile. The whole house is tile now w/ some area rugs in the bedroom for "warmth" . Being in West Texas it's near impossible to keep the dirt all the way down but it's easier to keep clean generally. We do like in Japan and take our outside shoes off at the door and then walk in the house in our houseshoes .... I don't think I'll ever want wall to wall carpet again.

 

[Anthony]

I hate wall to wall carpet so I did most of my house in laminate flooring. It looks like hardwood, but doesn't have the maintenance issues. Its pretty much bulletproof. I have area rugs in parts of the house that need it.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

I hate wall to wall carpet so I did most of my house in laminate flooring. It looks like hardwood, but doesn't have the maintenance issues. Its pretty much bulletproof. I have area rugs in parts of the house that need it.

Anthony have you found one that really looks like real hardwood? What brand? I am looking at some, and have walked on various installs - and they all seem a bit too.... pseudo to me.
The ones I have seen do have excellent scratch resistance however; the salesperson let me try to scratch one board with my key and it was like diamond; no marks.

 

[Jeanie]

Anthony have you found one that really looks like real hardwood? What brand? I am looking at some, and have walked on various installs - and they all seem a bit too.... pseudo to me.
The ones I have seen do have excellent scratch resistance however; the salesperson let me try to scratch one board with my key and it was like diamond; no marks.

~~~~ Yeah, but does it come in the color of cat puke?

 

[pookies]

Anthony have you found one that really looks like real hardwood? What brand? I am looking at some, and have walked on various installs - and they all seem a bit too.... pseudo to me.
The ones I have seen do have excellent scratch resistance however; the salesperson let me try to scratch one board with my key and it was like diamond; no marks.

My mom is remodeling the floors with that cheap laminate flooring from Fred's. It's like $10 box. I was a bit skeptical about it, thinking it would look really cheap. It's not so bad. My cousin who is Ms Snoot and everything is expensive name brands, was actually impressed by it. She was like "this is fake??"

It turns out, one of my relatives did their whole house in it and I had no clue it was the same stuff. It holds up really well!! The only thing I noticed was that there was some fading in the areas where the sun hit all the time.

 

[Ted]

That's what I recall too. The house I grew up in only had wall-to-wall carpeting in the living room. I think the bedrooms had wood floors and the kitchen and family room were vinyl floor tiles in garish colors. I don't remember seeing much of the wood floors in the bedrooms because they were mostly covered by rugs. My only memory of wood floors come from an apartment I lived in in college where the boards in my bedroom were warped so nothing lay quite flat. I thought it was strange when wood floors became desirable again. I do agree that they can be nice looking but I can see from being in other people's houses how they might show the dust more and require more care unless you are a vigilant housekeeper which I am not.

We had (have) rugs in my mom's apartment that cover a decent amount of the hardwood floors, but we still certainly see them.

While my recollection was that they never had dust problems growing up, my mother also employed a housekeeper because she didn't want to bother cleaning herself, so that may be skewed because there wasn't enough time for dust to settle on the floor. In my house today, the linoleum in the kitchen does show the dog fur more than the carpet, but I also find that it cleans easier.

The animals are the big thing. My friends in animal rescue who have purpose-built homes (most of them who moved into new houses after starting animal rescue bought or built to suit) have hardwood or laminate floors. It really is much easier when you have a bunch of animals in the house because the fur cleans up easier, and so do messes. When you have a lot of animals coming and going, especially rescue animals from unknown backgrounds, accidents are inevitable.

 

[Ghery]

The animals are the big thing. My friends in animal rescue who have purpose-built homes (most of them who moved into new houses after starting animal rescue bought or built to suit) have hardwood or laminate floors. It really is much easier when you have a bunch of animals in the house because the fur cleans up easier, and so do messes. When you have a lot of animals coming and going, especially rescue animals from unknown backgrounds, accidents are inevitable.

Not to mention the fun of watching a dog or cat attempt a high speed corner on a smooth wood floor. They never do quite figure out that there isn't enough traction available and wind up slamming into the far wall.

 

[Ted]

Not to mention the fun of watching a dog or cat attempt a high speed corner on a smooth wood floor. They never do quite figure out that there isn't enough traction available and wind up slamming into the far wall.

My dog does that on linoleum. When I first got him, he'd go running towards me, realize he couldn't stop in time, do the Scooby Doo backpeddling, and then slam into my legs, knocking me over (100 lb Rottie). After a few times of that he realized "Oh yeah, this is a bad idea."

 

[tonycondon]

we had a dalmation that had so much energy she would skid out on carpet. the crashes she had when she would hit the linioleum in the kitchen were fantastic. she never learned.

 

[Anthony]

My German Shorthaired Pointer got the vinyl tile thing in the kitchen. When the cat was sitting in there, he'd get a running start from the foyer, then purposely slide into her trying to make it look like and "accident". It was funny as hell!

 

[steingar]

To this day I let my Moogie dog chase me around the kitchen/dining room support wall. In bare feet I have far more traction on the kitchen linoleum (or whatever we have there) than she does. It is really a lot of fun.