To think carpets are grim?

[flawedflooring]

I never gave much thought to carpets until a couple of years ago. We moved from a house with wooden floors to one with carpets and it grosses me out a bit.

I used to mop our floors once a week and the water would be pretty filthy. Now that we have carpets all that grossness is just sitting there in the carpet. Not to mention that I have been potty training DC too, which brings its own new level of grossness. Obviously I vacuum and could get it professionally cleaned, but in between times it'd still be pretty grim.

Also, with wool carpets there's a good chance you'll have some moths making themselves a nice home within, and now, knowing what we know about micro plastics, synthetic doesn't seem like the best plan either.

I'm just baffled, why do they exist? I know they're nice and warm underfoot, but so are slippers. We lived briefly in a country where carpets were nonexistent and now I understand why. Are we the only country that covers our houses in something that's pretty impossible to clean properly?!

YABU = carpets are the best thing ever
YANBU = carpets are grim

What’s wrong with a bit of dirt? Mumsnet is full of germaphobes. Weird.

We have carpet in some rooms and slate in others. I’d hate hard floors everywhere. So would the crawling baby and the cats.

Dirt is healthy! We clean our carpets a couple of times a year but I don’t care more than that. Mind you we only mop when it looks really shit too!

I like carpets.
We take off our shoes before walking in the carpeted areas.
Ours are light coloured and I maintain them by not allowing food and drink on them and by using carpet cleaners to spot clean.

Next you will saying sofas are disgusting and need weekly washing. And then curtains will be a problem.

Megan, I'm not a germaphobe, but the carpets in my parents' house have never been cleaned, ever. I don't remember other people getting their carpets professionally cleaned when I was growing up either. They have carpets in the kitchen and bathroom too.

Also moved abroad to a (not warm) country that doesn't use carpets. Realised very quickly how revolting carpets actually are and now wouldn't have them anywhere. Actively choose non drafty houses for this reason

We have wooden floors, and they aren't cold at all. The only carpet is on the stairs and landing, and the living room, but I am hoping to replace the living room with wood, when funds allow. I will have a rug in there as well though. My youngest dd has a large rug in her bedroom, but the rest of us don't want/need one. We are a shoes off household, but floors still get dirty. My living room carpet is cringey, as dd2 split a whole mug of caramel latte on it once, and I've never been able to fully get the stain out. Plus I hate it when the pile starts to get matted.

@Bluegrasstrail

Realised very quickly how revolting carpets actually are

Yours maybe, mine certainly aren’t.

Give me a nice richly toned hardwood floor any day, or even good quality laminate.

Our last house was wall to wall carpet. I am pre house proud but my allergies were bad and the house always seemed dusty no matter how much I cleaned.

Our current house only has carpet on the stairs. Much easier to keep clean and allergies have all but vanished

Know your audience. Of course people in the UK are gonna say 'YABU, the gazillions of microbes are cosy underfoot'. Try the same question anywhere else in Europe and people will totally get it.

Carpets aren't unhygienic. People do not become ill simply because they have carpets in the house. Millions (probably billions) of people have had carpets for centuries. If they were that bad a lot of the human race would have perished long ago.

"Dirt" is natural and the world is full of it. No-one lives in a sterile bubble. It might look unsightly where you can see it but unless you're eating your dinner off the pavement it's unlikely to make you ill.

Just make sure your carpets are hoovered regularly to prevent a build up of dust and you'll be fine.

@Moomin12345 but there are gazillions of microbes everywhere. On your face, in your eyelashes, in your mouth. Humans are crawling with microflora. Even if you are super scrupulous with your hygiene. It's natural.

Microbes aren't a bad thing.

I'm not a carpet person. We have laminate throughout downstairs, tiles in the kitchen, tiles in the upstairs bathroom, but carpet in the kids rooms, stairs and landing. We have a dog too and I would not dream of having carpets downstairs for a minute!

"Carpets aren't unhygienic. People do not become ill simply because they have carpets in the house."

I'm allergic to cats. I suffer if I have to stay more than a couple of hours in a carpeted house with cats even if the owner has hoovered before I arrive. In a non-carpeted house, I'm fine. That tells me that you can mop away dander much more easily than you can hoover it up so non-carpeted is cleaner.

Carpet upstairs for warmth and quiet, wood downstairs.

@Gwenhwyfar that's not the carpet giving you an allergic reaction though, it's the cats...

I don't mind germs and dirt in general,so they don't bother me

We have a carpet washer and it really doesn’t take up much space to store but is fantastic at getting any filth out of them. Washing is quick, takes very little time to dry (it sucks the water back out of the carpet) and makes a noticeable difference straightaway.

My preference is to have carpets only in bedrooms and maybe a rug in the living room. Light coloured carpets are even worse, they make eating or even having a glass of wine in front of the TV a nightmare with a big panic any time something is spilled.

I have carpet on the stairs and upstairs landing because it reduces noise. Otherwise all just wood floors and a couple of rugs. Hate the carpet but it is practical in damping down noise.

I was always raised in houses with carpets (80's) but now I'm stunned at how much grot sits atop my wood floor and how easily my hoover attachment zooms it up. I've thought the same as you OP... carpets? Urgh!!!
Carpets stairs and bedrooms (no shoe zones) but otherwise, hard floors all the way!

I think you are being a bit precious and a germophobe TBH.

I live in a part of the country where not having carpets makes for a cold house. I hoover regularly, clean my carpets regularly, don't have pets or small children and don't wear shoes in the house (I prefer not to wear shoes in the house anyway regardless of flooring).

Carpets are only grim if they get dirty and you don't clean them.

@SunbathingDragon what type do you have? Maybe it's something I should look into after all!

I'm not normally a germaphobe. I think a bit of dirt does us good (which is maybe why our carpet is particularly grim), but our is looking dirty and it's the fact that I know about all those potty training accidents too! I'd love a wooden floor so that I could give it a good clean once in a while.

First thing we did when we bought our own house was rip out all the carpets

We've got hard floors downstairs and in both bathrooms, and carpet on the stairs and in the bedrooms. It is warmer with carpet, but I don't like it downstairs as we have dogs and it's much easier to mop hard floors and keep them clean when it's wet outside.

I have a Bissel floor cleaner which does hard surfaces and carpets. It's bloody brilliant. I vac first (as we have dogs so there is a lot of hair), but the Bissel also vacs as well as washes so it's great for making sure we've got all the dust and hair up.

[quote Lockheart]@Gwenhwyfar that's not the carpet giving you an allergic reaction though, it's the cats...[/quote]
Yes, but as I said, I don't get it in a clean non-carpeted place even with a cat so it's the cat dander sticking to the carpet that seems to do it.

I couldn't live in a non carpeted home, I like to sit on the floor. When we bought our house we budgeted for new carpets so made sure we had 1800£ aside because that's what the cost of carpeting came to. I couldn't live in a house where the carpets had been used by someone else!