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

I'm amazed that people who think that carpets are disgusting and unhygienic can cope with having pets at all.

I'm amazed that people who think that carpets are disgusting and unhygienic can cope with having pets at all.

or children

Carpets in the bathroom 😬

You can get carpet washers!

We need some dirt and germs in our lives or we won't maintain healthy immune systems

Ok, let me be clearer as I didn't express myself very well when I mentioned microbes. I don't care so much about the microbes as the dirt and sweat and random stains that carpets absorb. Sure, you can be extra careful and hoover often, but nothing beats a beautiful high quality wooden floor like a hard wood parquet. I'm a fan of rugs though as they're more easily manageable and can be easily chucked in case do a large spill.

Oh yes and they're hair magnets. Pet, human. Blah.

I hate carpets. Even if you hoover every day it doesn't get every bit of dust out. I love hard floors with strategically placed throw rugs.

We have wooden floors in the bedroom, no rugs, in an old and cool house. We just wear slippers. It isn't too cold.

I genuinely think carpets are vile. They look awful, and they are revolting.
I don't understand how people love them so much, even the current sparkly grey fashionable nightmare, and love them so much they are DYING theirs to keep them for longer

But that's personal taste, it's their home. What I can't get around is the faff with carpets! Everything becomes a drama, every spill, ever "accident" and it's seemingly hours of cleaning, destaining and faffing and frankly wasting your time.

People with carpets tend to be shoes-off houses, and the thought of people manky feet on my floor makes me gag.

When you see how much DUST there is when you remove carpets, even fairly new ones ,don't tell me it's good for you. Germs are one thing, dust is just not needed.

I don’t have a problem with microbes more general dirt and grime, and cooking smells.

Carpets here apart from kitchen and bathroom. Agree with you. I love real wood floors with a few nice rugs down, also wooden doors etc, much prefer that to painted skirtings and doors and always admire them when I see houses with them

[quote flawedflooring]@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.[/quote]
Ours is a Rug Doctor one.

I prefer carpet for bedrooms and flooring everyone else in the home,

My home has carpets and I hate it , I can't walk on the carpet in bare feet because I don't like the feel of it or the thought of carpet monsters on my foot! I have to wear slippers. Not to mention having three young children who are just gross anyway

I have Lino in the kitchen but mopping just feels like I'm wiping the germs all around the floor.

It's a no win situation unless you can afford a good steam cleaner and a carpet cleaner.

I also watched a video on YouTube of someone testing a VAX machine out , the dirty water what gets sucked up from a small part of the carpet is disgusting!

I can't walk on the carpet in bare feet because I don't like the feel of it or the thought of carpet monsters on my foot!

I hope that was a tongue in cheek comment.

I have Lino in the kitchen but mopping just feels like I'm wiping the germs all around the floor.

If you are using some kind of disinfectant, no you won't be.

We have two dogs and there is no way I would have carpets downstairs.

I’m totally with you. We removed all carpets except for the stairs. Looks fab, easy to clean and I like the feel of floorboards. I’ve got a cat and dog as well as DCs and it’s much easier to deal with accidents.

I have laminate, I would love a house with real wooden floors.

@Justnot

I love a carpet - They are dirty but that is good, they trap the dirt and the dust and the hair so it’s not floating around your house like tumbleweed and then you can hoover it up. Noise reduction, extra seating, good for babies and mobile phones.

I totally agree - I have always thought that unless you are wet-mopping hard floors constantly, carpets are better for trapping ‘stuff’. As soon as you open a door or window, everything on a hard surface starts swirling round again. Also, it became a bit of a fad; like wallpaper v plain walls, curtains v blinds etc. DIY shops love it - get people in and spending again by pushing a new fashion........

I agree. My friend hired a carpet cleaner and posted photos of the sludge that it sucked out of just one carpet. Horrible!

I am torn.

I have tiled flooring through downstairs. It's practical (doggy household) and easy to clean but echoey and it's a bit like living in a public toilet (accoustically, not smell wise). I've got carpets upstairs, which are cosy but I'm very conscious of wet dog smeared all over them.

I think possibly hard floors with rugs are the way to go. They soak up the noise and echo, are easier to clean than carpets (you can even get them in the washing machine) and just add a bit of cosiness.

They are also cheaper and easier to throw away and replace if a dreadful accident happens (terrier, I am looking at you).

Agreed.
Skin flakes and pube attracters is all they are.
bleurgh.

This is why we don’t have carpets downstairs as we have young children.

My love for wooden floors comes from having pets and DC - they're just so much more practical. Our kitchen is slate tiles and I love it - a quick steam mop and it's sparkling. The rest of the downstairs is solid wood and I don't think I'd go back to carpets downstairs ever again. The DCs bedrooms are laminate flooring with huge fluffy rugs, as DS2 had asthma when he was younger and the wooden flooring helped. The bathrooms are all tiled, but were carpeted when we moved in which was revolting.

We moved into a house with carpets above the ground floor, I hate them - I bought a Bissel carpet cleaner the day we moved in and do the carpets at least once a month. We don't wear shoes beyond the front hall (which is wood) and the water still comes out grey Wish we could remove them all.