To think UK should have moved on from carpeting by this stage

[Finlesswonder]

It's gross, it's ugly, it's high maintenance, and in a world of global warming, it increasingly feels like a dust and burning sun heat trap.
Why are people in this country still obsessed with carpeting?

Carpets help with insulation

I carpeted my living room because the hard flooring was so cold. I’ve never regretted it as it feels lovely under my feet even on a hot day.

It’s idiotic isn’t it! It’s not like we live in a hot country (apart from the unpredictable summers). Unless you’ve got an amazing heating system it’s bloody freezing with hard floors. What I really don’t like is uncarpeted stairs, so unwelcoming.

I love the way that is this thread somebody comments ‘I live in a 150-year-old house and…’ and then somebody else comments ‘well I live in a 300-year-old cottage and…’ Then somebody else trumps them with ‘Well in my 400-year-old house…’ 🤣

I don't have any carpet in my house at all but as a falls OT it is really important for some of my clients, particularly when really well fitted.
Our wool industry is really struggling so I'd like to see high quality carpeting supported.

My house was built 4,700 years ago. It's a cave.

OK guys the poll has spoken and I relent, I give up, I am clearly trying to convert the unconvertable and will concede that....IABU!!!

On the flip side in April we stayed with friends who have wooden floors/laminate everywhere. Despite wearing slippers and socks my feet were frozen the whole time we were there. Upstairs you could feel a draught coming up through the floorboards. Everything echoed. The constant click-click everytime anyone walked anywhere or the sound of our host's bare feet sticking to the floor as she walked (how she had any feeling in her feet I'll never know). During the night the sound of the dogs' claws as they chased each other around or kept going up and down stairs. Nope, not for me, but each to their own

Actually reading this with interest as we have just bought our first house (1930s) and can't decide whether to carpet or not.
Leaning towards carpets and living room and hard floor everywhere else, but really torn about the living room. I have feeling the house will be cold in winter so I'd quite like a cosy room and think carpets help with that.
We had a cream carpet throughout our entire last flat (was there when we bought it) and it was good quality and hardly stained even with 3 kids, as we could just get the stains out with carpet cleaner. It was so cosy and warm in there.

My personal opinion is that with climate change the priority long term is going to be keeping houses cool, not keeping them warm. Particularly in the mid 30 degree summers that are going to become the norm over the next few years.

I can't stand wooden flooring, it's personal preference surely

Big respect for OP's that come back and concede they're BU!

Try living in Sheffield. Never bloody stops snowing in winter and had been horrible and cold all spring. It’s been like this for 30 years.

My priority is keeping my house warm not cold.

Laminate is far harder to keep clear, constant dust, washing everyday, twice a day sometimes, people feel no need t9 take shoes off because it’s hard flooring, it’s noisy, it’s cold

Why the fuck would you seek to "convert" people?
Don't you think people have the right to have different ideas and preferences than you?
How do other people's flooring affect you?

Besides which your blanket statement that the UK is all carpeted is blatantly untrue nowadays. Obviously a lot of people prefer the warmth and insulation provided by carpet because we don't live in the tropics.

Such an odd thing to be so riled about!

@BMW6
I think you're the only one getting riled this morning tbf

But other parts of the country aren’t particularly cold either. It’s all relative though, isn’t it? I don’t perceive 0 degrees Celsius as being really cold and even when it is cold where I am in SE England it isn’t long lasting to me and the humidity makes it feel warmer than it actually is. Winters seemed more wet to me and there were only a few weeks where it was cold enough to warrant gloves and I say that as someone who walks everywhere.

I don't have any carpet in my house at all but as a falls OT it is really important for some of my clients, particularly when really well fitted.
Our wool industry is really struggling so I'd like to see high quality carpeting supported.

ITA. We have 15 years experience of falls injuries, because DD has difficult to manage epilepsy. She has suffered numerous concussions, broken teeth, soft tissue injuries, broken bones….

The best place for her to fall, without a shadow of a doubt is on carpet - the worst she can suffer is a carpet burn. All the other injuries happened on laminate or wooden floors, or concrete. We have carpet, with the best underlay everywhere except the kitchen. None of us have ever caught an infection, walking on our carpets!

I imagine it’s similar for old people prone to falls - injuries are likely to be worse on hard floors than carpets? At that age, injuries take longer to heal.

Same as a walk on the beach barefoot, all those crustacea’s rotting shells, carcasses, rotting seaweed all mixed in with sand that has never been bleached, totally unhygienic.
You’re Unilever’s perfect customer, scared of your own shadow and lost all faith in your own immune system.
Apart from humans every other species survives without a product-based hygiene routine.

The competitive hygiene-ing on Mumsnet is one of its oddest features. Living in sterile bubbles isn't much fun and probably does more harm than good.

Finlesswonder · Today 00:13
I just spent 3 nights with a relative who has thick carpeting, massive heavy drapey curtains and fuck loads of cushions all over their sofa and it just felt like a textile overkill as I sat there in their blazing conservatory”

What a gracious guest you are.

We have many more cold months than hot weeks.

Ahh. Now I know it's something we don't see very often, but the heat in the conservatory is due to something called 'the sun'. If you go outside and look up its that round shiny yellow thing that hurts you eyes to look at. The hot feeling is coming from that thing, not the big dusty cushions or curtains. The cushions might feel warm, but that's only due to the sun, they don't actually generate heat themselves. Nor does the carpet. This might be a bit confusing, because if you open the windows the conservatory gets a little cooler. But that's not the cushion heat escaping I promise, its this thing called 'a breeze' coming in. And we'll cover that in next week's lesson.

We were mid 30 degrees for about a week or two last year. It's been quite chilly this year until this last week, I had my heating on in the evening about two weeks ago.

all laminate in my house even in the bedrooms only place with carpet is on the stairs. I love the smell of a brand-new carpet but they quickly lose that new look and become walked down really quickly. laminate stays new looking for years and years plus don't have to worry about spills or if people walk things in much easier with laminate etc.