Am I nuts to consider laminate flooring in the bedrooms?

[PraiseBee]

Just that. My DH is American and lots of the houses where his family live have laminate flooring with area carpets in the bedrooms. Strikes me as more hygienic. My mum thinks it could be noisy and that is wouldn't necessarily be easier to clean. Any thoughts or experience to share?

We've always had them as we are a family of asthmatics and I find them easier to keep dust free! You can put thick underlay down and you don't hear the noise of them then

I'd have vinyl not laminate, as I think it's quieter, and nicer on the feet

It's a no from me. Carpets aren't unhygienic, people are. We have carpets in our bedrooms that are cleaned and vacuumed regularly. We don't wee, poo or are sick on them, don't have pets and none of us are asthmatic.

TBH I don't understand the mumsnet hatred of carpets.

Disclaimer - we live in a cold and damp part of the country, and hard floors are cold and unwelcoming - and noisy if upstairs.

We are renting at the moment and the bedrooms have laminate, it’s very easy to clean and I worry less about spilling makeup/nail polish.

Thick underlay is a great point and vinyl not laminate. I need to read up on different types of flooring. I have small children so spillages are inevitable and lots of carpets shed fibres, which presumably are mostly plastic. Didn't know there is a MN hated for carpets. Simply observed what my DH's family have and considering it for us.

We have just carpeted my DCs bedroom from vinyl. The difference in warmth, noise dampening, and comfort is amazing. I would never ever have hard flooring in bedrooms again.

It's just the noise factor. If the bedrooms are in same floor as receptions not an issue.

We have a mix and I prefer the bedrooms with laminate - they look fresher and are easier to clean. We do tend to put rugs alongside beds so people aren't stepping out of a warm bed onto a cold floor.

Not sure which is best for asthmatics though. Carpet traps and holds dust, whereas on hard floors it tends to gather into balls and move around a lot. Easier to vacuum a hard floor I think - if you stick the nozzle under a piece of furniture you're more likely to be able to suck out the floaty dust than on carpet.

We’ve just replaced a laminate floor in our bedroom with a carpet, we found it really cold in the winter and our kitchen is below and the noise carried pretty badly- you could hear every click of the dishwasher or washing machine. I’m sure good insulation will address a lot of this, but it’s something to bear in mind.

I have engineered wood. I have 1 cat, 1 dog, 2 asthmatics, 1 dust allergy sufferer, 1 absolute scruff. I find the wood easier to clean but can see how a more organised person without pets wouldn’t notice the difference. Everyone has a bedroom rug.

I have had both in the various houses I have lived in and both have pros and cons.
When my children were small we moved from carpet to laminate and floorboards in a house. One thing I would say it is much nicer and comfortable for them to play with their toys whilst lying on carpet. For this reason if I had young children I would go for carpet.
I am now living with laminate again, great in Summer and cool underfoot. I dread the Winter as it is really cold, it's rugs all the way.

@Sosoflo

We’ve just replaced a laminate floor in our bedroom with a carpet, we found it really cold in the winter and our kitchen is below and the noise carried pretty badly- you could hear every click of the dishwasher or washing machine. I’m sure good insulation will address a lot of this, but it’s something to bear in mind.

i always think that laminate is 'clacky'

It would be noise that would make me say no to laminate/vinyl in the bedroom. Also depends on the age of your DCs, if they're still at the playing on the floor stage then carpet is nicer I think.

In terms of cleaning, I find rugs a massive PITA to hoover so actually the thing that you do to make the laminate more like carpet would be the deal breaker for me.

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and thoughts. Great to have a wider range of perspective

We put LVT in our kids bedrooms when they ruined their carpets with slime! I was so jealous, I put it in ours. It looks and feels so much cleaner. As it is vinyl, it is nicer underfoot, not as noisy and hard wearing. It’s not cold at all underfoot.

@SergeiL

We put LVT in our kids bedrooms when they ruined their carpets with slime! I was so jealous, I put it in ours. It looks and feels so much cleaner. As it is vinyl, it is nicer underfoot, not as noisy and hard wearing. It’s not cold at all underfoot.

What's lvt?

I am in the US and have hardwood floors throughout. Funnily enough we've just bought a new home and the first task is to rip up the carpet in the master bedroom. Despite being born and raised in the uk and always having carpets, I now consider them dated and quite unclean. Wood floors and a few strategically placed rugs is much better.

Yes you are a bit mad as they are very noisy and have gone out of fashion. Real wood with rugs is still fashionable but not laminate

I live in Belgium where no one has carpets. We have laminate in the upstairs hallway and bedrooms, tiles in the bathrooms, and tiles in the whole of our downstairs. We use rugs a bit here and there as well. Our floors aren't at all noisy but the floor upstairs is made from reinforced concrete, as most houses have here. So there's no noise travelling downstairs.... I wouldn't ever have carpet again.

I now consider them dated and quite unclean.

They are only unclean if people don't clean them.
Most people I know who have hard floors downstairs have carpets ustairs. Their houses are spotlessly clean.

I don't think carpets are "unfashionable". Not round here they aren't.

We have hard wood in two bedrooms and carpet in the third. It's noisy that's the only complaint.

LVT is luxury vinyl tile. Like Karndean or Amtico. We have a cheaper version upstairs but it’s really very good.

We have vinyl planks in ours
We replaced DDs carpets due to asthma then her brother wanted the same and we decided it looked so nice we did the other rooms. We only have carpet on the stairs and landing.
We have laminate downstairs but plan to replace it with vinyl too

@episcomama

I am in the US and have hardwood floors throughout. Funnily enough we've just bought a new home and the first task is to rip up the carpet in the master bedroom. Despite being born and raised in the uk and always having carpets, I now consider them dated and quite unclean. Wood floors and a few strategically placed rugs is much better.

DH is from Germany and he considers carpets to be dirty and unhygienic. I appreciate they dont have to be but with cats, a dog and a muddy garden I mop every day and no way could I keep carpets as clean.

We have just had Amtico fitted in our master bedroom, en-suite and around the upstairs landing. Wish we had done it years ago, so much easier to clean and feels lovely underfoot. Not noisy at all either.

We will now be replacing the carpets in the other bedrooms with Amtico later in the year.