Wood, laminate, tile floors vs carpet-which do you like best? Which do you hate?

Aneeda72

Aneeda72

Well-known Member
I always thought I’d love anything but carpet. When we saw this old house which had beautiful laminate floors, the floors and kitchen cabinets were the only thing I loved. Despite my not wanting to buy the house my husband did.

In the moving in process, I asked him to be careful of the floors, he wasn’t. He scratched them all, some scratches extremely deep. Then I learned I hated not having carpet. Husband refuses to wipe his feet so mud is constantly tracked across floor by husband and dogs.

Dust, OMGosh, the floors are dark, they never look clean. Our house is on a slab, the floors are cold. I paid to have the living room/dinning room carpeted, after they came out and measured they said they couldn’t put carpet over laminate flooring. What?

Ugh. Put carpet under the dining table, two matching carpets in living room, and peal and stick carpet in the entry way, small hallway, and another area leading to the bedrooms. If I am still alive in a couple years, I will tear all the stupid flooring out and get wall to wall carpet.
 

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I prefer hard floors with rugs.

In my little apartment, I have landlord wall to wall carpets that are beginning to disintegrate after 10 years of being here.

I cover them with old Persian carpets that I've collected over the years.

At some point, the carpets will have to go as a concession to old age and I will miss them.

I may mount a couple of them on the wall as a reminder of better days.

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Aunt Bea said:
I prefer hard floors with rugs.

In my little apartment, I have landlord wall to wall carpets that are beginning to disintegrate after 10 years of being here.

I cover them with old Persian carpets that I've collected over the years.

At some point, the carpets will have to go as a concession to old age and I will miss them.

I may mount a couple of them on the wall as a reminder of better days.

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Senior moment, couldn’t think of the word rug. I laid down rugs not carpets except for the peal and stick.
 

I have never understood this craze to put hardwood floors in kitchens. Kitchen floors get filthy and I would think it would be hard to keep hardwood looking nice in there. In the kitchen I think I prefer high grade vinyl, believe it or not because it's easier to clean and it's warmer than tile.

In the rest of the house, I'm not sure. I've always had carpeting because it's warm but I would be open to hardwood. I wonder if it makes a difference where you live? I live in an area that can have pretty harsh winters. Maybe if I lived in a warmer area, hardwoods and tile would be the order of the day.
 
Uptosnuff said:
I have never understood this craze to put hardwood floors in kitchens. Kitchen floors get filthy and I would think it would be hard to keep hardwood looking nice in there. In the kitchen I think I prefer high grade vinyl, believe it or not because it's easier to clean and it's warmer than tile.

In the rest of the house, I'm not sure. I've always had carpeting because it's warm but I would be open to hardwood. I wonder if it makes a difference where you live? I live in an area that can have pretty harsh winters. Maybe if I lived in a warmer area, hardwoods and tile would be the order of the day.
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It depends on if you are on a slab, like I am. It gets really cold and the cold comes up through the flooring. Plus when the washer flooded, it ruined the flooring and we can’t get the insurance to pay although they should. I want vinyl for sure.
 
aneeda' I quite get your plight on the wood flooring - I moved to this place =always had good carpet in all my homes
but this has a laminate floor -I agree about the dust ' I to get this especially with the animals - so I bought a large rug to go over it '
but maybe one day ile change it ' :unsure::(
 
I thought I'd always want wall to wall carpeting and had it installed when we first had our home built. Then came the dogs,cats,kids, and spills of all kinds. Then had to have the carpets professionally cleaned and the job they did was questionable.
Next we rented a carpet cleaning machine, next came a rug shampooer machine that we purchased.
Finally my son replaced the rug in the dining room and down our hall with hardwood flooring. What a breeze to to keep clean.
He also put ceramic tile in our kitchen which I love but wished I'd gotten a darker color grout. Still better than the stick on tile.
Now I realize I need to first think about maintenance with anything we buy,as we age things don't get any easier.
My son also made a base for our bed that goes right down on the rug. At least I don't have to vacuum under the bed anymore.
 
In all the rooms of my house with the exception of the Kitchen and bathroom we have hardwood floors. In the living room we do have a small 9x12 rug on top of the hardwood so hubby and lay on the floor watching tv. I love the hardwood floors. In the kitchen and bathroom we have laminate flooring.
 
My house has the original tile installed in 1965. It still looks good in some areas but other areas show the wear and tear. I've liked the tile because it keeps such a good shine. I've heard of a flooring that isn't slippery when wet but don't recall if it's a tile or wood grain though. Before this pandemic I was planning to have the tub taken out of the main bathroom and have a walk-in shower installed but don't want strangers in the house right now (they probably wouldn't come now anyway). Next project was going to be the floors but who knows when that will be now. Since the house is on a slab the floors do get cold, even with house shoes. But, especially during the winter months I have space rugs and runners. It's costly to have them cleaned but I much prefer taking them to the cleaners at the end of the season and they clean and store them for me.
 
I'm from the carpet era, carpet everywhere except kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. Carpet is high quality, stain resistant, fade resistant. I've had my own steam cleaner for many years, just a hassell renting one. Bare floors are a new product, vinyl/rubber content, comes in different thickness, i't non slip, and soft, super wear and no colour fading, easy to keep clean. Because of the dogs, i don't use hardwood, so many bare flooring are very smooth, and slippery, since i got knee replacements on both knees, smooth and slippery floor types scare me.
 
Marlene said:
same here. I don't like carpet because it collects smells and dust that you can never get out.
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Yes you can. Bissell & Hoover make great shampooers that get stains & smells out. Carpet/rug is dry in 1 hour.
I used one in a den that had several dog accidents. Worked like a charm. Still smells great after 3 years. And the 17 year old carpeting looks like it's one day old.
 
Another vote for wall-to-wall carpeting with a few exceptions.

Porcelain tile in the office and hobby room because the chairs with wheels quickly destroy anything else. Tile looks great and is easy to maintain but without shoes it's uncomfortably cold and hard.

Sheet vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms as it's the most sanitary. It's also softer than porcelain and doesn't crack when a heavy pan is dropped on it.

Hardwood ... ugh! As best as I can determine, the appeal to hardwood is purely visual. We lived with it in our last home for nearly 25 years. I found it to be cold, prone to scratches and stains, and an absolute pain to maintain. Like many people we know, we covered most of ours with large area rugs which seems to me to defeat the purpose.

For those of us who are "of an age", throw rugs are a trip & fall just waiting to happen.
 
We love the looks of Hardwood Floors, But with dogs, and visiting dogs, hardwood does not stand up...So we are laminate people, and I find laminate has come a very long way, and even good laminate can and does look like hardwood... I like ceramic in the kitchen and bathroom... But can be hard to stand on it for a few hours. We have laminate through the house, except for kitchen and bathroom... and think I would like area or full carpeted bedrooms...
 
Never liked carpet. Plus, having lots of rescue dogs running around didn't lend itself to carpet.
My house in Florida, I ended up putting tile through the whole house. Helped keep it cool.
My house in Arkansas had some vinyl flooring, some tile, and some really cool cedar. Everyone told me not to use cedar because it's a soft wood and wouldn't hold up. Well, back before urethane, that was probably true. However, coating it with urethane gave it a rich, warm, and basically indestructible floor. Has held up very well for 15 years now. 🙂
My daughter's house has laminate flooring and with kids and cats and dogs running crazy, it has not stood up very well. :(

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I quite like real wood flooring, but it's a devil to keep clean and dust shows up - even if you've just dusted it. I loathe laminate. When we bought this house it had cheap laminate flooring (badly laid) so the first thing I did was to rip it up and have carpet fitted.

The kitchen and bathroom have non-slip vinyl flooring.
 
Capt Lightning said:
I quite like real wood flooring, but it's a devil to keep clean and dust shows up - even if you've just dusted it. I loathe laminate. When we bought this house it had cheap laminate flooring (badly laid) so the first thing I did was to rip it up and have carpet fitted.

The kitchen and bathroom have non-slip vinyl flooring.
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Yup .. dust shows up on wood flooring pretty quickly. Imagine the amount of dust accumulated in carpeting. That's why I used to vacuum every 2-3 days in our carpeted house - about the same as I dust our hardwood floors. No rest for the wicked 🥴
 

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