<p>The carpet in our house is disgusting. We’ve been talking about replacing it for years and haven’t done it due to the hassel of the install and our inability to agree on anything. My husband wants hardwood, just because he wants it and thinks we should have it. I like the look of it but don’t love it enough to justify the cost and the complete re-do of the room that the installation would require. We have stained baseboards, not painted, and have received conflicting reports on whether or not that would all need to be re-done.</p>
<p>We’re definitley recarpeting the upstairs bedrooms and hallway. The hardwood discussion involves the living room and dining room. The two least used rooms in our house, but visible from the front door.</p>
<p>Honestly, I’d be content to recarpet everything and be done with it. Our entryway, kichen and bathrooms are all light tile. To match or at least not clash with the rest of the house our flooring would need to be on the darker side. </p>
<p>Are my only options carpet and hardwood? What do you have and do you like it.</p>
<p>I fully support hardwood. We don’t have one room with carpeting. We will use an area rug in the “living areas” - living room, sunporch, dining room. Otherwise, no floor covering. I prefer the look and the upkeep AND the cleanliness. </p>
<p>I think that a Realtor will tell you that hardwood is by far the preferred choice among people looking to purchase. </p>
<p>Will you be hiring someone to do the work? If so, either route - carpet or hardwood will require moving everything out of the room - but if you have people to do the install, then they will take care of telling you what is needed for trim and all. </p>
<p>No hardwood currently under your carpet??? </p>
<p>We have hardwood in most of our rooms. It really is easier to keep clean. Plus we have pets. In the long run I believe it’s cheaper to have hardwood because unless there is water damage you will never need to replace it. However with carpet it really only looks good for so long. </p>
<p>Another fan of hardwood. We bought a house with dated carpet but the realtor told us there was HW underneath. We ripped up the carpet ourselves to find barely-used HW floors in every room except the kitchen and bathrooms. We added HW in the kitchen and in 1 bathroom. Had them refinished before we moved in–so much easier! Love the convenience and the look of HW! Area rugs work fine for the areas we want ‘carpeted’. </p>
<p>If you go with HW, I’m betting you will love it as well…</p>
<p>For some reason, the previous owners of our house had WHITE carpet put in before they put it on the market. It didn’t even stay white until we moved in and looked awful within weeks. Seattle-rain-white carpet are NOT good combos! Anyway, we knew there was hardwood underneath and since all the bedrooms were already bare hardwood, we pulled up all the carpet and had the wood refinished in the main rooms-it looks wonderful, seems homier, and has worn well. A side bonus is that my D’s asthma is nearly non-existent now. Our other house had a lot of carpet but the minute we pulled all of it up here, her asthma improved.</p>
<p>Let me offer a different point of view. My kids put hardwood in their house and hate it. Harder to maintain in their opinion. Gets scratched by everything. They have small children and the toys, chairs and dogs scratch it. Also, the baby can’t walk on it with socks because they slip and fall. They are moving now and will put anything but hardwood in. Yes. It’s what some people want but not everybody.</p>
<p>Hardwood is so worth it. So much easier to keep clean!</p>
<p>If you are trying to cut the cost, check out laminate options (like Pergo, but several brand names). Not as “high end” as solid wood, but you the ease of cleaning and good look of hardwoods at a lower price point.</p>
<p>If you have an older home, (50s?) there may be hardwood under the carpet. It is pretty cheap to get old hardwoods sanded, stained and varnished. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info. We probably will do hardwood in the living room and dining room a least, although I’m not really that inerested in it.</p>
<p>Our house is almost 13 years old and we have plywood under the carpet. It would be nice to find hardwood under the dirty stained carpet but that’s not happening. And I know that because we built the house. Oh…the changes I would make now if I could.</p>
<p>There is also engineered hardwood that is a bit less expensive and looks just the same. Although we are leaning towards hardwood because I’m tired of dirty carpet all the time (the path from entering our house through the garage to the kitchen is awful). We have runners, but I hate that too. Anyway, I love carpet. I have hearing issues, and the carpets absorb the sound wonderfully. I like the softness, etc. I know it’s not the “in” look, but I love it anyway.</p>
<p>We have two indoor cats, with full claws, and striated bamboo flooring. Not a scratch on them (and it’s fun watching them try to stop from a full run on them!). If you get hard enough wood, bamboo or cork, scratching should not be an issue. As for the baby issue, I put puffy paint on the bottom of all the socks - sliding issue solved.</p>
<p>Don’t even consider the baseboard issue; whether you do wall to wall carpeting or hardwood, you’re going to have to take up the baseboards. Whether you’ll be able to reuse the ones you have is up for debate.</p>
<p>We purchased cork and hardwood from a do-it-yourself type bigbox store and it scratched badly. Second time around, different house, we avoided those and went with a flooring store, more expensive hardwood and it is tough and durable. The difference in quality is HUGE. </p>
<p>Wood-look tile is very popular here. My boss put it in her house and it looks great. I need to replace the carpet in my living room and dining room, but I can’t decide what I want. I have a big dog in the house, so I worry that wood will get scratched. I would love to have the same flooring in the kitchen, too, but I’m not sure about hardwood in the kitchen. (It would also include the laundry room.) I love the wood tile, but tile is so cold and I spend a lot of time in the living room. I also am concerned about having “patchwork” floors. I already have tile in the entry way and a different tile in the sun room. Both connect to the living room without doors. I will probably never do anything because I just can’t decide what to do.</p>
<p>We have hardwood throughout our home with sheet vinyl in kitchen and baths. Love how low maintenance it is. The key is to have installers put in a good finish on the floors. We have had it for decades and its so easy to care for and looks lovely. We just run the robotic vacuum cleaners over it regularly and we are done. Our young kids grew up with it and played in it–no problems. We have white oak, but there are so many options. The finish we have is the same one they put on the wood in indoor malls–it’s sand, grit and stiletto heels which damage the floors. </p>
<p>I have hardwood all through my downstairs except in the living room and great room. I like carpeting in those rooms as it seems cozier. What state do you live in? A little cozy is good when the snow is falling like it is already doing here.</p>
<p>Living room and dining room–hard wood all the way. Pretty and practical. I wouldn’t worry about baseboards at all in the consideration. I think you’ll find the maintenance well worth it.
We’ve had kids, cats, for past 15 years. Still a hardwood fan. I would make the hall hardwood also if that’s a consideration (certainly wish I had–now redoing it) and maybe keep the bedrooms carpet (nicer under foot). Carpets just trap too much dirt and dust. It is SO easy to dust a wood floor–easy, quick and quiet. And if you have any allergy/sinus issues–no question at all.
If you use those upstairs bedrooms and hallway much you’ll spend time cleaning that you wish you didn’t have to. And then have to replace the carpet again anyway.</p>
<p>Costco even has hardwood flooring kits, as do a ton of other places. It’s good to find a pro installer and get references from prior jobs done. We got our floor installed and several other folks did too. </p>
<p>Ours is still lovely 25 years later. Some of them have multiple problems with theirs, including unevenness over time. Wood changes with heat and humidity and needs to acclimate to where it will be installed and space to expand or it will buckle. Our installer knew all the tips and tricks and laid out the wood awhile before installing so it would be acclimated. </p>
<p>My sis and another friend used another installer and have had LOTS of problems with their wooden floors. </p>
<p>We have softwood ( fir) which is original to the (1900) house, but if I didn’t I would install bamboo or similar and use area rugs. We have Persian style wool rugs, I think it’s much classier than wall to wall, but there are many styles and price points for area rugs.
Also easier to replace than wall to wall.
Do you have hardwood underneath your carpet?</p>