Wood vs. Carpet

[Jack Sprat]

We currently have carpet in one of the rooms we use for daycare. I hate carpet. DH loves carpet. I want to rip it up as I know there is beautiful hardwood underneath. He is convinced that it will make the room drafty and cold. He is thinking there will be a gap between the baseboards and floor. I say caulk around them and eventually we will get it fixed properly.

Can you all give me some more good reasons on why we should rip it up? Or reasons as to why is should stay. In hopes of changing my mind.

I have listed the allergies, easier to clean, yadda, yadda.

[SSWonders]

My 24 yr old dd recently moved out of an apartment that was carpeted. She was sick from the minute she walked in there until she left. Apparently carpeting can give off some kind of "toxic" fumes. We got rid of our carpeting in daycareville and I have never been so happy! And they were so gross looking underneath, despite how often they were cleaned. You can never totally get stains out. And I hate to think how many germs procreated in that carpeting. And I also hate to think about the nose slime that was ground in and stuck to it, never to be removed. Carpeting can also be a great breeding ground for mold. It tends to hold in moisture.

[Familycare71]

I hate carpet- but for all the reasons already mentioned. Maybe a good compromise is hardwood with an area rug?
And molding to fix the edges wouldn't be too expensive

[Jack Sprat]

I have mentioned an area rug. He so far is holding firm. I am tempted to just rip it out when he is working some Sat. morning. But, I wouldn't.

I will mention the molding. If we did a wider molding that would help. He doesn't even know for sure if there is a gap. Just assumes there is as the house is over 100 yrs old and on a limestone foundation.

Maybe I could accidently drop some bleach right smack in the middle of the carpet..:: then he would have to agree to rip it up right???

[WImom]

I hate carpet BUT I sort of hate our hard woods too. Since ripping out our carpet in the daycare the room echo's more and the kids seem louder. If we didn't eat or do arts and crafts in this room I'd put the carpet back.

[Heidi]

I have (had) beautiful hickory hardwood. We've been here 7 years and they already need to be refinished. Kids are really hard on hardwood, just to warn you. Scratches, spills (lots of spills), car seats being put on them and leaving black marks. It's not fun.

Still, I'd much rather have hardwood in my dc than carpet. If I had a dc only room and a choice, I'd go with linoleum. Not very fancy but much more durable and I wouldn't make this face so much

[itlw8]

If the house is that old and the floors are in good shape they have not been finished with poly. Meaning they will not be high gloss and show every scratch. They will have a varnish finish. We used gym floor sealer on our in 1990 and they still look great. every so often we just use a cleaner wax to clean them up and put a shine on the floor.

The base board would have been put in before the carpet if there is hardwood floor. so there will be no gap likely. But you will not know until you pull back the whole carpet what the floor is like. There will be small holes all over from tacking down the carpet pad. We did not worry about it. and the tack strip. again that did not bother me.

I would decide when the carpet needs replacing.

[Familycare71]

I have mentioned an area rug. He so far is holding firm. I am tempted to just rip it out when he is working some Sat. morning. But, I wouldn't.

I will mention the molding. If we did a wider molding that would help. He doesn't even know for sure if there is a gap. Just assumes there is as the house is over 100 yrs old and on a limestone foundation.

Maybe I could accidently drop some bleach right smack in the middle of the carpet..:: then he would have to agree to rip it up right???

You can pull back a corner to look- it doesn't hurt anything and then you know
I would TOTALLY be one to do it while my hubby is at work! :: He has opinions on those things but really doesn't care in the long run - esp if it was for my dc...

[Josiegirl]

Did anyone mention carpets are just one more place fleas, etc. can hide out? It looks like everybody covered everything else I was thinking of. I wish I could take all mine out too, just the thought of all the dirt, bacteria, dust, that is there bothers me. Plus I've got 2 dogs that track in everything and plain floors are so much easier to clean than constantly steam cleaning rugs.

[kitykids3]

Funny, I am on the opposite end. Our main playroom, the baby room and nap room all had hardwood and I put carpet in them. I wanted it to be comfortable and warmer and cozier. I felt bad for the kids napping on hard floors and when we're playing on the floor I wanted them to be comfortable. Babies too. I have a steam cleaner so I clean it and dry it on a regular basis. I used to have the foam mats wall to wall with an area rug almost the size of the room, but wasn't the same. Obviously I don't allow food or drink in those rooms and have a no shoes policy. But just my preference. I can't wait til I can afford carpet upstairs in my home.

[tratliff]

Someone mentioned fleas, lice as well. Harder to sanitize? I absolutely hate carpet, period. Area rugs are a good idea. If the windows are sealed well, it shouldn't be too drafty. You could add more fabric to the room like thicker curtains or double layer them. I have seen people use fabric instead of wall paper. We are looking at potential houses now and one has a second area that already has linoleum while the rest of the house has carpet or hardwood. My first thought was that the linoleum would be perfect for the playroom! The kids may be rough on it, but I really can't think of a reason to keep it, but I'm biased!

[craftymissbeth]

We have carpet in the daycare room and I hate it. I catch myself staring at it and fantasizing about finally ripping it out and refinishing the hardwood underneath. I totally think I'm going to have to rip it out while DH is at work. He's the reason why I still have it.

Our entire second level has the original hardwood (our home was built in 1918) and the main floor is this awful, warped laminate stuff & then carpet in the playroom and living room. I want ALL of the newer flooring ripped out and just have the hardwood... but that's too much work for DH to put up with

Anyway, IMO carpet is just gross!

[MyAngels]

We pulled the carpet off of our older hardwood floors and refinished them. They are great. They're not loud like a lot of the newer hardwood or laminate floors I've seen in other houses. I don't know if it has something to do with the way they were laid back in the day or what, but they're better. They also wear really well, no dings or dents that I've noticed so far.

We did put area rugs in each room for softness and warmth.

The baseboards did not have a gap as they must have been put in when the original floor was laid. We ended up replacing them anyway because they were kind of beat up around the bottom from being painted numerous times with the carpet installed.

[spinnymarie]

Like others said, in an old home there won't be a gap - but there will likely be some damage right at the bottom - there is a piece of trim made SPECIFICALLY for this!
It's called quarter-round, its just as it's called, a fourth of a circle, made to fit in the right angle of baseboard and floor. Inexpensive and easy to install
We've ripped up carpeting in three old homes so far, with nothing but good things to say about having it gone!

[Jack Sprat]

I think his thinking on the gap is that in our den there is a gap in one corner between the wood floor and baseboard. Its from the house settling. Our windows are well sealed so I don't think it will be that cold.

Anyway, I read him everything posted here. AND he is still holding firm.

I won't give up. I may just do it one of these days.