[transformed]

Carpet or Tile?

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If I have to hear the clunk of one of my little ones falling on my *all* tile floors, I am going to go crazy. But then again, carpet isnt a picnic either.

Is regular carpet toxic? (Unless you are willing to spend TONS of extra money on something "eco friendly?" which my dh doesnt fit into that boat)

Are there eco friendly and accesible options that are similar in cost?

I dont even know what carpet costs-it may not be in our budget anyways....I have to call some places.

My 21 month old has had a few thunks this week. Nothing ending up in major injury but with another on the way, I just know someone is going to break something at some point. We have lived here for 2 years and so far, nothing major....just lots and lots of THUDS.

Would you install carpet? Or is a little broken bone better than the chemicals in carpet....not to mention the dust that gets trapped in there!

What a horrible thing to say...."A little broken bone,"

Seriously....wwyd?

 

[veggiemomma]

Ugghh...no carpet for us. Too gross. AND toxic and smelly and filthy (even if you keep it shampooed, it's still disgusting) We just installed hardwood flooring in our house. The kids do fall down a lot because of the slickness of the wood. They have never been injured on our floor, even though they fall down several times a day.

 

[loriforeman]

i absolutely love the feel of carpet...i adore it, really.

however, one of my kiddos has severe allergies...and her allergy doc tells me that carpet greatly exascerbates the issue. allergens are trapped in carpet...

 

[transformed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by veggiemomma Ugghh...no carpet for us. Too gross. AND toxic and smelly and filthy (even if you keep it shampooed, it's still disgusting) We just installed hardwood flooring in our house. The kids do fall down a lot because of the slickness of the wood. They have never been injured on our floor, even though they fall down several times a day.

Yeah, when I let dd run around naked she inevitably pees and then slips on it.

and SCREAMS because she is a shreiker.

She did get a massive bloody nose/mouth the other day when she tripped over something and hit her face on the tile. No major damage but I was a basket case.

Jenny

 

[Katheda]

We have all tile and I HATE HATE HATE it. SERIOUSLY HATE IT

new carpet is very toxic unless you get it from a good source and spend lots of money on it. We have wool area rugs and that has helped a lot but it doesn't cover all the floor and the kids still manage to hurt themselves. There are other flooring options though, look into natural linoleum or cork which is much softer to land on although might still be expensive. or just stick with some quality wool area rugs.

http://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/P...esttimeout=100

 

[notneb]

What about area rugs for the places in your house your DC most often run/climb/play/fall? It would be a less expensive option - you would need less carpet and wouldn't need to install it, and if one of your kids starts to have allergy problems or you decided that carpet was too gross, you could easily go back to the tile. Maybe with the smaller amt of carpeting, you could go with an eco friendly option.

 

[hipmummy]

We have yucky carpeting and we do have it shampooed but ds has peed and pooped on it too many times to count. We only have particle board underneath and with me being a SAHM it is not going to get replaced anytime soon. If I could replace it I would go with cork. There are all of sorts of do it yourself kits. And cork is a happy medium. Its eco friendly,soft, sound absorbing and looks pretty good.

 

[cristeen]

Walk into a carpet store sometime... last time I walked into one I had a headache and was nauseous within 20 minutes from all the nasty chemicals.

For some eco-friendly flooring options, look here. The linoleum is beautiful, nothing like the vinyl flooring so many of us grew up with. The wool carpets are luscious, I plan on putting one in the back room when we remodel it (the only room in the house with carpeting).

 

[transformed]

cork is awesome! I also love marmolium (sp?)

Our tile was a "DIY" project of the guy who lived here before and he actually tiled over other tile so I am not evenn sure how we would cover it-mabye pull it up? LOL

Dh and I have been

for 2 years about it.

We have a totally "inspection concern" house. But the inspector that did it didnt mention anything! SOOOOOO many DIY projects that were done half-assed.

I think we'll reccomend him to buyers when we sell.

Alot of our concern is resale value too-tile is popular here but this tile is UGLY! 16" white shiny with blackish/purple grout.

 

[Sustainer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by transformed Is regular carpet toxic?

Yup.

I would never buy or install conventional carpet.

 

[momto l&a]

Tile or wood

 

[transformed]

Whats my cheapest (not ugly) option instead of carpet? I think I am off the carpet bandwagon. I have felt oddly blessed by my ugly tile floors since I moved in....even though i hate them. I guess its because its not real common (even in FL) to get to have all hard floors with NO carpet. (Allergys suck! and my kids pee all over the house and that would double suck!)

 

[redhen]

what about carpet tile/modular carpet?

We just finished a project using Flor and I love it. Interface is a very eco-friendly company... ou can even send your tiles back if you ever decide to get rid of them for recycling and they pay the return shipping. I was going to post pictures of the Flor in my entry later today.

 

[happyfrog]

how about a blend? i personally like the feeling of carpet in the living room and it helps dampen some of the sound from the surround sound theatre system we have . ..

the rest of the main level is linoleum (kitchen/dining area), back door and the entryway and playroom are both parquet wood tile. we did all the work ourselves EXCEPT the carpet laying - because I replastered all the walls down here, I did NOT want an 'oops' moment when stretching carpet. . .. so we paid for installation.

upstairs is all solid wood floors - i painted them dark blue as i don't have time/energy/oomph to sand them all down at this time (or finances, either) to bring them back to their gorgeous oak beauty that's hiding under who knows how many coats of paint. . ..

As for spills - both human and food/drink, it's not bad to clean up at all and the kids don't seem to be wounded too badly, although we DO put those sticky socks on them so they don't slide as much - old navy socks rock for this! (they even have sizes on the bottom which is great when you've got 2 kids wearing similar style but different sized socks. . .)

it's going to come down to a personal decision.

me i have seasonal allergies and was always encouraged to NOT have carpeting so this is my compromise. We also vented the house with industrial fans after the carpet was installed and had it professionally steam cleaned multiple times (first time with cleaner, the last 6 times with just water) to get as much 'stuff' out as possible. Now the carpet is 6 years old and still looks good (I think, lol - w/regular cleanings).

It's just nice on one's feet to have that plush feeling.

We tried having area rugs - I spent a small fortune on tons of rugs for the entry way (it's 12x12 room) and playroom - similar sized but the kids and cats just didn't play well with the rugs. the cats kept puking on them (bad idea to have cream colored parts on the rugs - THAT'S the spot they'd puke on every time! sigh) and the kids would roll up the rugs and put toys under it and well, it just didn't work. so i freecycled all the rugs and someday, when the cats are dead and the kids are older, i'm going to buy more rugs. . . until then, the floors are VERY easy to clean and maintain - jsut a bucket of hot water with a splash of vinegar and they're sparkly clean - the linoleum to the wood parquet. . ..

 

[Caneel]

When we replaced our 1st floor floor coverings, it was actually cheaper for us to replace existing carpeting with real hardwood floors.

My husband saved on labor by ripping out the old carpet and prepping the floors himself. Professional installed, locally grown hardwood cost us just under $7 per square foot.

 

[artemis33]

Quote:

Originally Posted by transformed We have a totally "inspection concern" house. But the inspector that did it didnt mention anything! SOOOOOO many DIY projects that were done half-assed. I think we'll reccomend him to buyers when we sell.

Have to laugh because we have the same issue with our house. I swear the previous owners were not very into upkeep and the DIY projects leave us

: UGH!!!!!! I *love* your idea of suggesting the same inspector to the next owners

:

I loathe carpet. DH and I keep having this discussion about what to put in our basement if we stay here long enough to remodel it. He insists we need carpet, but I'd prefer just about anything else and then want to put area rugs down for warmth and safety. Hearing the PP's talk of kids and cats though makes me wonder if that will work.... (my cats also manage to always puke on the rug in the LR instead of the hardwood

: ).

Sorry I am not much help for deciding what to do, but I thought I'd commiserate a little!

 

[kristinc]

We were faced with the same decision when we bought our house. There was carpet in all of the bedrooms, hall, LR, DR & family room. We have 2 dogs and my husband has terrible allergies so we pulled all of the carpet up. Two of the bedrooms had carpet from the early 80's still and seeing the disgusting stuff that cam oof of that when we pulled it up convinced me that I would never have carpet again. We went with laminate flooring everwhere that we removed carpet. The price was reasonable, it looks absolutely beautiful and it cleans up so well. Laminate is def softer than tile and it gives so much more feeling to the room

 

[UUMom]

Honestly, carpet squicks me out. You really cannot wash it well naturally, and it holds stink great.

Ease of cleaning without toxic cleansers is paramount. We have hardwoods, but we have friends with tile, and they put down small cotton area rugs where they need to and throw in wash as needed.