Flooring - Louisville,KY

E., I know you are worried about cost, but I swear the second you pull up that carpet and see what is underneath, you will not want to lay down more. EVEN in the bedrooms.

since you have dogs, stay away from pressed hardwoods and bamboo. They get scratched easily by the doggy claws. Laminate is a great option as is a real hard wood (oak or maple). But even these will get a little beat up from the claws.

Hard surfaces are easy to clean and for the bedroom, just get a nice area rug that can be sent out for cleaning once a year.

We have ONE dog, two kids and had carpet only in the bedrooms. When we ripped it up I gagged and it was only 7 years old. We put it down NEW. Literally. NEVER again.

good luck with your decision, but I cannot emphasize enough - hard surfaces are the way to go here.

Edit to add: the new tiles that look like hard wood are amazing. they are ceramic (?) but look like wood flooring! My sister put them in her bathroom and it looks wonderful. They are not too expensive, easy to clean and won't scratch!

E.:

I love my hardwoods!!! Can't imagine having anything else!!! So easy to clean!! Easy on allergies....

We have two rooms in our home that have carpeting...we are looking at putting hardwood in them and new laminate or ceramic tile in our kitchen.

I don't know why your husband would NOT like hardwoods in bedrooms...they make decorating, moving furniture, etc. much easier!! No mold issues. No holding in allergens...

To put hardwoods in the rooms is $5K - not laminates - but 3/4" thick hardwoods...to put carpeting - $2K (yes, I got a quote for thicker padding and an upgraded carpet). However, in re-sale value? Hardwoods will bring you more money, last longer and you won't have to replace them before you sell like you would carpeting...

Good luck!

We removed carpet from our formal area and replaced it with hardwoods. We spent some bucks on top quality, nailed down, hand stained, hard woods. It was worth every penny.

The rest of our lower level, except 2 bedrooms is a heavy duty 16x16 tile in the kitchen and the other areas which is entry, foyer and hallways are a nice 18x18 travertine tile.

We love the tile and the hardwoods. Both are easy to keep clean.

We plan to replace carpeted stairs and the upstairs 3 bedrooms, library and game room with hard woods. For our master bedroom and extra bedroom downstairs, we'll go with travertine tile.

Yes, we spent a lot of money but both are easy to care for and I hate carpet. It was worth it.

We have laminate. I've been really happy with it. We have 2 large dogs, and it's been good with them. We didn't get hard wood, because we were afraid they would scratch it up. Our laminate is really high quality, and looks like wood. I would do it again, yes. I HATE having a house full of carpet with the dogs. Spills are a breeze to clean up. We have tile in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room. I like the tile as well. (We do have some rugs in the house. I hate vacuuming and cleaning them, but we wanted a few plush surfaces.)

I have seriously messed up feet from playing soccer so many years. The hard floors do not bother my feet, at all. If I stood in one place all day on them, they might. Not just normal walking, though. I never wear shoes.

We put laminate in our kitchen about 6 years ago. It is very durable and cleans easily. I went with laminate for the cost factor and the durability since we have two active boys who drop their sporting equipment on the kitchen floor and two dogs. I have been happy with how it has stood up to all of that. However, it doesn't do well with water. Our old dishwasher (since replaced) leaked and all of the laminate underneath it warped and had to be replaced. Laminate is also VERY slippery when wet. To clean it I vacuum frequently and mop periodically either using a steam mop (uses little water and you avoid the wet factor) or just vinegar and water with a microfiber mop. I've found other cleaners can leave a sticky residue.

I've always been a carpet in the bedrooms kind of person. Might be just personal preference and might be growing up and living in a cold climate. However, we have allergies in the family and I know something other than carpet in the bedrooms would be good for the allergies.

In our NY house, we had engineered hardwood throughout the house. We LOVED it- very easy to maintain and beautiful! You can use area rugs to soften the feel in the bedrooms.

In our current house (FL), we have tile in the living areas and laminate (wood) in the bedrooms. The tile is great here b/c it's hot and the tile keeps the house cooler. When we are ready to redo the flooring, we will likely put hardwoods throughout.

Yes, they are expensive but you don't have to pay to have them professionally cleaned every year. Not only that, they do not retain smell or dirt. If something spills, you wipe it up. If something (or someone) has an "accident", you clean it up!

My parents own a floor covering business in FL and honestly there are some beautiful wool blend carpets out there that I would love to have in our bedrooms, but with two young children and two cats... NO WAY! Maybe when they are all out of the house...

Go to a private retailer (not a big box store) and see what they can do. Yes, I'm partial to the private retailer but I assure you that their salespeople will actually work with you and your budget to achieve what you are looking for. They may also be willing to work with you on financing (without having to open a credit card). I know that my parents have allowed people to go on a payment plan over the years, especially if the flooring that makes sense for their family is slightly out of their range.

There are so many types of flooring options.
Hardwood
Carpet or carpet tiles
tile
cork
laminates like "Pergo."
vinyl tiles
bamboo
Vinyl planks (which we have and love and it is waterproof and looks like real wood and is easy to clean)
Many of the vinyl tiles or planks, nowadays, are very good quality and look like real ceramic tile or like real wood.

Then, you need to think about your budget and what you can or cannot afford.
Carpet tiles are easier to replace, for example.
And there is residential or commercial grade, flooring products.
Vinyl planks, for example, are even used in commercial establishments. And can handle high traffic. And easy to clean.

The main level of our house was hard wood when we bought it. Love it. A few years ago we took the carpet out of the lower level and replaced it with laminate. The laminate is great and was a lot less expensive than hard wood.

I tore out all the carpeting and put in laminate. About the only thing I would have done different was I would have put carpet in our bedroom. Sorry but my kids sneak food when they are younger and their carpet would be destroyed.

Still at this point, which is seven years later, the laminate is as perfect as the day I put it in so if I want to cut out the bedroom area and put down carpet all I need is the threshold piece. The other nice thing is I will take it out myself so I will have tons of extra pieces if we ever have damage to the rest of the house.

Our kitchen and bathrooms have ceramic tile, laminate does not do well in wet areas.

We have hardwood and love it. It is distressed hickory which is a very hard wood. I have 2 children ages 3 and 5 and had an older golden retriever when we put it in. It can take a beating and still looks great. It is about 8 years old and looks brand new. We are building a new house and hardwood floors is something I would not compromise on. It looks clean ever when it's not and is easy to cleaning up. Good luck with your search.

I have wood floors in two bedrooms and carpet in the third. What is the reason for your husbands objection? I like the softness of a rug and have that in the all the bedrooms because I put down an area rug in the other bedrooms. It's a large rug in one but just a bedside rug in the other. For me that's the best of both worlds.

I plan to tear out the carpet in my house because it's easier to keep the floors clean. It already has hardwood floors under the wall to wall. Area rugs can be taken to be cleaned at regular intervals and can be rolled up for messy activities. One of my friends has a solstice party every December during which we all stand and hold burning candles. She rolls up the rug so that it isn't damaged by wax.

We removed the carpet in our first house (in the main living areas only) and put in porcelain tile. It was beautiful. 18" squares.

In our current home, we just started out with tile (limestone) everywhere except the bedrooms and had them put carpeting in the bedrooms.

Overall, I think the limestone is prettier (because every tile is different), but the porcelain was certainly more durable.
I still prefer carpet in the bedrooms. You could put anything you want and then just add rugs if you don't like hard floors. Personally, I like to have that carpet padding under the carpet when I throw down my yoga mat to exercise. The hard stuff is really hard, and hard on your feet if you like to walk around barefoot. Hard wood is less hard on your feet (but subject to scratching with dogs nails and kids toys).