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Flooring — carpet or other?

Not a DIY guy so I will be getting help for the install.

Currently have carpet in all rooms and tile everywhere else. Carpet now 7.5 years old and showing age.

Should I replace with carpet, engineered wood, or LVP (luxury vinyl plank)? I don’t like the idea of an area rug.

I’m in northern CA very hot and dry summer.

I’ve lived with carpet so know what that is like but keep hearing LVP is the way to go. When I go to the store I don’t like how it looks. With wood I don’t like that it has to be glued to the floor.

Budget for material and install is not a concern but prefer low maintenance.

Any thoughts?

(Tried to add a poll but couldn’t find a way to do it. Does it not work for mobile?)
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
Pros and cons. Not all of course, but some.
Carpet hides a multitude of sins, from dirt to subfloor problems. It's probably the easiest replacement.
But it's ability to hide dirt makes it unpleasant for me and for my wife who has allergies to everything.
Wood is good value to buyers. The wood doesn't need to be glued down. Installs I have been a part of use tongue and groove and nails. Install is not that difficult, but takes some effort on figuring the lay and transitions. The subfloor has to be good and solid.
If you have pets, wood can be hard on them, and they can be hard on the wood. Traction for dogs isn't that easy with wood, and their nails can scratch wood flooring pretty quickly. The upside is that it can be refinished.
Vinyl Plank is a very easy DIY install. Hardest part is getting expansion spacing right along walls. Most vinyl plank now has its own cushioning built in, and the floor "floats", that is - it is not attached to the subfloor but is interlocked with other planks for everything to stay put. You can get textured (which we did) to help the dogs keep traction.
With vinyl plank it's really important that your subfloor is in good solid shape, and there isn't large spacing or different heights from one section to another. Another upside to vinyl planks is that as it is interlocked, it's virtually waterproof and you don't have to worry about spills as you would with carpet or wood.
The house I'm in and the last one were wall to wall carpet (the last house had carpet in the master bathroom!).
In the last house I replaced the carpet upstairs with vinyl plank.
In the house I'm in now, we took the carpet out of all three levels. 3/4 inch Oak flooring was installed (not by me) in most areas, but I put vinyl plank in the basement, the kitchen and hallways, and in the bathrooms.
In the kitchen, hallways and bathrooms, the vinyl plank went in over the top of ceramic tile.
 
Carpet hides a multitude of sins, from dirt to subfloor problems. It's probably the easiest replacement.
This is perhaps the biggest negative that I hear for carpet.

For LVP, I am aware of all the pros and cons, but just have a really hard time with the look. Ultimately, I may cave and go for it.

FWIW, the flooring store said that several years ago it used be that customer choice was 90% carpet / 10% hard surface (tile, wood, laminate) but since the advent of LVP it's more like 50% / 50%.
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
This is perhaps the biggest negative that I hear for carpet.

For LVP, I am aware of all the pros and cons, but just have a really hard time with the look. Ultimately, I may cave and go for it.

FWIW, the flooring store said that several years ago it used be that customer choice was 90% carpet / 10% hard surface (tile, wood, laminate) but since the advent of LVP it's more like 50% / 50%.
You have to shop around the top brands, but there's some really nice looking stuff out there.
I'm not fond of the wood look in vinyl, but there's some really good stuff that looks like stone or tile that is superb.
 
Installation depends on the subfloor. Would not install wood or laminate on concrete.

LVT is more durable and tougher than laminate. But it is possible to scratch it just like wood.

We used LVT for our home when building a few years ago. Everywhere including kitchen and bathrooms. Water resistant when properly installed. LVT for the appearance, durability, and this isn't a 20 year home for us. LVT, we used Armstrong, has a 30 year warranty I believe. After that the floor likely needs replacement.

Wood if installed unfinished is preferable over pre finished. The wood can be sanded down and refinished 2 - 3 times if necessary which would last 50 - 75 years in most homes. Pre finished much of it cannot be refinished. Also water can easily get between strips of pre finished wood.

We will never have carpet in our home again. While comfortable and warmer underfoot, the chemicals in the carpet fibers and foam offgass. Also lots of crud buildup over the years.

Hope this helps you out.
 
Installation depends on the subfloor. Would not install wood or laminate on concrete.

LVT is more durable and tougher than laminate. But it is possible to scratch it just like wood.

We used LVT for our home when building a few years ago. Everywhere including kitchen and bathrooms. Water resistant when properly installed. LVT for the appearance, durability, and this isn't a 20 year home for us. LVT, we used Armstrong, has a 30 year warranty I believe. After that the floor likely needs replacement.

Wood if installed unfinished is preferable over pre finished. The wood can be sanded down and refinished 2 - 3 times if necessary which would last 50 - 75 years in most homes. Pre finished much of it cannot be refinished. Also water can easily get between strips of pre finished wood.

We will never have carpet in our home again. While comfortable and warmer underfoot, the chemicals in the carpet fibers and foam offgass. Also lots of crud buildup over the years.

Hope this helps you out.
From what I understand, off gassing with carpet is a non issue, especially in CA where there are laws around that. In fact I have heard it to be more of a concern with LVP and laminate.

Regarding leaking between the strips for engineered wood, why is that not an issue with LVP.

(I assume LVT refers to tile instead of plank but is otherwise similar?)

Also what is the concern with wood glued on concrete?
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
The new vinyl is pretty durable and waterproof, but it has been out maybe less than 10 years so no one knows how it will look on 20. It does expand and contract so installation must be done per the manufacturer’s specs for expansion joints etc. If you are having it done professionally I would encourage you to spend the extra to have them level your floors. It is a night and day difference. You don’t have to do it as the underlayment will take up some of the voids, but inevitably there will be dead spots and other little imperfections that you may feel underfoot.

Personally I like carpet in bedrooms, solid surfaces in common areas.
 

Kentos

B&B's Dr. Doolittle.
Staff member
From what I understand, off gassing with carpet is a non issue, especially in CA where there are laws around that. In fact I have heard it to be more of a concern with LVP and laminate.

Regarding leaking between the strips for engineered wood, why is that not an issue with LVP.

(I assume LVT refers to tile instead of plank but is otherwise similar?)

Also what is the concern with wood glued on concrete?

Anything other than vinyl will warp and cup when it gets wet. LVT in my area is a glue down product, vinyl planks are a floating product.
 
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FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
This 65ish year old house is about 50+% hardwood, with 75% of it covered in carpet. I'm going to have all the carpet pulled up and buy the best LVP known to man put down all over. Or tile, whichever is cheaper or better. It better outlive me.

Or I'ma gonna burn this place down and build a barndominium. Might be cheaper in the long run. Let my firefighter friends have a free training site!


Of course, it's whatever my lovely best friend wants. She's given me free reign for long enough. She ought to get one victory before we go to our reward doggone!
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
My hardwood was professionally sanded and recoated about 35 years ago. 15-20 years ago, I scuffed them and applied a top coat.

As far as daily maintenance goes, I am rough on them. They might get a sweeping, dust mop, or vacuum every two or 3 weeks.
My mom had a buffer and she would paste wax these floors in the 50's and 60's! Lol, that machine would almost throw her around she was so tiny! Thanks for the memories my friend! It probably weighed half as much as she did.
 
The problem with waxing them is it makes it difficult to scuff and coat later.

As far as wax goes, sadly Johnson paste wax was discontinued a couple of years ago. I have part of a can that I sparing use on guns stocks.
 
After seeing the discussion here, I think there is no clear winner. More like pros and cons that one has to live with.

My biggest concern with carpet is the stuff that sits in it. But of course, they are used everywhere even in hospital waiting rooms, so they can't be that bad. Carpet has a lot of pluses like sound insulation (less of a tendency for echo) and cushions the blow if you drop an object -- phone, car key fob, etc.

My biggest concerns with engineered wood are shrinking/growing, stuff falling in the cracks, and susceptibility to moisture damage and stuff falling (e.g. dropping a phone), both for the floor and the object being dropped.

My biggest concern with LVP is the looks, but I also keep hearing about issues with installation. Also suffers from the issue with dropped objects. But I am now seeing some doctors offices replace carpet with LVP.
 
We just replaced some 25 year-old nasty carpet with hardwoods (red oak). So now we have hardwoods throughout the house. Much nicer. We did have someone else install it. Depending on the price of the house, people may expect it when it is time to sell.
 

garyg

B&B membership has its percs
I'm going to follow along .. I'm way overdue. This Old House turned 50 this year, I know there's some hardwood buried under carpeting in the main area, but not sure what shape its in .. the only ones not showing their age are the bathrooms, which were tiled ten years ago.

I think maybe as Phil suggests the best choice of materials will depend on the use of the room.
 
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