Carpet or not?

We have hard floors in the hall, kitchen, part of the dining room used as a music room/seating area and of course the cloakroom and bathrooms. The sitting room, dining area of dining room, landings and bedrooms are carpeted. Carpets provide insulation and cut down on noise as well as being much nicer to walk on. I can't see that hard floors harbour less dust and dirt than carpets. Both need cleaning. We do have a Vax wet and dry cleaner as well as vacuum cleaners.

We've got a tiled floor in the kitchen, then laminate flooring in lounge/diner and 2 bedrooms. The only carpet is on stairs, landing and main bedroom. We did that 20 years ago, when one son was found to have an allergy to dust mites.

If by carpets you mean fitted carpets, I would get rid of them, unless the floor is very cold.

It is far easier to keep a bedroom free of dust and germs if the entire floor can be washed at regular intervals.

If the floor underneath your carpets is too ugly for you to want to look at it, the click-fitting laminate is easy to lay.

If you want a couple of rugs, fine, but do make sure that they cannot slip under you, causing falls, or turn up at the edges - another trip hazard.

If your husband insists on carpets, then he hoovers them. Tell him so now, and see how fast he either changes his mind or buys a robot vacuum!

We have wood floors throughout our home, for the 'cozy' we have big wool rugs (Pakistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan). Warm on our feet.

I have sealed cork floor tiles - easy to clean, warm underfoot and don't echo. Fine in any room. Whether they would work might depend on the style/age of your home (mine's 1930s).

I have vinyl that looks and has the texture of wood. With three children and cats it’s been so easy to clean. I can hoover or mop it. It’s been very hard wearing I’ve had it 10/11 years and it still looks as new. I’ve dropped sharp knives into it, dragged furniture across it and not a mark. Drop red wine- no staining etc, plus it’s great for allergies and asthma. I would never have another carpet. It’s not cold underfoot either.

Our newly renovated flat now has wooden flooring everywhere except for tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen. At the moment we don't even have rugs out, though we will get round to it eventually.

Our last house was already fitted with expensive cream carpet on the stairs (five flights!) and in the spare rooms when we bought it. We actually bought a carpet cleaner and my husband cleaned the stairs up to twice a year, the spare rooms annually I have to say that this treatment meant that they still looked pristine when we moved 15 years later, except for the odd moth nibble under floor lamps or heavy furniture.
However wooden floors so much easier to clean when they are properly sealed and water-proofed.
A quick whizz round with a rechargable vacuum and a swish along the skirtings is all that is required, whereas for carpets you need a "proper" vacuum with high suction. We occasionally mop with a wooden floor solution, but it hardly ever needs doing.

Carpets are cosier. We have wooden floors and rugs in the dining area , sitting areas and stone floor in the kitchen and utilitiy areas. We had a lovely carpet fitted in our bedroom last year and a big rug made to go under the dining table at the same time. They feel calmer and more civilised. Our children used to lie on the floor at our last house where we had carpets and they were much younger. I know hard floors are probably harder to keep clean but they are noisier to live with. Our children have hard floors in their own houses now but I notice my grandchildren more often than not choose to sit on the big rug in front of the log burner in their own house. If I could start from scratch, apart from bathrooms and kitchens I would have carpet everywhere and a cleaning lady twice a week like we did in our old house to hoover the carpets. I worked from an office at home when the children were growing up. The thing that kept us all sane was having someone to do the cleaning and the ironing.

This:
^ Legislation limiting the maximum power of the things mean they don't suck properly^
is not actually true pen50

"Less powerful vacuum cleaners will not work as well”
So the logic goes, reducing the power of a vacuum cleaner makes it less efficient at cleaning, requiring more effort on the part of long-suffering Brits. However, consumer champions Which? have found that there is no link between a reduction in power and the cleaning performance of a vacuum cleaner:

“We have tested thousands of vacuum cleaners over the years and found that more power doesn’t necessarily mean better cleaning. While it is too early to say what the impact of new regulations will be, we have tested vacuum cleaners with 900W motors that do a better job of dust-busting than vacuum cleaners with motors two or three times the size.”

On top of this, Which? note that following the first round of vacuum-based legislation in 2014, the amount of electricity used per carpet vacuum fell by 40%, while the average carpet dust pick-up during a vacuum rose from 72% to 77%.

Yammy
"The other odd thing I have noticed is a lot of dark blue fluff in the upstairs bedroom with no fitted carpet and bathrooms, I often wonder if it is some sort of filler or insulator that is escaping even into the wardrobes".

This is weird isn't it, we also have dark fluff that collects in corners and behind the bath. We have no idea where it comes from as we don't have carpets or much in the way of heavy curtains that might shed. In the bedroom I can identify that some of the fluff is goosedown, but there is still the dark blue/grey fluff there too. I'd really love to know where it comes from, we had it in our last house too, where all the carpet was pale.

My mother-in-law has this vaccuum cleaner:
www.miele.co.uk/e/cylinder-vacuum-cleaner-classic-c1-flex-sbaf5-lotus-white-12029920-p

It is the cheapest Miele and was on offer at £130 last year. It's only 800w but is so powerful I'd hesitate to use it in my house as it would suck up all our rugs etc, never mind any dirt! It was suggested by her cleaner.

I wouldn't want cold hard floors in a bedroom at all. We stupidly replaced an old carpet with sanded floors in a previous house (very much against my instincts) and regretted it almost immediately.

FWIW I once was a pub cleaner, maybe it doesn't compare with a house, but still. When the ancient, stained and very expensive carpet needed to be replaced (by the bar - probably the worst area) the boss chose a pale wooden type flooring which didn't even match the dark colour of the bar. He couldn't have made a worse choice. It became pitted and stained within weeks. The previous carpet (which had lasted decades) only needed to be vacuumed but this idiotic floor had to be swept clean and then mopped - two jobs. The cleaners were not impressed.

Years ago we had cork flooring in a room and it was perfect - warm underfoot, quiet and easy to clean (was lightly varnished). Might be worth a look. Also there are lots of carpets with dirt repelling treatments now.

I have carpets except for the bathroom and kitchen. I dont like hard wood floors or cushion flooring. I don't feel its homely. Yes they do get dirty but I dont have many people coming in and out of my house and only me and the cat live here. I've just replaced my living room carpet the old one was at least 15 years old and we only cleaned it about 3 times in that time. My late DH and I always wore slippers in the house but we didn't ask people to take their shoes off when they visited. My DDs (3) all have hardwood floors downstairs but carpet upstairs.

Carpet, but were I to move into a place with the described insulated flooring laid downstairs would be very happy.

No pet. Crumbs et al? What I can't see....Hoovered fortnightly.

No pet. Crumbs et al?
The downside in having no pets is that dogs are good hoover uppers of crumbs.

Ref Karma lady Quick step and insulation is great. Had put down in last house after carpet moths got busy.
Now moved but same set up here. Quickstep( or similar) downstairs and carpet upstairs except bathrooms.

I am pleased that I have carpet everywhere apart from kitchen and bathroom. I have walking difficulties because of arthritis and have a fear of falling. Have to use a trolley all the time.
When I see the make overs of houses on TV I think they look very cold and uncomfortable.

We live in a one storey, and have hard flooring throughout, apart from the guest bedrooms. We have a runner in the hallway, and a square rug in the living room. I wouldn’t have it any other way as we have two dogs, and hard floors are so much easier to keep clean.

Laminate on all bedrooms here. I don’t find them noisy. Originally we got them to suit family members who have asthma, as they could be damp mopped. We have tiles and wood downstairs, with carpeted stairs, landing and small tv room.

I am all for wooden floors. People think your feet would be cold getting out of bed but they aren’t because my slippers are ready just where I left them before getting into bed. I can’t believe how much fluff/ dust accumulates in one week and I live alone. They aren’t noisy because I wear indoor shoes/ sandals or slippers.

Carpets are best for bedrooms but need to be professionally cleaned every 12 to 18 months! If they are still in good condition then get them cleaned rather than replace.

OP, you hate hoovering? Do you imagine hard floors don’t get dusty and dirty? They still need vacuuming.

I've lived in Singapore, Germany, Sweden and Portugal, and travelled widely abroad. The UK seems to be the exception as regards wall to wall fitted carpets. It's a personal choice, but I quite like them from the point of view of both warmth and comfort under the feet, plus the insulation which can be achieved via thick, thermal underlay. No carpet in bathroom, toilet, kitchen or conservatory room, though, for practical reasons.

Think it's because of our climate. So often rather cool and damp.
Prefer wall to wall carpets and softer when one falls.
But then my DH is a carpet salesman.