Stupid carpet rant...

[Sum Dum Gai]

So, our living room has that awful landlord carpet. You guys know the stuff, medium pile, beige, never looks good, but it's the cheapest most generic carpet in the world, so every landlord in the country covers their rentals in it. Anyway, the rest of the house is wood floor, except the bedrooms, and bathrooms. Our stupid dog tore up the carpet right where the entryway floor meets the living room. And I do mean, tore up. Like ripped a one foot wide by seven foot long strip of the carpet up, and I think ate the pad underneath.

We, mostly me, have hated that carpet since we've moved in anyway, but we weren't planning on redoing the floors anytime soon. When we did redo the floors we wanted to tear the carpet out, and the mosaic wood floor, and replace the whole thing with wood or bamboo plank flooring.

So, now we're trying to decide if we should just replace the carpet, even though neither of us like the carpeted living room, or go ahead and redo all the floors, even though we haven't really saved up for it.

What do you guys think? Oh, and does anyone know if I should worry about the dog since all the carpet padding is gone? She seems fine, and it's been over a week. Stupid dog.

[Deleted]

Not sure I understand ... is the mosaic wood floor under the ripped carpet? If so I'd rip out the carpet and live with the mosaic wood floor until I could replace it with something I like better.

I would prefer the mosaic wood floor to carpet, I hate carpet too. But I'm not quite sure that's an option.

[thyme4change]

Carpet is really cheap. Also fast and easy. You can walk into most carpet stores today, and you will probably get it installed and have your dog chewing it up by dinner on Monday. And, if you put in a lower quality carpet, you can have a short time-frame (a couple of years) until you will need to pull it up and do your floors anyway. That is the YM answer - the most economical answer.

That said, I have found that when you really want something done to your house, it is best to do it, and do it right the first time. Otherwise, you will pay twice when you only needed to pay once. Wood floors through your whole house are going to cost you big time. So, if you don't have the money - carpet.

[Deleted]

If you use your savings to redo the floors do you have a plan on how you will replace the money in the long run?

Since this is a house you guys will be in for the next 10 years at least (till your youngest leaves for college right) I would vote just do it now as long as you have a plan on how to replenish your savings.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Not sure I understand ... is the mosaic wood floor under the ripped carpet?

No, most of the house is the mosaic wood floor. For whatever stupid reason they put that through all the hallways, the kitchen, the dining room, and the entry way, but put carpet in the living room. They aren't like separate rooms though. It's a big open floor plan.

[thyme4change]

Could you just do wood flooring and a transition in the living room, and then save up and do the rest of the floors later?

[Sum Dum Gai]

Could you just do wood flooring and a transition in the living room, and then save up and do the rest of the floors later?

Hmm... I like it. How worried would we have to be that the wood floor in the living room won't match the wood floor in the rest of the house if we buy it later? Oh, we're looking at getting pre-finished wood floor, not bare wood.

[Deleted]

So there is no mosaic wooden floor under the carpet, got it.

In that case I would get estimates for getting that room and maybe the adjacent room (don't know exactly how your house is laid out) done the way you want it, because as Thyme says, if you don't do what you want you end up paying twice.

This said I'd buy from a regular store so that you can be pretty sure the model would be continued for later when you want to do more of the same flooring.

[Deleted]

I see that Thyme said basically the same thing I did.

In my experience (because we have had to change laminate flooring a couple of times because of flooding until we finally found somebody to redo a certain problematic gutter) models (?) are continued for 3-5 years.

If I went for that option, and you have storage space (a garage? Basement?) I'd try to stock up on the same item whenever it went on sale. Remember you'll need extra.

IME it doesn't matter if wooden flooring doesn't come from the same dye lot(?) as long as it's the same flooring.

[Angel!]

May 17, 2012 16:54:01 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

Oh, and does anyone know if I should worry about the dog since all the carpet padding is gone? She seems fine, and it's been over a week. Stupid dog.

You wait a week to wonder if the dog is ok? I think if the dog didn't die yet, she is fine.

Oh, you could take something my parents did - duct tape the carpet back together. We lived with duct tape covering the holes on the stairs for years. Slightly embarrassing to bring company to what is otherwise a pretty nice house in a good neighborhood only to have duct taped floors.

Although I guess I shouldn't consider my carpet that bad, at least it doesn't require duct tape

[rovo]

Where does it say the floors have to match? Often a different type/shade of wood flooring is used to differentiate the rooms/areas. How about posting a picture of the mosaic floor.

[Sum Dum Gai]

If you use your savings to redo the floors do you have a plan on how you will replace the money in the long run?

Same plan I always have; get up everyday and go to work while trying to spend less than I make.

[Deleted]

Where does it say the floors have to match?

Floors don't HAVE to match, but in an open-plan space, it is generally more harmonious when you have the same flooring.

[Sum Dum Gai]

You wait a week to wonder if the dog is ok? I think if the dog didn't die yet, she is fine.

No... not exactly. I wondered then too, but she seemed ok.

[Tiny]

How worried would we have to be that the wood floor in the living room won't match the wood floor in the rest of the house if we buy it later? Oh, we're looking at getting pre-finished wood floor, not bare wood.

I don't think you need to worry too much... it's just like having a transition from a carpeted room to a vinyl/tile floor. The other thing is you'll probably have a similar stain on all the floors. In other words you'll coordinate the color of the floors - so even tho they may not match exactly they still go together.

FWIW: no matter what you do with the wood floors - you'll probably always 'see' the problems. No one else will see the problems - only you. the trick is to never mention the problems and to not dwell on them.

Believe me, most people are clueless as to what's underfoot (unless it looks really dirty and nasty or has obvious damage).

[Deleted]

Also, Dark, installing wooden floors is VERY messy (because of dust). So you won't want to do it in 10 different phases. On the other hand doing everything at the same time would be VERY expensive, and it would be really hard to live in the house. I would plan to do it in two or three phases.

[thyme4change]

How worried would we have to be that the wood floor in the living room won't match the wood floor in the rest of the house if we buy it later?

You could have someone design a border or transition piece that is a different stain, and then if it doesn't match exactly, there will be a distraction.

[Sum Dum Gai]

How about posting a picture of the mosaic floor.

This isn't a picture of our actual floors, but they look just like this.


Each of the squares is probably six inches.

[Deleted]

I think if you buy the same product, you won't see the difference in the stain, especially after a year of sunlight / moonlight.

[Tiny]

What do you mean by 'mosiac wood' floors? Parquet? Are you thinking of ripping out the 'mosaic' floor or just sanding, restaining, and sealing it? If you go the refinish route (which may be less expensive than replacing) is there some sort of stain option that would hide the original color variations?

I like the look of Parquet floors - you can dress them up or down.

[Deleted]

That's exactly what I thought you meant, it's called "Marie Noelle" here.

Do you guys hate it? Because it would definitely be cheaper to put that flooring in the carpeted area than to redo the entire house in planks.

But if you can't stand it, no point.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Parquet! Thank you. I knew I was using the wrong word, but couldn't think of what it was actually called.

[thyme4change]

Dark - those are called Parquet floors. I actually really like them, but they are dated, and right now the cool thing to do is hate them. If I were you, which I'm not, I would keep them. I'm betting they will be back in style in about 5 years or so, and you will have this retro-hip original floor going on - for FREE! But, I'm weird because I live in a historic district and I'm trying to preserve certain things from housing history. Most people just don't see the value in it.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Other question ... do you guys hate it?

Hate's a pretty strong word, but it wouldn't be one of our top 5 choices. I'll take it over landlord carpet any day, though.

Are you thinking of ripping out the 'mosaic' floor or just sanding, restaining, and sealing it?

Ripping it out.

[Tiny]

May 17, 2012 17:16:09 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

How about posting a picture of the mosaic floor.

This isn't a picture of our actual floors, but they look just like this.


Each of the squares is probably six inches.

That's parquet. How old is it? in other words is it really wood or some sort of wood laminate?
My brother's got beautiful hardwood parquet floors in his 70's era house. A friend had the equivalent of 'peel and stick' wood parquet floors in her 70's era house. Needless to say the cheap stuff got ripped out. Two different 'spend levels' I guess.
Might want to take that into consideration as well.

[swamp]

I think parquet floors are gorgeous.

[thyme4change]

This is the wood floor I want to put in. Of course, I could only sell my house to someone with a sense of humor - but, I think they are frickin' awesome!

www.trendir.com/archives/001049.html

[Tiny]

I'm with the others who would leave the parquet floors - if it's a good quality floor... they are 'dated' right now but it's a style that comes around fairly often (you won't have to wait 100 years...)

I like wood floor in just about any style.

[Sum Dum Gai]

I personally like the strand woven bamboo. Like this;

[swamp]

May 17, 2012 17:23:41 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

This is the wood floor I want to put in. Of course, I could only sell my house to someone with a sense of humor - but, I think they are frickin' awesome!

www.trendir.com/archives/001049.html

Had I known that was available when we were redoing the house, I would have put that in. It would go with the dining utensil cabinet handles we have on the kitchen cabinets.