Disclosure: Some of the links in the article below may be affiliate links. This means that I may earn a small commission if you click on them and make a purchase.
Carpet is among one of the most popular floor coverings. Many people choose to put this throughout their entire house often, with the exception of the kitchen. While this type of flooring can be good for bedrooms, it’s often been a mystery to me why anyone would choose to install this throughout the main common areas of their house. It tends to wear and tear and become nasty over time. Yet, people still cling to this type of flooring over and over again.
Carpet is a cost-effective way to add great-looking flooring to a home. It can provide more comfort than a cold tile or hardwood might provide. Carpet is safer and easier for children and pets to play on and can easily be cleaned, giving many years of durability.
While many people, including me, are not big fans of carpet, there are times when it does come in handy. Having hardwood flooring throughout most of my home, I watch my dog slip and slide all over the floor when she gets into a running spell throughout the house. This is often dangerous and can result in injuries if not careful.
Besides this, her toenails have made marks on the floor over time and this wouldn’t have happened with carpet.
A hardwood floor provides no cushion for children to fall on. This poses and dangerous situation in these cases. However, there are ways around it in which you can strategically place area rugs and runners on the floor in key areas to help cushion falls and make the floor less slippery.
Advantages of Carpet in a House
It Provides a Sturdy Place to Walk
Carpet offers a bit of traction under the feet. You can run around and not have to worry about slipping and sliding like you would on tile, hardwood, or laminate. As mentioned before, this is especially important when children and pets are involved.
It’s easy to get hurt on a hard floor covering if you fall and carpet can help give a soft place to land. As mentioned earlier, my dog has a hard time staying upright when running around the house on the hardwood flooring. She loves to run into a carpeted bedroom while in a playful mood since she has more traction to run on.
It’s Comfortable
It provides a padded flooring. The carpet itself serves to soften a fall and underneath the carpet is padding that makes the flooring much softer and safer for those who fall on it. While you might hurt yourself falling on hardwood flooring, falling on a carpeted floor will likely not do any damage.
A padded flooring like this is much more comfortable to walk around on and feels great under the feet. It can be warm and comforting in the wintertime when other hard floorings might be cold and make the whole house feel colder.
Provides Insulation Value
Carpet provides an additional layer of insulation to your home flooring. While the R-value isn’t high, it does offer some additional insulation. This can be noticed quite a bit in the wintertime especially if you have different flooring types in your home. The carpeted rooms may feel warmer with all those tiny little fibers working to keep the room at a more comfortable temperature.
Besides the room itself maintaining a warmer temperature, your feed won’t get so cold when walking on it.
It Softens Sounds and Echos
Carpeted rooms absorb sound waves better so when you are talking, you don’t sound like such an echo in the room. Since the carpet is soaking up more of the sound waves, it provides a noise cushion and can help deaden sounds so that others won’t hear you.
It’s a Cost-Effective Floor Covering
Speaking in terms of professional installation, having carpet installed is going to be one of the cheapest ways to add a floor covering. With an average cost of $2 – $4 / sq ft, you are looking at less than the traditional $6 – $12 / sq ft hardwood flooring cost.
| Flooring Type | Cost Per Square Foot |
|---|---|
| Tile | $10 – 20 |
| Hardwood | $6 – $12 |
| Vinyl Plank | $4 – $6 |
| Vinyl Sheet | $2 – $4 |
| Carpet | $2 – $4 |
This makes carpet a great solution in areas where cost is a concern. However, with that low cost comes some disadvantages which we’ll look at further below.
Disadvantages
It Gets Dirty Easily
Carpet can get disgusting over time as stains, spills, dirt, and grime from feet and shoes get caked into the carpet. While I still don’t understand why people walk on carpet with shoes on, they do it! The carpet can become a filthy mess over time. While it can be cleaned, some stains often remain and it’s difficult to keep the carpet looking brand-new over time.
One of the easiest ways to keep your carpet clean is to leave your shoes at the door. Rather than bringing dirt and grime into the fibers of your carpet, you can create a cleaner environment throughout your home. You won’t have to clean the carpet nearly as often by doing this.
No matter how careful you are, carpet is bound to get dirty. Spills will happen, mud and dirt will get tracked in the house, and dust will settle into the fibers. It’s impossible to keep any floor clean at all times but carpet adds an extra layer of difficulty since it has fibers that catch and hold onto everything that falls onto it.
It Doesn’t Have the Longevity of Other Floorings
Over time, carpet becomes trampled down, dirty, and stained. It can get to a point in which there is no more cleaning that can be done. The carpet will be beyond cleaning and it will be time to replace it. You may notice that walking over the same areas over time will wear out faster than other areas. These can sometimes be rejuvenated with a carpet cleaning machine but it is usually short-lived.
On average, you can expect to get about 10 good years out of your carpet. This number will vary depending on how well you treat it and how much traffic it regularly receives. It may also depend on how much you actually care about having a nice-looking floor.
It Doesn’t Look as Good as Other Floor Coverings
This is subjective and some people might like the look of carpet but many would agree that other floor coverings have a better look. Hardwood flooring, engineered wood flooring, and ceramic tile are often the choice for those who care for looks and style. Carpet may be used in areas that don’t get seen by visitors as often such as bedrooms and closets.
In those areas where others can see, a more stylish flooring may be a better choice.
Children Can’t Drive Rolling Toys Around as Easy
If your child has a toy car, scooter, or something else they ride around on in the house, carpet will make it difficult. These toys won’t roll as well on the friction created by the carpet. Additionally, if your child does ride around and play on the carpet, it will make it wear out much quicker.
Vinyl flooring or tile is a great choice for making sure your child can zip around the house on their rolling toys. A wood floor may not be the best idea for rolling toys since it can become scratched and damaged quite easily.
Carpet also makes it difficult for wheelchairs and mobility scooters to maneuver around.
Summary
People use carpet mainly because it is a cost-effective way to cover the floor that can provide a comfortable feel under your feet. It can serve as a cushion for your children and pets who may appreciate the traction under the feet over the slippery feel of a different type of floor covering.
Carpet can make a home seem cozier. Even floors that are covered with a hard floor covering are often covered in area rugs to simulate this coziness. Carpet is a popular floor covering that serves a purpose and will continue to find its way into homes as one of the primary floor covering types.
