MANimal

I have carpet and tile downstairs. The carpet is in the foyer, front room, living room, and office. The tile is in the kitchen/dining room, entrance, downstairs bathroom, and around the fireplace.


I want to replace the carpet with tile, but I have some questions. Should I try to match the tile that's there already? I think that would look really bad if the tile isn't an exact perfect match.

If I go with a different color tile, should it be the same texture? Should it be the same size? I don't know how long I'll live here, so it's important that whatever I do has a pretty universal appeal, in case I try to sell this place in 4 years.

Also, what about a medallion? I think those are cool, and it would be awesome in the foyer.

Nestor_Kelebay

One of the advantages of a carpet is that it can be replaced much more easily than tile.

I agree that trying to match the tile is a risky proposition. Being "close" is gonna look worse than being completely off. And, I think that ceramic tile isn't as appropriate a flooring in a living room as carpet. In the living room you want to be free to relax, and to a kid, that means laying on the floor and watching TV. A carpet is more comfortable to walk on, and to lay on.

Personally, I think that if you had tile everywhere, you'd lose a lot of "universal appeal". About the only place you see tile everywhere is in commercial buildings like shopping centers where they need that degree of durability. I'd bet you'd have a harder time selling a house with new tile everywhere than the house you got.

leeza09

I too agree matching your tile with carpet is a risky one. as nestor said we can change the carpet easily rather than the tiles.
mostly commercial buildings will have tiles. also you are saying you will not live here for long so dont take much risk. either select tile which will go will all type of carpets.

MANimal

I just hate carpet. Especially since I have dogs.

What about wood?

Nestor_Kelebay

Manimal:
People often make important decisions without having enough knowledge to ensure they're making a good decision.

Can you tell me why mixing dogs and carpets is a problem? Is it because if a dog has an "accident" on a carpet, it's harder to clean up than on a hard surface floor?

(My sister has hardwood flooring in her house, and she has 4 dogs. Her hardwood in certain places is all scratched up from the dog's claws.)

MANimal

That's part of it. Mostly it's just my general dislike of carpets. My dog is mostly house-broken, but I think whoever had this house before let a whole pack of dogs use this carpet as a toilet cuz it STINKS.

Nestor_Kelebay

Manimal:

If the carpet stinks, then you should replace it.

You should be aware that the urine from all mammals will fluoresce under ultraviolet light, and janitorial service companies use UV lights made especially for this purpose to find old animal urine stains and clean them.

Bane-Clene® Ultra-Violet Black Light Pet Urine Detector

But, if your old carpet has all kinds of old urine stains, you might be best off to replace it.

In my opinion, the very best kind of carpet you can buy is a commercial solution dyed nylon carpet. "Solution dyed" means that the carpet gets it's colour from tiny coloured particles (called "pigments") added to the molten nylon before it's drawn into a fiber. So, the coloured particles are suspended inside the fiber very much like the raisins in raisin bread.

Nylon is the strongest fiber used to make carpet from. Over 80 percent of the commercial carpet made is made from nylon fiber. And, almost all commercial carpet is level loop because of the natural resiliency of a loop of fiber. So, nylon level loop carpets are the longest wearing carpets you can buy.

And, because solution dyed nylon level loop carpet gets it's colour from pigments encased in the nylon plastic, you can use bleach straight out of the jug on such a carpet without concern that you'll harm the carpet. That's because there will be a film of nylon plastic between the bleach and the source of the colour. So, you can use bleach straight out of the jug to remove otherwise impossible stains from solutoin dyed nylon carpets without harming the carpet.

I own a small apartment block, and I install level loop solution dyed nylon carpets in my apartments. If you're interested, go to any carpet retailer and ask to see their solution dyed nylon carpets. I install Shaw "Franchise" in the "Starry Night" (colour #10405).

Any 100% Olefin carpet will also be solution dyed and therefore immune to bleach as well, but Olefin isn't as strong a fiber and just won't last as long as nylon.

PS: The "experts" at carpet stores will tell you that you're crazy to use bleach on any carpet. Nod your head and pretend to agree. Then, pay $2 for one of those door mat size carpet samples made of either solution dyed nylon or any 100% Olefin carpet, take it home and torture it with bleach. You'll find that the bleach won't harm it. I've tossed out lots of carpets that have been badly cigarette burned or stained or otherwise damaged, but I've never seen bleach harm either one of the two kinds of carpets mentioned, and I've never thrown out a carpet because it was damaged by bleach.