The Carpet Conundrum, Part 1

Apartments, condos, and homes across the country feature carpeting as their primary flooring system, even though we all know the major downfalls of carpet. Consider this, when you watch your favorite home buying or renovation reality show, do you ever hear someone requesting carpet? Seems doubtful, as everyone understands carpet to be a cheap, short-term flooring option. While there are a couple of benefits to the fluffy flooring, many of those are stained by carpet’s major flaws (pun intended). Today we’ll look at carpets major flaw: marketability.

CARPET DOES YOU NO FAVORS

While carpet may seem like a good idea (situationally), it isn’t. Carpet decreases the valuation, sellability, rentability, and even overall impressions made by your home.  Here are the main ways in which carpet decreases the marketability of your space far beyond the cost savings it may provide initially:

CARPETING IS UGLY.

If, somehow, your carpet isn’t ugly: worry not, it will be soon. Whether from easily gained wear and tear or from how quickly “trendy” carpeting becomes a total gut job for future owners, all carpet inevitably becomes ugly. Even new carpet cheapens the space in comparison to other flooring types, simply because anyone in the spaces can envision what it will become. Floors make up a sixth of your home’s viewable surfaces, can you really afford to let them be ugly?

CARPETING IS TEMPORARY.

No carpeting was ever installed as a long-term solution for flooring, it just simply doesn’t last well enough. Consider that there are homes in the country using hardwood and floor tiles that are well over a century old, and ask yourself if any carpet could hope for that kind of life. Because carpet has the shortest installed life of all flooring types, you should consider it to cost two to three times more, simply because of the impending replacements that will need to be made.

CARPETING IS GROSS.

Carpeting is essentially like lining your flooring with a glued-down sponge. Everything that is ever spilled, dropped, rubbed, or otherwise made to contact your carpet leaves its mark. Parents used to tour homes, doting upon a carpet’s ability to allow safe playtime for children, but no longer; we now understand that carpeting holds germs, allergens, and contaminants that make us sick. Buying a house with carpeting is like inheriting your previous owner’s dust and grime – Gross.

SAVE A BUCK, INSTALL FLOOR TILES INSTEAD

This may seem odd to hear, but floor tiles are a far more economical solution than carpet. While you may pay a bit more upfront, you’ll immediately enjoy added value, durable flooring, and incredible longevity. Whether you plan on staying in your home for only long enough to let paint dry or for the foreseeable future, head into Transworld Tile, San Fernando’s premier tile provider. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff will work with your tastes and budget to find a tile floor solution for your home that is far from gross, ugly, or temporary.

Also, be sure to check out Part 2 of our Carpet Conundrum series!