The true cost of hardwood V Carpet

I have been asked many times what is more money long term carpet or hardwood.  It is really an unfair question because they are two very different products each with totally different benefits but here we go.

I did this over a 15 year period and based it upon carpet costs $3 sq ft and hardwood cost at $7 sq ft factoring in maintenance for carpet at .35 sq ft for cleaning and hardwood at $1 sq ft for a buff and coat and 2.5 sq ft for a full refinish.   With customers normally replacing carpet every 7-8 years recoating their floors every 7 years and refinishing every 15 years and the house being ready to sell at the end of the 15 year period.  I used 1.5 sq ft price for cheap builder grade carpet to be installed to sell the home and the area being 1000 sq ft.  

                  Hardwood    vs     Carpet

Day 1      7000                      3000

Year 1     0                               350

Year 2     0                              350

Year 3     0                              350

Year 4      0                             350

Year 5      0                             350

Year 6      0                            350 

Year 7    1000                    3000

Year 8        0                         350 

Year 9        0                         350

Year 10      0                         350

Year 11       0                         350 

Year 12      0                          350

Year 13       0                         350

Year 14     0                            350

Year 15    2500                    1500

Totals      10,500                12,050

There are different things to think of obviously the longer the period the more the hardwood will save you money.   Some people dont clean their carpets as they should and some will move every 7-10 years so why invest the money into your home.  But if I asked my financial planner what to do with the money he would tell me to fully fund my roth ira or whatever.  Its a bad investment, I dont know anyone who picks a floor based on their return on investment.  You want a floor that will last and hardwood flooring will outlast almost any carpet.  

Carpet and Pet stains

I thought of this post in a clients home who had two small dogs about 10-15 pounds each.  The carpet was destroyed from pet stains.  It was maybe 5 years old and had it not been for the pet stains it could have probably served another 5 years if properly maintained through professional steam cleaning.  There are two ways to look at this problem one going forward what can you pick and two looking backwards how to address the stains.

Pet urine is a tough stain to take care of it seeps down through the padding into the subfloor stays there and when you clean it may not come out and it will stink on hot humid days.  So lets pretend you want to keep a pet and need new carpet or you have a new home that the old owners had pets and need to replace the carpeting.  Here are some ideas on what you can do.

1) Remove the old carpet and padding.
2) Paint the existing floor with kilz or similar product, you can also use a trash bag over the old stain to add a protective layer.  This will block the old stain from reappearing in the new carpet.
3) Select a padding that blocks moisture either with a spill gaurd ( I dont like this idea) or select a closed cell pad like Napa from Leggett and Platt or tripple touch from shaw.
4) if you are keeping the dog. carpet mills recognize their clients love of animals and have different products to choose from.  Mohawk has the Sorona product with a lifetime stain warranty, Beaulieu has Bliss with magic fresh and is a solution dyed polyester, and Shaw has Solution dyed polyesters with R2X.  Anyone of these products will serve you well in keeping the stain out of the carpet.

What if you have a dog and new carpet and now you have an accident?  they do happen.

to clean a urine stain out of a polyester do this.

Blot do not rub the stain with a clean white towel
Apply a detergent made up of 1/4 teaspoon clear hand dish washing detergent 1 cup warm water use a damp cloth blot do not rub.
If stain is removed apply an ammonia solution 1 tbs to 1 cup warm water blot with towel and rinse with water, dry with dry towels weighted down.
If stain is not removed reapply the detergent let the detergent sit for 3-5 minutes and rinse.
next make a hydrogen peroxide solution with 1/2 cup of hydrogen peroxide 3% 1tsp ammonia let stand for 2-3 hours under towels and plastic wrap repeat and let dry. until removal is complete. Rinse with damp cloth and dry with towels

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