What to do about the carpet

Ok, the carpet in the lounge and hall to the laundry is driving me nuts. It is so stained, crusty and just blah. It was not too bad when we moved in, it was oldish, vacuumed but you could tell never steam cleaned. Well in about 6 months it is just so foul now with 2 kids and dog, I was keeping up with cleaning the stains, but at some stage they just got out of control, I don't even now how and when most of them happened. They just appeared overnight, like they had been hiding away waiting for the right moment.

So here is the problem. We have decided to rebuild, so any work we do on the house is only to keep it functional, but this carpet is driving me nuts. We were origanally going to reno and have polished boards put in with underfloor insulation. Here are our choices:

• We could rip up the carpet and see how the floor boards are, but then we would have draft issues unless we got under put in insulation ourselves (not cheap and a hassle).
  
• Rip up the carpet and put down vinyl. I know not nice in a lounge, but it would keep me sane, especially if I put down a nice rug with a pattern to hide any stains. We will be putting vinyl in the hall to the laundry as it seems to be a mud magnet, the plastic carpet protectors left by the previous owners should have been a warning to that.
  
• Clean the carpet and get 2 large patterned rugs to cover up any stains that don't come out.

I would try to clean the carpet and see how it comes up and then assess from there.

Go the vinyl! I have the most fantastic vinyl floor in my kitchen, it looks like cork flooring - and is soft & warm like a good cork floor - but with the durability of the vinyl. We also put some vinyl near the front door - basically because we needed a piece of carpet to repair another spot - it doesn't have the same fabulous underlay, but it's a slate-look vinyl and it looks great, catches all the dirt that would otherwise get trekked onto the lounge room carpet. I kwym about not being ideal for the lounge, but in the grand scheme of things, this is a temporary arrangement, isn't it?

We were in the same situation a while back. We were going to get the floor boards sanded but when we pulled the carpet up it was a no go. Instead we put down a floating floor, I think what's what it's called. It looks like boards so we are really happy with it and its easy to clean. It took him a day to lay and you could walk on it as he went, well sort of, and the next day was the skirtings finishing up.
We purchased the flooring ourselves as it was cheaper.

whatever is teh cheapest and less hassle, that you can live with before you rebuild.

Are you demoloishing and rebuilding on the same property, or selling and building somewhere else? If your building on the same land then Id go whatever option is cheapest, but if you are selling then look at resale value.

We put in a floating floor in the kitchen in the old house, it was good, but I think probably too expensive for here. DH can install it himself, that is not a problem and would save us money.

Rayray - looking at building on the same site, the old house will either be demo'd or sold off to someone to take it away as a complete house.

We will clean the carpets ourselves this month just for sanity sake and look at going to some flooring show rooms to see what is the cheapest and easiest option.

I ripped up mine in disgust awhile back, and I've just got bare boards now. I banged all the nails in well and it will stay this way till I paint the walls (STILL can't find a colour). So THATS the cheapest option!

Its far better than filthy old carpet, I still can't beleive the amount of dirt/sand the kids track in each day. Glad its not trapped in carpet!

Hi, we've put down cheap vinyl that looks like floor boards in our lounge, kitchen, dining & hallway. We've only recently replaced all the carpet in the bedrooms but want to tile the rest of the house so until we can save up enough $$$ we've gone with the vinyl.

I'd get them cleaned and see how they come up first. Seems like the easiest/cheapest option. If they're still no good, I'd go the vinyl considering it's only temporary. You can get stuff that looks like floorboards and looks pretty decent.

Clean them and chuck some rugs on top! Atleast if you buy some rugs you love the look of, it will make you feel good :D

i HATE CARPET.....we have floorboards throughout...except girls bedrooms.
We had carpet in our hallway, it always looked dirty to me, we ripped it up in December and got the floorboards polished....with a hallway runner it looks divine now...i actually feel proud of that part of the house, not disgusted.
Dont be too harsh on vinyl....;)they're are some great designs out at the moment, often vinyl costs more than tiles, theres many looks to choose from....but yer......ditch the carpet.....:)

Well, DH decided that we should rip up a section of carpet to see what was underneath. Surprisingly it is nice looking tongue and groove floorboards, so they should not be drafty and DH said we good fill any gaps as we a not after a pristine look, just functional.

So looks as though the carpet will come up and I will get a nice rug or two for the area. DH is going to use it as an experiment to see about waxing the boards rather than the normal polishing.

Still need to decide whether it is worth still giving the carpet a quick once over so it is not so annoying till we get it all done.

Thanks for all the input. :D

If waxing be careful as you can slip if it's too highly waxed. Also be careful you don't get a build up on the edges as that can look dirty.
My mum used to wax our lino floors when we were kids, great for sliding down the passage in socks so the kids will love it. :lol: