trinitytx, if that happens again just spray the spots with plain Lysol Disinfectant Spray and rub with a white cloth.

The spots will disappear; you'll have no sticky residue.

This really works. A carpet salesman told me about this.

Trin,

I in the "I hate my carpet" too. I have it on the second floor, (living room and hubbys office) and upstairs throughout. I HATE it!!! I have two dogs. We installed linoleum all through the downstairs, except my pantry where we installed tile. I know it looks funny in the t.v. room, den, kitchen, hallways, laundry room and bathroom, but we----love our dogs, are not going to sell out,(most people wouldn't want linoleum throughout downstairs) we will always have dogs, and we plan on staying here. Linoleum is relatively easy to keep up, the only thing is I traded a vaccum cleaner and carpet cleaner for a sweeper, mop and bucket.

I have two dogs and two cats and will be puling up the carpet in my living room and bedrooms and replacing it with wood laminate. The kitchen and family room are laminate and it is so easy to care for.

Linda, how do you clean your laminate floors ? I have lam. in the Florida room and I have a heck of a time. The wood is sort of dark--and I really wouldn't go with that ever again. It's pretty when it's clean--until about 5 minutes after I clean it. No pets, messy DH. I see water streaks after I mop. I have a flat dry mop that has washable pads that I dry it with after I clean it but I still see streaks sometimes.

We took out the carpet several years ago (living room). We put laminate in the LR, kit and laundry. It looks like tile and has a slight texture. We just mop it. No need to be particular about it. We had wood laminate in the last kitchen and you had to use water & vinegar and a barely wet mop to avoid streaks. This is much easier.

Linda

We have laminate wood floors and I really love them. I just use a bit of white vinegar in water to clean the floors and no streaks, no nothing. They are so easy to keep clean. I use my swiffer duster on them every day though. With animals, we have to or the dust bunnies would take over. I will never have carpeting in a home again. Nasty stuff it is.

Helen

I don't have any pets and I like my carpets. I had all the carpets in my house replaced two years ago and went with a short frieze. It is so easy to care for and always looks good. It's also very comfortable underfoot and not cold in the winter.

I like tile and wood, too, but I think carpet can still have a place.

We replaced all the carpet with tile a couple years ago. We have lots of critters and I have asthma, so carpet was not a good situation for us. The tile is so much easier to care for and keep clean.

No carpeting here anymore. Livingroom and bedrooms are all hardwood. Bath is Pergo and so is the hall and entry. I really like it. Downstairs is 40 year old tile that I really don't like, very hard to keep nice, so it doesn't get kept nice. It would have to all be mopped and waxed everyweek to be kept looking as good as it could.

Sue

We have two rental units (one a small cottage and one a studio) and we have wood-look laminate in both. I would never put carpeting in a rental because it's just asking for trouble ;^) We also let our tenants have pets, so the laminate is a great choice. I told DH that when we're ready to replace the carpeting in our bedroom, laminate it will be. Of course he loves his carpeting but since I'm the one that cleans, I think he's going to lose this 'argument'.

We took out our carpeting 4 years ago and I'll never go back. I hate vacuuming. We put in laminate too and I just use water and vinegar to mop it.

Monablair, what a great suggestion! If this ever happens again I will try your solution. Would have never thought of that, although I always keep it in the house....
I do have a nice bissell carper cleaner that does a great job with minimal effort.
The dogs also rub their little "alpo" faces on the carpet after they eat, so the carpet looked bad all over.
Today, it really looks nice, but I still hate carpeting.
I too have allergies, and carpeting is a train wreck when it comes to that.
Thanks for all your advice. I will be looking at flooring here in the near future.

Trin

Thanks for the info about laminate. I have carpeting in the living room and bedrooms. I want to get rid of it and wasn't sure if it would be a good idea. My dog would be happy because he'd have more "slide".

Never use swifter on floors if you have pets...it can cause serious illness as they chemicals are picked up on their feet and then they lick them and voila...prescription for disaster. Who told me this..... my veterinarian.

We finally got rid of all our carpets this year. DH has been slowly replacing them himself over the last 3 years with solid hard wood floors. Partly because DS and I suffer from dust mites allergies and no matter how much I vacuumed, even every day, it always bothered me. And because we like the look.

I find them a lot easier to keep clean and, to me, I feel they are cleaner. I usually just run the swiffer and dry dust catching cloth once or twice a week. DH even got down on his hands and knees and washed them all with just plain water damp rag lately, then buffed dry. They look great.

I also have a dog and, even though she is short haired, she does shed so it is easier to keep that picked up as well. She also use to have allergies and now has been doing better since we got rid of the carpet.

Just my 2 cents.
Clare

That Swiffer being dangerous for pets is an Urban Myth.

Hi again Trin,

Isn't it great to bring your problems here - folks are so helpful at coming up with high class answers to our dilemmas.

And you got advice not only as to what to use instead of the allergy-aggravating/inducing carpet - you learned what to do next time you have those sooty shoe slops on the floor.

With regard to your third problem, of the dogs' less than attractive habits following partaking of their repast, I haven't seen any other suggestion, so perhaps could be forgiven for offering mine.

Granting the implausability of training the dogs to wash their mouths after dining ... how about getting a facecloth (and dyeing it if a contrasting colour would offend your artistic sensibilities), then stapling it to the floor (in an inconspicuous ... and untravelled by human feet) corner ...

... then encouraging the dogs to use that for rubbing their mouths after dinner.

Surely you can think of some useful suggestions to show how the dogs would benefit from following your recommendation, rather than using any old place on the carpet that may suit their fancy at the time.

On the other hand ... if you fasten the facecloth to the floor with safety pins, it'll make it easier to remove for occasional inclusion in a wash, possibly along with the really dirty work clothes.

I hope that you're having a fine week, otherwise.

ole joyful

Gemini - tell your Vet to check out that Urban Legend. Swiffers or Swiffer Wet Jet's are not harmful to pets.

Some people pass on (mis)information without ever checking it out. I would think a Vet would have more sense than that!

I wish I would have had this room done in ceramic tile that I did my kitchen and den in. It looks like wood, but is tile. Really super easy to keep up. But, go figure, it was discontinued within a year after I put it in.
The only down side of ceramic, is it is a bit cool on the feet, and if you drop something breakable, it smashes to bits.
This particular room is decorated in a rustic Texas theme,
but would love to turn it into a winter wonderland cabin type feel.
I might look at a cabin grade wood laminent type style.
Something new that looks old.

The carpet reminds me of a garden, and it is the weed.

Trin

I used to clean my laminate floors with vinegar and water. I now use a Swifter with the antibacterial cleaner in it. If I spill a small amount of something in the kitchen, I give it a spray of 409 and wipe it up with a paper towel.

We rent, but we purposely found a house with NO carpet, because we knew we were going to get a dog. First of all, I hate carpets anyways, I don't feel like they ever get really clean well enough so they gross me out, and I knew keeping up with them and a dog would be a nightmare.

Our whole house besides the kitchen are hardwood floors and the kitchen is linoleum. I have the Swiffer Wet Jet too but have stopped using the spray that is meant to be used with it. Even though it is supposedly pet safe, the smell is so strong and smells like chemicals to me. I can't even breathe in the house after I used it and it made me feel sick. I bought the Method Brand Floor Cleaner, which is non toxic and has a very light scent. You just squirt it right out of the bottle and I then Swiffer it up. Works great for me!

We have all hardwood floors and a bit of linoleum. I Swiffer vac the floors a lot and damp mop when I need to and we usually have thick area rugs in the main living areas, but Paisley is a bit incontinent right now and while her "bikini" does a good job, the rugs got a bit dirty so they're waiting to be pressure washed and dried and held until it's safe to bring them in again in the future.