If you want LVP, you must get it all purchased, even if not installed, as over time it certainly could be discontinued. Same with most pre finished hardwoods

If you do a sand on site floor in white or red oak, you can always add to that.

All of the above are better than carpet. Area rugs as wanted and needed in kids room and yours too. ........: )

Bare feet in closets, traffic in and out of the bath, ? It's almost impossible to keep ANY carpet looking great after five years. Cleaning it yearly, along with very frequent vaccuming helps . It just gets gross over time. And bare feet are the ultimate destroyer. Foot oils and settling dust ( most of it your own skin ) equals .......yup.

Wondering why you started a new thread ??? As to the room with the pet problem, remnant stores can have pieces large enough to simply lay a CUT/ BOUND remnant rug nearly edge to edge. Until you can do whichever to the entire second floor. Going to have to pick your poison as to which is best LONG term. You could even lay a sand on site floor in there, and simply WAIT to stain and finish. Get an inexpensive area rug with that option too.

In the humidity of your climate, the LVP is probably the very best option, and remember........you can buy, store and install in stages with good planning.

You've been through so much. I would just go to a carpet store and look for something to replace the carpet in the girls' bedroom only. Look for an easy care one that will last five years. Maybe they will have a sale on pink! Deal with the rest when time and budget permit.

I would carpet on a floor that is all bedrooms. The wear factor is much less in those rooms and you will find carpet in bedrooms lasts easily twice what a first floor living room does. Of course it all depends on how you live. We don't wear shoes in the house..so for sure the dirt "tracked" that wears carpet fibers will be rare upstairs. We don't allow food in bedrooms so spills and stains are minimized. If you have no pets..I am just not seeing the issue about carpet not being "clean". Ours certainly is but then I vacuum often. The other issue with upstairs and flooring other than carpet is noise. The footfalls/dropped toys etc noises will all travel through harder surfaces. Acoustics is important to me. Having said that we have LVP in our kitchen and dining areas and LOVE IT. Not a fan of solid wood floors--the "petina" of the wear and tear I am not a fan of. The LVP looks as new and fresh as the day we installed it, and we have a gravel driveway so I am sweeping non stop even with our "no shoes" rule. We purchased our home 21 years ago. The carpet was all brand new. The living area flooring was all replaced five years ago. The bedrooms not--that carpet is maybe not as good as new but far from needing replacement. We had three small children when we moved in and have had two dogs over the years.

"Wear "on a carpet is far different than grunge. Grunge ( ask any carpet installer or cleaner ) is the result of BARE feet. Perspiration, oils on your skin, and dust in the air which settles.......equals traffic grunge walked on, and GROUND IN. No different than a golden retriever lying at the side of your bed nightly. Expect a grungy , oily, ground in area from that. Your bare feet are the same. The only answer is clean socks and slippers, and twice weekly suction vacuuming. No food and drink on the second floor

Kids have accidents.........

The long tern answer is..... it is a PAIN. For ninety percent of homeowners. Because they do not do as above.

A unified hard surface allows VARYING area rugs by room, allowing for changes to decor as kids grow up, and easy reversal in direction for wear as well.

following

I loathe wall to wall carpets but maybe I am in the minority. I find that you have to deal with offgassing while new and then built up dust and dirt as they get old. And they are esp. disgusting if you ever get pets, or your kids are still young, potty training, sickness etc.

I also loathe wall to wall carpet and no matter how careful you are they get gross there is no way to suck all that yuck out even with the best vacuum. I do agree though if you are planning on doing all the floors eventually you need to purchase all the flooring now to avoid discontinuation later. There are many very affordable vinyl planks on the market and can be used quite successfully in bedrooms and upper hallways . As for noise get some nice area rugs I would look at Ruggables for the kids rooms .

We have a second home with LVP throughout the entire place except for one tiled bathroom floor. I highly recommended it. It is very easy to care for looks nice. I have nice area rugs in many of the rooms.

I was SO happy to get rid of carpet!

If the underfloor is wood plank, you could possibly just paint it and get a rug or carpet to cover a lot of it.

We recently bought a condo and tore out all the bedroom floor carpet and hallway tile and replaced with LVP. When I was interviewing contractors I asked all of them if they thought I should do something better for flooring (hardwoods were out because of budget restrictions), and they all unanimously agreed that LVP plus area rugs was the best choice. We have a one year old and a 12 year old dog, so as you can imagine carpet would get very gross very fast...

Look at the ruggable site, they can be wash in a washing machine plus you also have the option for the rubber tiles that fit together. They are removable and children don't get hurt on them. You can view some of the types on this page. https://www.amazon.com/Sorbus-Interlocking-Floor-Print-Grain/dp/B0746NH828/ref=sr_1_45?dchild=1&hvadid=78134110658096&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&hvqmt=b&keywords=kids+flooring+for+playroom&qid=1573674128&sr=8-45

Follow your budget. Get the carpet for now. Save and plan for a change in 5 or more years. You just purchased this home according to your OP. You have very young children that are sharing the room. Go with carpeting for now.

Since budget is an issue, I would do whatever is the least $$ for the girl's room for now, with a plan to replace with one product throughout all the rooms on that floor later. Carpeting or possibly paint with a poly rug that can be hosed off or Ruggables. Must say though that I had wool rugs in the kiddoes rooms and that worked out fine.

One dismantling of that girls room , one tear up of the tack strip and carpet?

Youll never go edge to edge again. That's the once and never repeat for most :)

For now? A single room? Go get the biggest cheap remnant you can find and get it installed .

Just get some new carpet. Why does everyone on this forum seem to use LVP? I mean it's just plastic and this decades' linoleum. Nothing like a little off gassing from cheap plastic products from China

FYI the better LVP brands are FloorScore certified, so off gassing-wise it's basically the same situation as with carpet - you buy the cheap stuff you get VOCs, you do your research and pay a bit more and you don't have any added smell and potential health hazards (hopefully). LVP is also a much more practical choice than carpet for families with children and pets, hence its popularity. And finally, not to get too nerdy, but the product we chose is a stone plastic composite consisting of 80% limestone and 20% plasticizers, so not all LVP is "just plastic".

I have all hard floors with kids...it’s nice in some ways, but just be prepared that you’ll have to spend extra money on large area rugs and thick pads so your kids can play on the floor. Even a nice rug with a thick pad will not be as soft to play on as carpet though. Tufted area rugs have glue and chemicals in them just like carpet, and are very hard to clean. What you really want as far as cleanliness are handwoven wool rugs. Handwoven wool can be washed and cleaned very thoroughly because it doesn’t have the glue backing.

If it were me, I’d be tempted to get carpet in the bedrooms. Just don’t allow food or drinks in there with the exception of water...you’d have to do the same with area rugs anyways. Good carpeting can last a long time, and with a hepa filter vacuum you can get it pretty clean. I have allergies and asthma, and I feel much better in my parents house than my own. They have thick carpeting in all the bedrooms, it’s 10 year old carpet too, but they have a newer HVAC system than I do. I have all hard floors with some rugs here and there, but a 20 year old HVAC, and my allergies are horrible in my house. I actually go to their house to sleep sometimes to get a break from my allergies lol.

I’m with your husband, carpet and a new vacuum stored up there. It’s not going to be a problem to remove it in a few years if you want to.

Kids don’t need carpet to play. Get carpet if you want, but it’s crazy to think you Need it for life.

Hello all- we have decided to get new carpet in the bedrooms. Another valid point my husband made was about the kids falling a lot on the hardwoods and wood steps. I myself almost took a dive last week. We will keep saving and in 3-4 years when we have a nice savings we will redo the entire third floor. For now.. New carpet and vacuum seem to have won. It's pretty bad in all the rooms :( my husband seems pretty excited and I am just... looking for ward the children not being pilled up.

I can't win them all.

you are doing great......nothing wrong with carpet in the bedrooms. It is my husbands preferred bedroom flooring also. He grew up in a centuries old house with freezing hardwood floors and hated it. And remember it's not about winning or losing - life is a compromise.

Buy a $100 carpet cleaner and after the first time you use it and see how black the water is you will never go a month without quickly giving your carpets quick wash. Vac's do not get all the dirt out.

Problem with carpet is nobody warranties against matting ad that is what makes a carpet look worn. A trick a carpet guy gave me is to use an actual fork and roughly go back and fourth on areas that get matted.

Carpet will be fine for a few years. And if it turns into longer, it can be cleaned and cleaned again. You might see if the budget will extend to a Roomba. If not, a new vacuum kept upstairs (no lugging up and down stairs) will make it much easier to vacuum. Pick one you actually like using and can imagine teaching your kids to use, not a heavy, noisy monster they can't use easily.

Plot twist-

Our youngest child has been struggling with allergies. Yesterday, her Dr suggested it is most likely the carpet. This is a new issue as our last space had carpet but she never struggled to this point. The children currently sleep in a triple bunk bed and she sleeps closest to floor. We had a few estimates done to replace carpet for upstairs bedrooms (3) all came out to over $1000. (One company flat out told us the carpet was newer but poor quality, not properly cared for & he could tell pets were an issue.) We ended up deciding on Waterproof laminate Flooring from a local flooring liquidation store. We will be using it on the entire third floor. We were able to secure a medium grade wood look with underlayment. We also purchased underlayment to help with noise reduction. I kiltzed/treated the subfloor and it has been airing out. We purchased a open box floor cutter and spent a total of $498 for the Entire floor . and supplies. (My husbands military discount really helped) We plan to install ourselves. I know it's not many people's first choice but, it seems to be the best financial option for us at this time. I will attach photos of the flooring. Instead of sulking I am thrilled our children will have clean flooring and am looking into some reasonable area rugs. We are using some of the money we saved on flooring to head start our upstairs flooring fund & a portion to buy the kids warm area rugs & bedroom shoes. :)

Thank you all for your valuable feedback, my husband now asks me lol “What did your internet friends say?”

It wasn’t your first choice either! But it makes sense for your family and budget at this point in time. Lucky your husband has DIY skills. You are whipping this house into shape.

That carpet sounds like it was from the flip, so the pet problem must have been the immediate past owners.

Looking forward to seeing the completed flooring. I think it makes a lot of sense and you have a wonderful attitude @hartcm08!

Allergies, kiddo's health trumps all. Renovation is a hassle and stirs up A LOT of dust and what not. Hope it all goes well for everyone.

I love my lvp floor. I have area rugs where o want them, my child can play on a rug or on a hard floor depending on what he’s doing, it’s easy to clean, friends with allergies have fewer problems when they visit. I HATED trying to keep carpet clean.

It's been three years since this thread was started. Just wondering how the laminate flooring held up and if you are happy with it. If so, what type is is? Thank you.

@kendog2 - Luxury Vinyl Tile is NOT the same as laminate.

Hello Kendog. Ive been very happy with our decision. The laminate flooring looks great and is very easy maintanance. It can be loud but my son plays basketball in his room. Honestly with three kids under 10 its always loud.😅 We always get lots of compliments on it as well. I simply change area rugs as needed. Photo of flooring. I ended up changing out rug to a larger rug and changinging the room around after this.

Thank you for your update. Your son’s room looks fabulous!! Both the floor AND the fun decor. Good job!