They just seem really difficult to live with.
How do you clean it if you spill food or drink in it? What if your pet poos on it? Isn’t it also super common to walk inside ones home with shoes on in the States?
If that would happen on a matress you can just take it outside to clean it or throw it away (if the stain won’t leave). Aren’t you just stuck with it if that happens to a carpeted floor?
What do you do if you don’t like the color of it anymore?
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You can clean and vacuum carpets. Only barbarians wear shoes in the house, you take them off at the door.
>Isn’t it also super common to walk inside ones home with shoes on in the States?
TV isn’t real life. Read the FAQ
While there is no uniform housing, I would say most homes aren’t mostly carpeted. My apartment only has carpet in the bedroom. The house I grew up in only has carpet in the living room and bedrooms (on the upper floor). Family room, hallway. kitchen, and basement no carpet.
There been a big trend away from carpet in recent years. The majority of new construction and remodels I’ve worked on have gone away from carpet.
It’s not that big a deal. There are carpet cleaning machines you can use when carpets get stained, or hire a service to do the cleaning for you.
If you’re assuming that Americans wear shoes in the house because of what you’ve seen in media, be aware that there are many of us who take our shoes off at the door and wear socks and/or house shoes when walking throughout the house. Some Americans do wear shoes in the house, but not all of us.
If you don’t like the color, you can change it or get rid of the carpet altogether. Not everyone even has carpeted floors.
Many cultures use rugs over hard floors.
It’s cold in much of the US much of the year. Carpet is warmer than tile or wood. Carpet is also great for sound absorption.
We use a vacuum for regular cleaning. To deep clean them we own or rent a carpet shampooing machine. There are also commercial carpet cleaning services.
Since most of us don’t wear shoes in our homes, we don’t drag that much dirt in.
They’re not as popular as they were a generation or two ago. Now most people prefer hardwood, laminate, or vinyl in main living areas. Bathrooms and kitchens are almost never carpeted. It’s primarily used in bedrooms, basements, and second floors.
Most people who have carpet choose a neutral color. Changing it is far easier than changing out hardwood floors or tiles, but it’s a semi-permanent solution, not something you change regularly….maybe a 7-10 year thing.
My 90 year old home has oak floors that have been sanded and refinished more than once by the past owner and are now too thin to be refinished again. Carpeting the floors, except the kitchen and bathroom, was a better choice than new wood floors(and cheaper). Warm floors on barefoot feet in the winter is excellent
If a stain gets on the carpet you clean it. My apartment unfortunately is mostly carpet, and we have a cleaning solution for minor stains that works well. And for more major stains we have a small carpet shampooer.
Many Americans don’t wear shoes in the house. If it’s mostly carpeted, it’s likely the owner will prefer you take them off.
And after a while (I believe 5-10 years), you’re supposed to replace your carpet. Yes that requires moving all the furniture out (one reason why I personally do not like carpet).
In all honesty I think carpeted floors reached the height if their popularity in the 80’s. Less and less people prefer a fully carpeted house. They may have carpets in the bedrooms and that’s it.
Cost and lack of options can be factors.
For s long time, your options were mostly hardwood (expensive and prone to damage) or wall to wall carpet (cheaper, could be cleaned/replaced) or linoleum (cheap, looks and feels cheap, hard to keep clean).
My neighborhood is made up of homes that are 50-100 years old. Most homes were constructed with hardwood floors. If you see wall to wall carpets, it usually means the hardwood became damaged and it was cheaper to put carpet on top than it was to restore the wood.
Now that there are numerous options for homes, wall to wall carpet is becoming less fashionable. If I go into a newly constructed home, the flooring is usually a synthetic wood that looks nice but I’d easy to maintain.
And, lol, people DO take wall to wall out and toss it. A house by me was cited for leaving a roll of pulled-up carpet in the backyard (discarded carpet attracts rats, it has to be hauled to the dump).
I have a carpet shampoo machine. I also vacuum daily. I shampoo about twice a year or if a bad mess like you described happens. We also can rent shampoo machines. They are pretty common
Carpet is much more comfortable to walk on and does a much better job at dampening sounds. I prefer tile in rooms that are more likely to have a mess (bathroom, kitchen, entryway) but in most room I prefer carpet.
You clean carpets if you spill stuff on them.
IF you decide you don’t like it anymore, you replace it.
Better sound dampening, more comfortable to walk on barefoot, *vastly* less annoying when cold.
Carpeting isn’t as common as it used to be, and is often confined to places like bedrooms now.
It’s nice in bedrooms. We don’t really eat in the rooms that have carpet in them.
I prefer wood floors. Carpeted floors are warmer though. Carpet is one of the cheapest floor coverings.
I have carpet only on the second floor where the bedrooms are, so there’s no food or anything getting spilled. I find vacuuming easier than sweeping and mopping. My family does take our shoes off in the house, but it wasn’t something my family did growing up. It really depends on the region and culture.
Wall to wall carpeting isn’t as common anymore. It used to be installed practically everywhere that wasn’t either the kitchen or wet areas, like bathrooms. But I don’t remember the last time I was in a house that had wall to wall carpeting. Although apartments around here typically have carpet. They usually have tile in the entry, kitchen and baths. But the person renting really doesn’t have a choice.
Seeing carpet in the bedrooms, or none at all is more common now.
Don’t know abut anyone else, but my parents grew up poor and in the North. They had cold noisy floors, and when they managed to do a little better financially, one of the first investments they made was carpet. To them, this was warmth and noise abatement and most importantly, it signified that they had disposable income. Wallpaper instead of bare wooden walls or simply painted drywall was another big thing for them. Curtains as well got thicker and plusher and longer as their income improved. It was all just decor to me, but it really meant something big to my parents, who had grown up in literal shacks.
If liquid was spilled, we would blot the carpet dry with a towel and use spot removal treatments. If food was spilled, we cleaned it up and used spot removal treatment if necessary.
Not everyone wears shoes indoors, and even when people do, they often have doormats both inside and out, so unless you’ve really slogged through some mud, you can wipe your feet before entering the house, and then wipe them again once indoors. We have paved patios, driveways, sidewalks, all sorts! so it isn’t like a dinner guest will be tracking actual cow shit into your spotless domicile.
I never knew anyone that allowed untrained animals to crap on their carpet. Does it happen? indeed, especially with puppies! – and again, you blot it dry and use spot removal.
Carpet can be removed and replaced. Room size rugs can be rotated to lengthen their useful lifespan. Throw rugs can be tossed into the washer.
Foot feel nice on funny carpet
In my grandmother’s case, she had thick carpeting to soften the blow if she fell.
My grandparents have them so when they fall, they don’t break bones. My 86 year old grandmother with dementia bounces off that floor like a WWF wrestling mat
I’m convinced Apartments and Rental homes all use White carpet because they make a profit from charging people to replace them when they inevitably become even slightly dirty.
>They just seem really difficult to live with.
They really aren’t. It’s just different.
The nice thing about carpet is how soft and nice it feels on your feet after a long hard day. Most of my house is Hardwood and slate tile but the bedrooms and living room are carpet. It’s like you are walking on pillows (if you have good quality carpet and pads, not cheap stuff).
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>How do you clean it if you spill food or drink in it? What if your pet poos on it?
Cleaning it is pretty easy. There are tons of products to clean carpets both for home owners and professionals.
Also, how are you spilling stuff on the floor so often? I’m 39 and the number of times I’ve spilled something on the carpet or had to clean a stain off the carpet is very low. Of course it probably helps that I don’t have kids.
I do have a dog and have had a dog for most of my life. With proper training, they don’t go in the house. Even when they are house training, if they go in the house it’s your fault because you did it wrong.
Take the dog outside preemptively, don’t wait until they are looking for a place to go. For every week they are old, add 15 minutes and take them out at that interval. So for a 12 week old puppy take them outside every 180 minutes (3 hours).
Also take them after they have food or water or run around and play hard.
It’s hard work, but every dog I’ve ever had has been house trained very quickly with that system.
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>Isn’t it also super common to walk inside ones home with shoes on in the States?
I’d say it’s 50/50. It really depends on the specific home owner. Keep in mind though that most people who wear shoes inside typically have a pair of slippers or house shoes that they wear inside. I fall into this category. I always wear shoes in my house, but they are house shoes that never leave the house.
I don’t make guests take off their shoes when they come over, but I know some people who do.
I dunno man, dirty carpets just aren’t really a problem. I’ve got a roomba that vacuums every day.
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>If that would happen on a matress you can just take it outside to clean it or throw it away (if the stain won’t leave). Aren’t you just stuck with it if that happens to a carpeted floor?
If there is a stain that you can’t get out, most people would rent a carpet cleaner. It’s kind of like a vacuum cleaner except it also uses water and soap.
If that fails, a pro can steam clean your carpets.
If that fails or in the case of a really worn out high traffic section you can just “patch it” with matching carpet. If you can’t find matching carpet taking it from an area like a closet you won’t notice is also an option. Typically though unless you buy some really unique carpet you can find something close enough if you can’t get the exact carpet.
[Example of carpet patching.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2yNil4qbKM)
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>What do you do if you don’t like the color of it anymore?
You just take it up and install new carpet.
This question is the weirdest of all as it’s the same answer if you don’t like a tile floor anymore. It’s also easier than sanding and refinishing a hardwood floor.
I can’t imagine living in a house without carpet. The entire house doesn’t need it and I’d never want carpet in the kitchen, laundry room, store rooms, and bathrooms, but everywhere else, I want it. I like to lay on the floor though and when my son and I are playing, we’re always on the floor. Having something other than carpeting seems uncomfortable.
I loathe hardwood floors too. They look really nice but they’re an absolute maintenance nightmare, plus they’re expensive to refinish. With carpet, I just run the vacuum over it twice a week and it’s clean.
We just clean it up immediately and we have carpet stain removers. Also older homes don’t have carpets, they started to become common maybe in the 1950s. I have noticed homes from that decade and younger will have carpets. Also wooden floors wear out and then you need to sand them and repolish them. Meanwhile carpets wear out too and then you need to replace it.
I barely wear pants in my house, much less shoes.