AimeeM Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 The house we put a contract in on, and every other house we looked at, have carpeting almost everywhere. Currently, we live in a home with NO carpet - all hardwoods. I really LOVE hardwoods. If the contract proceeds as planned (pretty please!), then we'll replace the carpet with hardwoods - gradually... but it's a huge house (over 4500 square feet, when we're used to our current 1500 square feet) and I've never really cleaned carpets. I can sweep and mop all floors in my current house in about 30 minutes (for a quick once over every night)... but even when I move all furniture and REALLY get in there mopping every little corner... it still doesn't take a ton of time. So, what is your favorite vacuum cleaner (it's be lovely if it was easy to lug up and down stairs, please!)? Any tips on making the carpets remain nice for a while? If you have any other "going from small to big" cleaning tips for me, I'd be grateful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Do you have the option of adding a central vac system? I have a love/hate relationship with ours. I hate fighting with the hose (it seems to be a living thing sometimes!), but it really does a much better job than any upright/canister vacuum I've ever had. And with a large house it's very handy to just hook up the hose where needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 You need a good upright vacuum cleaner, one that has a beater bar (if it comes with attachments so you can do furniture and whatnot, and bare floors like kitchens and bathrooms, that's a plus). I have an Electrolux upright which I love. You should vacuum at least weekly. Probably you should vacuum more than that, but it won't look as if you need to, so you won't. But you should. You know all the dust you could see on your hardwood floors? It's there on your carpet, too. With a good upright, you can probably do it as quickly as you could when you were dustmopping the hardwood. You should have protectors on all the legs of chairs and tables. They're different from the ones that you use for hardwoods. I use Woolite carpet cleaner for spot cleaning. Yes, you will need to spot-clean. I have 1500 sq. ft. of hardwood downstairs, that much carpet upstairs. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 The Shark series of vacuums seems to be pretty good, esp. for the price. If possible, get a vacuum for each level of the house so that you don't have to lug it up and down the steps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 The house we put a contract in on, and every other house we looked at, have carpeting almost everywhere. Currently, we live in a home with NO carpet - all hardwoods. I really LOVE hardwoods. If the contract proceeds as planned (pretty please!), then we'll replace the carpet with hardwoods - gradually... but it's a huge house (over 4500 square feet, when we're used to our current 1500 square feet) and I've never really cleaned carpets. I can sweep and mop all floors in my current house in about 30 minutes (for a quick once over every night)... but even when I move all furniture and REALLY get in there mopping every little corner... it still doesn't take a ton of time. So, what is your favorite vacuum cleaner (it's be lovely if it was easy to lug up and down stairs, please!)? Any tips on making the carpets remain nice for a while? If you have any other "going from small to big" cleaning tips for me, I'd be grateful. Is there ANY WAY you can swing getting the floors done before you move in?? I kick myself for not whipping out the credit card and getting the floors done before we moved into this house. It will be a million times harder now that we live in it and have all our stuff here. My advice--replace NOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Find out the material so you know what you need to do to burn it. LOL Kidding. I do not miss carpet. Most of our rentals had carpet. I had a Dyson Animal and a Dirt Devil steam cleaner. One way to keep it cleaner is no shoes in the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I hate not wearing shoes in the house, but they do say that no shoes in the house is key for a clean carpet. I don't follow the rule and have a dirty carpet. If I could do it over again, I'd have indoor shoes and outdoor shoes. You just don't want to bring the outdoor stuff into the house, that's all. Maybe we'd have outdoor shoes and slippers or something. I think that sweaty bare feet is also bad for carpets, so at least socks if not indoor shoes/slippers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 If there is carpet in the bathroom(s) of the house, your first step should be to rip it out and replace with either tile or linoleum. Carpet in bathrooms is close to the top of my list of imbecilic decorating decisions. Have fun with the first toilet or bathtub overflow. [grrrrr !] We have gone barefoot inside the house for the entire lives of our children. Congratulations on finding a home that you like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 The house we put a contract in on, and every other house we looked at, have carpeting almost everywhere. Currently, we live in a home with NO carpet - all hardwoods. I really LOVE hardwoods. If the contract proceeds as planned (pretty please!), then we'll replace the carpet with hardwoods - gradually... but it's a huge house (over 4500 square feet, when we're used to our current 1500 square feet) and I've never really cleaned carpets. I can sweep and mop all floors in my current house in about 30 minutes (for a quick once over every night)... but even when I move all furniture and REALLY get in there mopping every little corner... it still doesn't take a ton of time. So, what is your favorite vacuum cleaner (it's be lovely if it was easy to lug up and down stairs, please!)? Any tips on making the carpets remain nice for a while? If you have any other "going from small to big" cleaning tips for me, I'd be grateful. 1.)Is the house you are planning to purchase new construction? I seem to remember that was the direction you were looking and that construction was still in process. If that is the case then I would strongly encourage you to plan to just put in hardwood floors now and not bother with the carpet. Decent carpet for 4500 feet worth of space will not be cheap so why spend the money just to rip it all out later? 2.)As I recall, your son has pretty significant asthma and pulmonary issues so depending on his triggers that may be another reason to just say no to the carpet in the first place. We only have carpet in one child's bedroom and if I had known DFD10 was going to come into our lives back when DD15 was our original DFD10 I probably would have tried much harder to find a nice area rug that she liked almost as much as the carpet. As it is DD15 is responsible for daily vacuuming when her little sister is not home as a condition of keeping her carpet and she is doing it without complaint but finally admitted that perhaps we could just rid of the carpet. That will probably be the plan for this summer---probably some week when we're all at our lake home and one of DH's relatives is kind enough to supervise the contractors. 3.)If you decide to go with the carpet, and really if you don't, definitely talk about having a central vacuum system put in. Our house is basically hardwood, slate, and marble tile and our central vacuum system is very useful. When you're trying to keep 6K plus of living space clean it definitely helps. We do also have an additional vacuum that belongs to each level of the home and then a fifth canister vacuum that is more of economy size shop vac which lives on the ground/basement level near the pool. For some things (certain upholstery) I do prefer having the upright but my mom says that is more because I grew up with such luxury of a central vacuum, have retained my biases, and our daughters will feel differently. I guess we'll see. As you might imagine, my mother loves the central vacuum in her new house and swears that there is nothing better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 If there is carpet in the bathroom(s) of the house, your first step should be to rip it out and replace with either tile or linoleum. Carpet in bathrooms is close to the top of my list of imbecilic decorating decisions. Have fun with the first toilet or bathtub overflow. [grrrrr !] We have gone barefoot inside the house for the entire lives of our children. Congratulations on finding a home that you like! Carpet in a bathroom? Who does that? Seriously, my sympathies to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2samlibby Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Is there ANY WAY you can swing getting the floors done before you move in?? I kick myself for not whipping out the credit card and getting the floors done before we moved into this house. It will be a million times harder now that we live in it and have all our stuff here. My advice--replace NOW! If you want hardwood, I agree with this. If you can do it now and have it done before you have furniture in, it will be so much easier. You might also be able to add it onto the purchase price when you do the bank loan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Is there ANY WAY you can swing getting the floors done before you move in?? I kick myself for not whipping out the credit card and getting the floors done before we moved into this house. It will be a million times harder now that we live in it and have all our stuff here. My advice--replace NOW! No. We tried/asked. Since it's a new build, only the builder will put them in, as an upgrade - at about three times the price others have quoted us for the SAME hardwoods. It's ridiculous. The floors aren't even in yet (I mean, the carpet isn't even down yet), but unless we use THEIR upgrade, and their builder, we have to wait until after the house is finished, and no longer belongs to the builder. So either way, we'll have to go through the hassle of having carpet ripped up. Our plan right now is to have one room done (carpet out, hardwoods in) at a time, after we've moved in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 No. We tried/asked. Since it's a new build, only the builder will put them in, as an upgrade - at about three times the price others have quoted us for the SAME hardwoods. It's ridiculous. The floors aren't even in yet (I mean, the carpet isn't even down yet), but unless we use THEIR upgrade, and their builder, we have to wait until after the house is finished, and no longer belongs to the builder. So either way, we'll have to go through the hassle of having carpet ripped up. Our plan right now is to have one room done (carpet out, hardwoods in) at a time, after we've moved in. If the material used by the builder is the same as what you would be using then I would be inclined to just pay more upfront and be done with it. Some of this is motivated by knowing that it would be an issue for DFD10 but probably as much of it is being willing to pay for the convenience if it means I don't have to have contractors in and out my house for extended periods going forward. I would also wonder if by the time you added in the cost of the carpet and the additional labor cost of tearing out the carpet if you wouldn't come close to breaking even on the overall cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Yes, it's new construction. We will NOT buy their hardwood upgrade - it is literally (no exaggeration) three times the quotes we've got from other places... who included in THEIR pricing ripping out the carpet. The builder's pricing is absolutely ridiculous, frankly. DS5 does have pulmonary issues (not asthma; congenital defects and only one fully functioning lung, due to the surgery that took part of his other lung). We really aren't sure what to do here, honestly. We plan to have the carpet replaced room by room, or maybe one week while DH is traveling and I can just take the kids to my mom's with me (but then who will stay to supervise?) have it all done... but we really don't know how we would have it all done at once and still live in it. That's a great point about DS5's bedroom. The boys want (desperately - they are the best of friends) to share a bedroom, but DS2 needs carpet (he's our Marvelous Flying Marco, who needs any softer surface we can find), and DS5 would do better with hardwoods... unless, maybe, I take care to vacuum their bedroom daily? Can a central vac be added after the build? Because of their steep pricing, we have a list of things we plan on having our own contractor (the guy who is actually in here now, painting the kitchen for us, lol) do at the new house. Is this something that can be added after, or does it need to be installed during the initial build? 1.)Is the house you are planning to purchase new construction? I seem to remember that was the direction you were looking and that construction was still in process. If that is the case then I would strongly encourage you to plan to just put in hardwood floors now and not bother with the carpet. Decent carpet for 4500 feet worth of space will not be cheap so why spend the money just to rip it all out later? 2.)As I recall, your son has pretty significant asthma and pulmonary issues so depending on his triggers that may be another reason to just say no to the carpet in the first place. We only have carpet in one child's bedroom and if I had known DFD10 was going to come into our lives back when DD15 was our original DFD10 I probably would have tried much harder to find a nice area rug that she liked almost as much as the carpet. As it is DD15 is responsible for daily vacuuming when her little sister is not home as a condition of keeping her carpet and she is doing it without complaint but finally admitted that perhaps we could just rid of the carpet. That will probably be the plan for this summer---probably some week when we're all at our lake home and one of DH's relatives is kind enough to supervise the contractors. 3.)If you decide to go with the carpet, and really if you don't, definitely talk about having a central vacuum system put in. Our house is basically hardwood, slate, and marble tile and our central vacuum system is very useful. When you're trying to keep 6K plus of living space clean it definitely helps. We do also have an additional vacuum that belongs to each level of the home and then a fifth canister vacuum that is more of economy size shop vac which lives on the ground/basement level near the pool. For some things (certain upholstery) I do prefer having the upright but my mom says that is more because I grew up with such luxury of a central vacuum, have retained my biases, and our daughters will feel differently. I guess we'll see. As you might imagine, my mother loves the central vacuum in her new house and swears that there is nothing better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
go_go_gadget Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 If in any way possible, I'd still try to get the carpet out and the floors in before you move. Also, check with something like Habitat for Humanity to take it and make use of it. That would also be easier if you were taking out all the carpet at once, now that I'm thinking about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Is commercial vinyl plank flooring an option? There have been some recent threads on it. I would use it in a heartbeat over carpet! Maybe even over hardwood with big dogs and crazy kids. (Which I have!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 If the material used by the builder is the same as what you would be using then I would be inclined to just pay more upfront and be done with it. Some of this is motivated by knowing that it would be an issue for DFD10 but probably as much of it is being willing to pay for the convenience if it means I don't have to have contractors in and out my house for extended periods going forward. I would also wonder if by the time you added in the cost of the carpet and the additional labor cost of tearing out the carpet if you wouldn't come close to breaking even on the overall cost. Hmm. Good point. I'll ask. ETA: the materials are the same, I believe, but the upgrade for them to do it, vs what the other contractors quoted us, shows a HUGE difference in price. I'm not sure that we can swing that, on top of the costs associated with the move in general, for the entire house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Is commercial vinyl plank flooring an option? There have been some recent threads on it. I would use it in a heartbeat over carpet! Maybe even over hardwood with big dogs and crazy kids. (Which I have!) Not with the builder - they only offer their hardwoods or their carpet. I love the plank flooring we had put in our current kitchen. It was recommended instead of hardwoods - because of the kids, the GSD, and any spills in the kitchen. It doesn't matter to me what we have put in - hardwoods or plank. The contractors we personally prefer offer a great price for labor with installing the hardwoods, and Lowe's installs the plank flooring for a very reasonable price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Yes, it's new construction. We will NOT buy their hardwood upgrade - it is literally (no exaggeration) three times the quotes we've got from other places... who included in THEIR pricing ripping out the carpet. The builder's pricing is absolutely ridiculous, frankly. Ok, point taken. DS5 does have pulmonary issues (not asthma; congenital defects and only one fully functioning lung, due to the surgery that took part of his other lung). We really aren't sure what to do here, honestly. We plan to have the carpet replaced room by room, or maybe one week while DH is traveling and I can just take the kids to my mom's with me (but then who will stay to supervise?) have it all done... but we really don't know how we would have it all done at once and still live in it. That's a great point about DS5's bedroom. The boys want (desperately - they are the best of friends) to share a bedroom, but DS2 needs carpet (he's our Marvelous Flying Marco, who needs any softer surface we can find), and DS5 would do better with hardwoods... unless, maybe, I take care to vacuum their bedroom daily? We have hardwood in the room DFD10 and DFD6 share. DD15 really wanted carpet when she was ten and we were doing the first remodel of her room to really make it her room after she came into our family. At the time she was ten and I had no idea that DFD10 would ever come into our lives and it was a big deal to her so we went with it and DH or I vacuumed in her room almost daily at first and then transitioned that to her responsibility. That vacuuming became non-negotiable when DFD10 came into our lives a little over a year later. DFD10 also doesn't really hang out in her room and we have a pretty extensive filtration system throughout the house which does help. As far as Marvelous Marco and cushioning maybe what you are really looking for is more of a foam floor or cushion tile. We have that in one of our playrooms and it has been easy to keep clean and it doesn't tend to absorb dust or allergens. Can a central vac be added after the build? Because of their steep pricing, we have a list of things we plan on having our own contractor (the guy who is actually in here now, painting the kitchen for us, lol) do at the new house. Is this something that can be added after, or does it need to be installed during the initial build? You can certainly add a central vac after building. You may need to make some adjustments to get the system installed but it can certainly be done. Our main home is a historic home that my husband and his first wife remodeled pretty extensively and we have continued to remodel and upgrade over the years. Although the charm and cool architecture persists we have really overhauled all of the electricity and plumbing. Adding in a central vacuum system was part of this process initially and in later years we converted over to a geothermal/solar trapping heating and cooling system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Carpet in a bathroom? Who does that? Seriously, my sympathies to you. Whoever built this house in 1987. I hate it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Whoever built this house in 1987. I hate it . Aww...Hugs! (I don't blame you!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orthodox6 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Aww...Hugs! (I don't blame you!) Thank you! The worst was when a teen -- now an adult, but no name shall be revealed in order to protect the guilty -- was too lazy to go find a roll of t-paper, grabbed a pair of soccer socks, and used them as replacement. Not only did we have major overflow, but we had to pay a plumber to discover what on earth had gone wrong with the half-bath system. We scarcely could believe what he produced as evidence! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMV Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Thank you! The worst was when a teen -- now an adult, but no name shall be revealed in order to protect the guilty -- was too lazy to go find a roll of t-paper, grabbed a pair of soccer socks, and used them as replacement. Not only did we have major overflow, but we had to pay a plumber to discover what on earth had gone wrong with the half-bath system. We scarcely could believe what he produced as evidence! Ok, now that just adds insult to injury. Sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 If there is carpet in the bathroom(s) of the house, your first step should be to rip it out and replace with either tile or linoleum. Carpet in bathrooms is close to the top of my list of imbecilic decorating decisions. Have fun with the first toilet or bathtub overflow. [grrrrr !] We have gone barefoot inside the house for the entire lives of our children. Congratulations on finding a home that you like! Some geniuses put carpet in the kitchen of our last house. Whyyyyyyy?!?! Sorry, Aimee. Not on topic. :) Get a vat of the real Nature's Miracle. Not the stuff that's now called Nature's Miracle. Petastic I think? If your house has different floors, a vacuum on each level is helpful (assuming you don't go the central vac route, which would be awesome even with hard flooring later!). There's special waterproof padding, but it's $$$. I'd hate to spend more on something you don't want in the first place! Would they close on the house flooring-less? Putting in hardwoods is so dusty and messy and you have to remove all the furniture. It's such a pain to change out the floors after you move. How frustrating that they've got such a crazy markup! I guess that's one of the places he can make a good profit because he knows what a nightmare it is to change later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Our neighbors got NO flooring installed when they did their major remodel. It's bare plywood. Their intent was to install "something" later, when they had the money. But they never did. It must be about 10 yrs now and they're still walking around on plywood. Can you go with nothing? Will they charge you less if you do? At the least, nothing but plywood would be a lot easier to put something (like hardwood) down on. You wouldn't have to rip out the carpet. But I don't know the mechanics of how one puts down a hardwood floor. Is it just over plywood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 No. We tried/asked. Since it's a new build, only the builder will put them in, as an upgrade - at about three times the price others have quoted us for the SAME hardwoods. It's ridiculous. The floors aren't even in yet (I mean, the carpet isn't even down yet), but unless we use THEIR upgrade, and their builder, we have to wait until after the house is finished, and no longer belongs to the builder. So either way, we'll have to go through the hassle of having carpet ripped up. Our plan right now is to have one room done (carpet out, hardwoods in) at a time, after we've moved in. Contact your loan company and find out if you can close with "bare floors". Whe we bought our house we closed with "bare floors" and had the flooring put down before we moved in. This will depend on your lender and on your local codes (what it takes to get a certificate of occupancy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 If you have any allergies in the family, new carpet may do a number on them. New carpets outgas all kinds of junk. You may not be able to get them out of there fast enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 A lot of people I know have 2 vacuums -- one for upstairs and one for down so they don't have to lug it up and down the stairs. (Unless you're vacuuming the stairs -- not sure how that works) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I wouldn't spend a lot on carpet cleaners if you plan to get rid of the carpeting. We have two carpets--the previous owners put them in the two dirtiest rooms of the house (except the bathroom). We use a Bissell upright and a Bissell Proheat carpet cleaner (you'll need pet models if you have pets). A friend who cleans houses and has multiple pets loves her Bissell products as well. They have an excellent website for replacement parts (you can build a whole new model if needed). My husband can't believe the garbage it pulls out of the carpet. We bought extras of the washable filters, and as long as we rotate those out frequently (they can be cleaned) and empty the canister every time we use it, it get tons of stuff up. The carpet cleaner does a really, really good job as well. My parents used to have someone clean their carpets, but after seeing what our carpet cleaner does, they bought one too. The steam cleaner got almost all of a paint spill out of our kitchen carpet. It's a low pile carpet, but the paint is a totally contrasting color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I hate carpets sooooo much that I would do whatever I have to to get possession of the house and then have the flooring replaced before we moved in. Doing all the floors at once would usually be cheaper, plus you want to use the same batch of flooring to prevent any mismatch. Or at least buy all the flooring you need from one batch and then have them installed as you can. We did about 1500 sq feet in just a bit more than 2 days (or rather the contractors did LOL) including putting all new baseboards. Flooring and painting are the 2 big items we did before moving in and I am so glad we did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 A lot of people I know have 2 vacuums -- one for upstairs and one for down so they don't have to lug it up and down the stairs. (Unless you're vacuuming the stairs -- not sure how that works) I have two vacs for that very reason. However, if I had built this house, I would seriously investigated a whole-house vac, so all I had to move from room to room would have been the hose and the nozzle thingie (although probably I would still have had one upstairs and one downstairs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Oh gosh, I swear I wasn't trying to be rude! I hope you didn't take it that way :( Can you tell me more about this floor foam? The boys will only be allowed to sleep in their bedroom - because of Marco's... er... flying habits, and because their bedroom is on the second floor (with the other bedrooms), the play room will be downstairs - I would love to consider a "floor foam" for it, but I've never heard of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Some geniuses put carpet in the kitchen of our last house. Whyyyyyyy?!?! Sorry, Aimee. Not on topic. :) Get a vat of the real Nature's Miracle. Not the stuff that's now called Nature's Miracle. Petastic I think? If your house has different floors, a vacuum on each level is helpful (assuming you don't go the central vac route, which would be awesome even with hard flooring later!). There's special waterproof padding, but it's $$$. I'd hate to spend more on something you don't want in the first place! Would they close on the house flooring-less? Putting in hardwoods is so dusty and messy and you have to remove all the furniture. It's such a pain to change out the floors after you move. How frustrating that they've got such a crazy markup! I guess that's one of the places he can make a good profit because he knows what a nightmare it is to change later. They won't even leave it floor-less. I wish they would - that would solve the flooring issue (because the contractor we would use is available whenever to do the flooring). My big issue... the carpet in the dining room (since y'all are talking about stupid places to put carpet). According to our realtor, most people don't eat in the dining room regularly? Seriously - I've never heard of that! She said most people eat at a "kitchen table" (I've heard of a breakfast table in the kitchen, but not a dinner table). We eat every night in the dining room. We have kids. We eat a lot of pasta. A lot of sauce on that pasta. I'm starting to rethink the priority of having wood floors put in asap. Oh yeah - then there's the 7 month old German Shepherd who has no concept of wiping his pretty little paws after a romp in the yard. What do we do with THAT on carpet? I mean, our hardwoods are easy (sweep, mop, done). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Contact your loan company and find out if you can close with "bare floors". Whe we bought our house we closed with "bare floors" and had the flooring put down before we moved in. This will depend on your lender and on your local codes (what it takes to get a certificate of occupancy). From what the subdivision said, it's the builder's rules, nothing to do with the lender/loan company. The builder does the entire subdivision and has certain things that they will not allow done - including, from what I understand, deviating from the flooring options that they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto5blessings Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Aimee, it seems like the builder should give you a credit, not install the carpet, and then you could have someone install hardwood right before you move in? Just a thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 From what the subdivision said, it's the builder's rules, nothing to do with the lender/loan company. The builder does the entire subdivision and has certain things that they will not allow done - including, from what I understand, deviating from the flooring options that they have.I understand that the builder only has certain flooring options but that doesn't mean that you might not be able to close bare floor. Closing bare floor means that the builder doesn't install any flooring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 It doesn't much hurt worse falling on marble or tiled floors compared to carpets. My cousins and I were definitely "adventurous" at home. When older was a baby, we put those ABC foam tiles on the marble floor of the living room. We were joking about getting those blue gym mats instead. The developer of our condo unit also charge an arm and a leg if we want hardwood instead of carpet so we couldn't afford it at time of purchase. We had to vacuum often to reduce chances of hives for me and older boy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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