Upstairs Flooring: Carpet or Hardwood? (hardwood floor, loft, houses)

[gatorInCA]

We are gonna moving to our house soon. There are three bedrooms and one loft on the second floor. The carpet is 10 years old and the previous owner had two dogs. So we decide to upgrade the second floor. I am inclined to use the engineering hardwood, but hubby wants the carpet. Can you share your opinions of the cons that have the hardwood floor upstairs?

BTW, any carpet store or hardwood store recommended?

Thanks in advance.

[OpenD]

Hardwood floors are noisy, not nice on bare feet, show dust, need to be dry mopped and wet mopped and waxed, need to have rugs added.

Carpets are quiet, nice on tootsies, easier to maintain.

[Gorfml]

Hardwoods are better, but prolly louder upstairs...

Kids like carpet...

Carpet is nasty...

[Gorfml]

Waxed? Lol no...

[owlman]

Wood = easy to clean, fun for kids to slide around on, more painful if you fall, noisy

Carpet = quiet, soft on feet, much cheaper, collects more dust/dirt

Personally I'd do wood floors because they look nice and are so much easier to vacuum/dust, with area rugs in places for comfort.

[N. Olikee]

Hardwood..............will definitely add to the value of your home. Didn't say it you had or plan on having kids, but hardwood is far better. Carpet is just plain gross and disgusting. You may or may not want area rugs, but those are far easier to deal with than wall-to-wall carpeting.

[OpenD]

Wow, this is interesting to me. Must be a fashion thing, changing with the times.

There was a time when carpets were considered a BIG upgrade over wood floors. So much so that in older houses it's not at all unusual, when taking up old carpeting, to find hardwood or parquet floors underneath.

[Gorfml]

When was carpet considered An upgrade over wood? The 60's? Lol

[blakely]

Personally, I'd do hardwood. Aesthetically, I think it looks much nicer, plus you avoid the dirt and allergens created by carpet (I've got 2 kids with dust allergies, so that's definitely a personal preference).

It will probably cost more, but won't need to be replaced in a few years.

True, hardwood is not as quiet as carpet and some people prefer their bare feet on carpet. You could always have area rugs on top as needed.

Another option is to have hardwood in the upstairs' hallways, and then carpet the bedrooms for foot comfort.

[scm53]

Be careful with engineered hardwood. It is anything but "hard". Next ime you look at a sample, press the edge of a nail into it and see how easily it dents. Same thing with scratches, especially on the lighter colors. Because of the construction, it cannot be refinished, except for some limited examples. If you get the "hand scraped" look, it can never be refinished - only replaced.

There are true hardwood options that are lower profile. Go talk to Julian at Castle Flooring where Oltorf runs into S. Lamar. He is probably the most knowledgeable flooring guy I have ever talked to. He can lay out the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision. You'd hate to get your engineered floor in, especially in a high traffic area, and have the scratches - which will start immediately - drive you crazy.