I recommend the wood floors. It's much easier to keep smaller rugs clean.

Wood floors are best for people with allergies & in the long run, they last much longer than carpet where bacteria & dust are imbedded. I felt that after the initial protection on the carpet from factory was removed by professional carpet cleaners, the carpets became dirtier faster. I replaced 3 years ago & wish I had done it 30 years ago. The price of wood will continue to increase. 15 years ago it was half of the cost of what it was when I installed.

Well, carpet is one of the best options for the bedroom floor because carpet hides the tiles stain and also gives the attractive look to your home. Carpets are easy to maintain and clean. You can use a vacuum cleaner to remove loose dirt, food combs, and other debris from the carpet.

I went to Home Depot and looked for the Lifegaurd carpet, but they say they don't carry it because they don't like Shaw carpets.

They have Life Proof carpet and some kind of waterproof carpet padding I can get separately. I'm not sure that's as good since maybe the carpet backing could still get messed up even if the padding underneath is waterproof.

I'd like something I don't have to worry about bursting water pipes or anything spilling on it ruining it short of a dropping an open bottle of bleach.

Very low pile carpets should be very easy to keep clean. I could get a Roomba and have it set to vacuum twice a week and then have a professional steam clean once a year to maintain the warranty or get a home carpet cleaning machine if I don't care about maintaining the warranty and don't want the expense and hassle of having carpet cleaning crews come to my home to clean it,

The only work of using the Roomba would be making sure the layout of furniture is conducive to Roomba use and emptying it out after every use since it as very little capacity. Otherwise, a lightweight cordless vac could do the job on low pile carpet.

Costco has the Shaw flooring : https://www.costco.com/Shaw-Carpet%2C-Hardwood-%2526-Laminate-Flooring.product.100014399.html

and if you have the executive membership I think you get 2% back from the price of the carpet...

Get Stainmaster and you still need elbow grease. Hire a cleaning lady?

my carpet cleaning guy said the same thing about feet. bare feet. the oils attract dirt. always wear clean socks or slippers and vacuum every other day or so. that's about all you can do to maintain it. (and don' spill kool aid all over it, obviously)

Jan and Beth are spot on! My parents don't allow anyone to walk barefoot on the carpet (dad keeps the home spotless). They calculated that they could replace the carpet (over 2400 sq ft) every 5 years and still spend less than buying hardwood floors once.

Yes, labor charges for tile and hardwood installation is super expensive.

I'm still considering wood-look tile in the great room (living-dining combo room), but I'm more leaning towards a just getting easy-clean carpet of overkill quality designed to handle way more foot traffic than the bedrooms will ever see even in 20 years of use.

That should still be way less expensive than replacing the bedroom carpet with tile and I'll be able to get rid of all the runners and throw rugs I now use to attempt to protect the existing plush carpet from dirt and wear.

What about SmartStrand Forever Clean?

It looks like the carpet fibers are pretty stain proof, but what about the underlying backing soaking in spills that may stain or create mildew or other types of odors?

Is the Shaw Lifegaurd the only carpet with fully waterproof backing?

Hi Jaxo,

I want to put you at ease a little.. it is unusual for households with normal or even heavy traffic to have mildew or other odors coming from the carpet (unless it's very old). So I would not get caught up into that part.

With your concern of stain protectant, I would look at pet protect Stainmaster nylons. Those are the best options we have seen perform excellent to traffic with busy homes and stain resistance. Choose a medium/short, dense pile. Shaw Lifeguard is a relatively new product and should be just fine and we do install that carpet from time to time, however the main concern with "waterproof" backing we have experienced is that water doesn't just dissapear or go away like most people think it does when they call it a waterproof backing. It can actually spread once it hits that barrier (sometimes allowing it to mildew or have that smell you are worried about since it sits there).

Regular spills should do just fine with a solution dyed nylon (that is what Stainmaster "Pet Protect" styles are). You should not need to worry about mildew or other odors unless you have a significant amount of water hitting the carpet often (which no carpet will do well with). We have never had a complaint even with a regular nylon carpet on that issue.

Top suggestion: a solution dyed nylon will be the best wearing, and the most cleanable fiber. Go for an 8lb rebond pad with a moisture barrier. Expect to clean your carpets about every year and a half (steam clean by a professional, no "shampooing")

Hope this helps! Good luck on your project.

~Koebers