flooring...

[amstermarie]

id like to pull up our carpet.. :yes2 i have an 8 yr old that still peas on the floor :cry , most of the time he is sleep walking when he does it but we have caught him doing it awake too... sigh ( autism) i also have an older dog that has accidents. and we had a puppy, that my brother took back ( thank god!!!) so i am saying the carpet is shot.... !!!!!!!!!
DH steam cleans all the time... but i have heard that is bad too !!!.. i am sure there is a tone of mold under the carpets :sick
i don't want linolium b/c the linolium on the kitchen ripped rather easy..
i don't want wood b/c i am affraid it will warp w/ pea accidents..
and i don't want tile b/c i have a baby that has not learned to walk and i am afffraid that when she falls it will hurt.. :yes2 especially since she fell of bed tonight and i thought o my if there was tile she would have broken her head.. :sick
i wont put carpet down again..
so what is the best of all these evils??
i am guessing we would need a little throw carpet in each room :shrug
i am expecting a big tax return and am debating pulling up rugs at that time... ( my debate in another post)

[Drew]

I was going to suggest cork (because it's relatively soft) but it can be pretty high maintenance and I don't think it would hold up well with the little ones. What about vinyl tile? It's water resistant and not as hard as porcelain or stone.

[Rabbit]

Real linoleum is a natural product, extremely durable, and inexpensive. The other stuff is all vinyl, but it does come in different grades, so you can get sturdier stuff than what is in your kitchen. (What is in your kitchen is definitely vinyl.)

[amstermarie]

ahh i did not know linoleum and vinyl were different.. :blush :blush thanks.. "if" we do this i will look into linoleum..

[Rabbit]

No, you're right about the lingo. It's just that there's two different kinds, and the vinyl people don't want you to know about the non-vinyl linoleum. ;)

http://www.demesne.info/Improve-Your-Home/Floor-Coverings/Linoleum-Floors.htm

[TraceMama]

:think I would still consider wood. :shrug Most of our house is hard wood. It's soft enough that no one will get really hurt falling. :) It's pretty low maintenance, meaning I don't have to wet-mop it very often (if I don't want to ;)) since it hides the dirt well. :yes As far as the peeing goes, I can't imagine that there'd be *so* much to soak through the polyurethane coating and warp the wood. :shrug

[klpmommy]

if wood is sealed & you clean up water pretty quickly it won't be a problem. But it is expensive. And some wood is more scratchable than others, which is one of the reasons we opted for tile over wood in our kitchen/hall/entry. Tile is hard, but carpet does not provide that much of a cushion unless you have a really, really good pad. The biggest problem with tile is that is *very* slippery when wet unless you are very careful about getting one that is textured. Even then it is more slippery than any vinyl I have been on.