We need to replace the carpet in our living room which is the main room for my daycare. Would you put in carpet or hardwood? If carpet, what would you suggest putting in? Thanks
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We need to replace the carpet in our living room which is the main room for my daycare. Would you put in carpet or hardwood? If carpet, what would you suggest putting in? Thanks
Hardwood! Easier to clean, doesn't trap things in its fibers. I have carpet in my upstairs currently, and this is the first time I've had it in years, and I just cannot tell you how much it grosses me out, especiallly with kids and a dog.
I have hardwood and I love it. I have a steam cleaner and love knowing the children are playing on clean floors! The downside is that it hurts when they fall down (I have mostly toddlers.)
Carpet NEVER! Love my hardwood :yes:
I have all carpet or tiling in my apartment but my Mom has beautiful hardwood floors that she loves. I have a gorgeous wooden dining room table which now has the 'distressed' look thanks to 5 years of daycare children eating on it. Do you think that would happed to hardwood floors?
Hmmm...that would be my thought to Momof4. All the dings from toys being dropped all the time. I think I'd have to say carpet, but I know that hardwood would be cleaner no matter how much you cleaned the carpets.
I have laminate in my daycare space and absolutely love it! Easy to clean, doesn't scratch easily...but I am not sure I would want it on my main floor as it doesn't look as elegant. However, we moved to our new house in August and we have beautiful new hardwood in our family room...the daycare kids don't play there, but just my own two little ones have already scratched and dinged it like crazy! If you do go with hardwood, I've been told that light colours hide the scratches better...mine is dark and already looks pretty bad!
We have laminated hardwood on the main level - there when we moved in and it looked wonderful but between constant washings and toys and chairs across it most of it - except under the area rugs - is very badly worn. My attitude rather than constantly be on the kids was more of a well when I am done with the kids I can redo the floors either refinish or replace. Maybe if I had been the one that laid them and paid for them I might have a very different attitude.
We put carpet in the playroom for warmth and to pad the cement as I have infants and toddlers.
Many that use the wood floors also put the foam mats on them to pad the area but that seems like a lot of expense and work and well instead of all that why not just put the foam mats down and then put in actual floors when you are done daycare. If this is the main floor you will want to have some areas off limits to the kids to protect the floors and then area rugs on the play areas to protect the floors as they won't stand up to cars and trucks and falling block towers no matter how careful you try to make everyone play.
In the meantime there are vinyl laminate that will give the look of hardwood a little but be serviceable and then can be changed out when daycare is done.
We just built our house 3.5 years ago and my husband and I were at odds about what to put on the floors .... He wanted hardwood and I didn't. He's a boarder line germs phone and thinks carpets are gross and I said hardwood will look awful within weeks as we have three young kids and a dog. The daycare area is in the basement and we decided to put carpet down there for the warmth and ceramic tiling in the kitchen area, bathroom and entrance and upstairs we put carpeting in the bedrooms and porcelain tile in the kitchen and great room. I told him that carpeting is cheaper and easier to replace in ten years when the kids are older and if he wanted hardwood then then that's the time to do it. So far the carpeting still looks great but it has been steam cleaned once.
We invested in a commercial grade engineered hardwood in the playroom - it looks just like hardwood and goes down like hardwood but has a 25 year warrantee for scratches, dents, warping and so forth because it has a coating over it for protection .... so far so good and easy to clean for sure - I use the Enjo floor system on it takes like 5 minutes to sweep and mop it ;)
I STILL have carpet in my main play area for the children, and I HATE it! I know it poses a much more "soft" area for play but it gets absolutely disgusting very quick when you have 1 or more babies spitting up and drooling on it all day long. I know laminate and hard wood can run more expensive than the average carpet, if money is a factor for you right now (as it is for me) then maybe you should take the option of a cheaper but "nice" darker or patterned carpet to help hide all the imperfections the kids cause. ! IF you go with flooring you may also want to consider a lower grade laminate for now until the daycare comes to a close then consider option of high grade hard wood? that is my current consideration, my husband refuses to put in hard wood floors right now due to all the wear and tear the daycare brings. (we currently have hard wood up our hallways and they get quite war and scratched from the various activities and all around traffic) but I am seriously considering cheaper laminate for now until the daycare is done or moved elsewhere. I absolutely hate carpet, it sucks up all the dirt and germs and would LOVE to have hard floors that I can just wipe clean when dirty. Good Luck on your choice!
I average steaming my carpets at least every 6 monthes to attempt to keep them cleaner, this is kind of a pain as well, not to mention I can't imagine that often steaming is good for the carpet, no other choice considering the marks and dirt that goes into them, have to get it out somehow!
Hardwood, hardwood, hardwood!!!! I had carpet at my old daycare and it grossed me out completely! No matter how many times you steam clean and vacuum, it's still impossible to keep it clean.
I do lay an area rug in the play area.....just a cheap Walmart job....works great and won't break my heart if it gets ruined.
I have soft areas by using area rugs that can be washed ... have a couple of those one in book nook and one in the kitchen area ...also have some of the coloured foam mats for floor toy area cause easy to clean and nice flat for block building and other explorations where balance is important.
ONe problem with area rugs is that you have to send them out to be properly cleaned as you can 't steam clean them or you risk ruining the hardwood underneath them with the water so if you are considering hardwood because of the gross out factor of carpet then stay away from putting area rugs down unless they are small ones you can machine wash but those cotton types pose a slipping danger to the children. Also when washing the foam floor mats be sure to take them up to do it or do it by hand with a rag as you also run the risk of getting water down through the seams onto the hardwood. Had a friend totally ruin her expensive hardwood floors doing both of these things - luckily it was in the same room and they only had to replace flooring in one room.
Oh for sure Playfelt - sage advice ... my area rugs for daycare are SMALL so fit in my washer for cleaning and the foam mats I damp mop with my ENJO so they do not get wet for water to get under and than seasonally I take apart and clean in the laundry tub more often if someone has an accident or something on them
If you get cheap ones, they can be steam cleaned. Also, at places like Home Depot and Lowes you can get area rugs which are actually just carpet remnants that have the edges bound. Totally fine to steam clean. I had them in my old daycare and they worked great! So far as the cheap Walmart ones, I'd never spend more than $60 so if they get past the point of no return, it's not financially crippling to just get another. I've had a cream coloured one in my new daycare for a few months now and so far, no spots :)
The problem comes from steam cleaning the carpet while it is sitting on the hardwood floors. The water used to steam the carpet goes right through to the wood floor and ruins it.
We did the one in our family room by taking it out on the deck and doing it there - nice thing was it dried quicker. I like the idea of just replacing it - this was a cheap remnant we got at home depot but as you say bound when we moved in as a temporary thing and well it is still there.
Hardwood. I have hardwood and while it certainly no longer looks like it once did, it's not that bad! Actually my main level is hardwood, which daycare does use...some playing and crafts and eating, and my playroom in the basement is laminate. I wouldn't go for carpet....
Hardwood and a cheap rug for playing on. when it gets destroyed, dont both cleaning it . . . it wont work . . . . buy a new one and write it off LOL.
I replaced my whole aptartment with hardwood and chunky barf is now just an easy wipe. . . . life got ten times easier instantly
Hardwood. But, I'll have interlocking foam mats on it as protective cushion for children at play. Protects your floor too.
Betsy, I bought an area rug that covered most of the room for about $50-60 years ago and after a couple of years I threw it away and replaced it. It's a tax deduction and looked a lot nicer than the interlocking mats. Just an idea.
Area rug - that's even better! I was basing my suggestion from one of my employers as a nanny. They used mats in their living room while they renovated the basement.Quote:
Originally Posted by Momof4
My daycare will all be in the basement this time around, and I'd be using part carpet and part linoleum (for the kitchen/dining section).
I've had all carpet years ago when I ran a daycare (for more than 10 years)....and it wasn't bad.
Mind you, the basement then was just a playroom, the kids ate upstairs in our dining room.
I'm curious as to how some carpets described on this thread looked gross after a while?
Have always had carpet in the basement playrooms in each house I have done daycare in - 5 of them. I like that it makes the floor warmer on the kids feet, upgrading to the higher end underpad makes it especially nice. I was always concerned about a child falling and bumping their head on the hard floor so only had a small piece of linoleum area just for messy crafts.
Make sure in the kitchen area you choose paint that is made for kitchens that is labelled superscrubable. Another option would be to use ceramic tiles for the kitchen area or there is also paneling that looks like tiles - not the nicest but suitable for a basement kitchen and would be washable. Hanging a pretty shower curtain you can pull across the wall area during meals and crafts?
Nice thing about a carpet in the basement is that you don't have to worry about what is underneath as in a carpet to cover and protect your hardwood floor can't be washed or the water will damage your hardwood floor but in the basement that is not an issue. In some homes we have rented the cleaners and done the playroom and bedrooms, etc. We have out own machine now we use - it is a Kirby vacuum with shampoo attachment which works pretty good and we can leave it set up as we have a proper vacuum but appreciate the other one given to us as a carpet cleaner. Really the carpets do not get as dirty as you might think. When I have babies I put a sheet down in the baby area to absorb drooling etc I can switch out and wash. I use the Nature's Miracle from the pet store (left from when we had a dog) to clean up any stains that happen and we don't eat, drink or do crafts in the carpeted playroom - those are in the kitchen upstairs.
Speaking of pets. I've got 3 cats (and one is really old). They will not be allowed in the daycare....but we're thinking of changing our carpet upstairs to hardwood floor.
I wonder about pee accidents by pets. With carpet, you could soak up the pee and "lift" it up before you wash the carpet with vinegar/water/soap combo....at least you can get the smell out.
What about on hardwood? Once it leaks between the boards....how can we really soak it all up? I'm worried about the smell.
Please advice me. We've never had hardwood so really clue-less about this.
The wood will interlock meaning it fits into the next board rather than just a crack that goes down to the subfloor. In that sense a lot will remain on the surface only. Flushing the area with water and then wiping down with a disinfecting liquid which will also seep into the same crevices should be sufficient.
I would suggest to choose hardwood in your flooring. If you want less time to clean go through with it. It is much durable and cheaper than installing carpets. In carpet, only light materials or furniture you can put on it because carpet might damage unlike hardwood does. www[dot]appliedergonomics[dot]com