There is something to buying commercial grade carpet and treating it with stainmaster. That is the way to go in this business. I simply cannot get out coffee stains in one room or on the stair runner.
We lived in the house we built with young kids and two cats (one who liked to make messes/hairballs) with commercial carpet in WA State and it looked brand new when we moved out. It was a light berber with speckles of sand. People thought we were nuts putting it in, and I am telling you nearly 10 years and there was NO wear and tear EVEN ON THE STAIRS and looked like new when we sold. We added the extra padding also - which was key to prolonging the life..
This carpet is treated, but not commercial. The back stairs are commercial grade, but I mean commercial. The kind you find in the waiting area of a car repair. We have a berber on our side. First time the dog had a seizure her collar got caught in the loop and pulled it out, about 2 inches long. But, hubs dumped a 12 oz coffee on it a few weeks ago and I can barely tell where.
It was the stairs I was most concerned with. That seems to be where guests dump most of the coffee. I wanted a patterened runner, but the stairs have 'pie wedges' and no one wanted to tackle that. Plus the cost was too high to try to match all the corners.
.
It was the stairs I was most concerned with. That seems to be where guests dump most of the coffee.
You are not kidding!!! No matter what I do I can not convince guests to use our coffee lids. I am constantly spot cleaning dripps down the stairs. In fact today, I plan a full cleaning - no guests tonight!
I have thought of many ideas about covering our stairs. Would love to have wood but the sound of clomping (sp?) of heavy feet, dragging of the suitcases and scaring nixed that idea. Then the idea of wood with a runner...two types of cleaning materials then. Guess I will just keep them fully carpeted and be content. No perfect solution.
.
What I wanted was a floral patterned carpet for the stairs. But I have the pie wedge corners. Just can't match any pattern so I would care to look at it, or pay for it!
.
Sounds like your company just didn't want to mess with doing stairs like yours, and yes, it does cost more. I've actually found that our 100 year old heart pine wood stairs have been fine without a carpet runner (which can have it's own set of problems), but we also carry all the bags for guests and surprisingly they have not dragged them down.
I wouldn't have carpeted over good wood floors in the guest rooms. But maybe that is just me. I love the beauty of these old wood floors, noise or no noise. It adds to the charm of these old historic homes. (Actually, we have very little noise from our upstairs guest rooms at all & none from folks walking around except for one floor board squeak that we haven't quite identified.) I would have gone with area rugs. Less allergies, easier to keep the wood floors clean, etc. People seem to love these old wood floors, even the ones in our other house that have not been re-done like our house. They always comment on them. Always.
But we each do what works for us. Best of luck with the completion of the project!
.
They've gone. I can't even begin to think about how much work there is ahead to put it all back together. Ugh.
Oh, I know just what you mean about the floors. I love the old floors. But I don't want to listen to guests complaining they could hear someone walking around in heels. Or kid's toys, or whatever. As it is, even with the carpet, I can hear guests in the room right over the kitchen. Thud, crash, bang.
Because this is so new and dense, it's actually quieter than before. I noticed it especially on the stairs. No noise at all. Which is good because the front stairs are right over a guest bathroom.
I will definitely let the next owners know there are good floors under there if they want to expose them.
.
