Wall-to-Wall Carpet Solutions for Pets
How to live with carpets and with pets in
the same house
MetPet.com Staff Writer
 Wall-to-wall
carpet is both the worst and the best floor covering for pet filled homes.
Pros
- Soft and comfortable
- Sound-deadening
- Warm and insulating
- Wide range of prices, materials, colors, textures and patterns
- The least expensive choice for floor covering today
- Easy and fast removal and installation
- Widely available
- Great for lying on and playing with the pets
- Scraps make terrific covers for scratching posts (turn inside out for the
best scratching, but we digress)
Cons
- Difficult to keep clean without removing shoes and wiping paws
- Home to dirt, grime, parasites, smells and allergens
- Carpet cleaning products and professional steaming only partially
successful
- Liquids and grime seep into padding and subflooring
- Replacements usually required for the whole house at the same time
- Easy for puppies to mistake for toilets
- Easy for bored dogs to pull up off the carpet tacks
- Some weaves can be pulled out by bored cats
- Carpet on stairs easily mistaken by cats for horizontal scratching posts
Here are some compromises that may be
just the solution that keeps pets and a clean, well-maintained home
together.
Carpet tiles, carpet squares, modular carpeting
This carpeting comes in interlocking square pieces that fit together like Legos.
Individual stained or ruined pieces can be replaced as necessary. You
can also mix colors and patterns for truly unique looks.
This type of carpeting comes with an adhesive backing
that you peel and stick to the clean, dry, hard surface floor of your
choice. You can use it to carpet an entire room or as a secure area
rug.
Although some carpet tiles can be as expensive as
hard-surface floor coverings, some diligent searching can turn up over runs
and discontinued tiles at bargain prices. If you are not that
particular about the color and if you are willing to mix-and-match, you can
find an affordable solution. Just make sure to buy enough so that you
have extra replacement pieces for the future.
Covering the carpet
  For everyday use, consider placing lightweight rugs, plastic runners,
plastic chair pads or roll-out carpet protectors over the highest traffic
areas. Coverings that can be washed in your washing machine like the
foam-backed fabric runner shown here, are ideal. These can be packed up and
stored in the closet or garage when company comes and are easier to deal
with in a pinch than steam cleaning the carpet.
Coverings are available at home centers (often cut-to-order in the length
you need), office supply stores and on the web. Although it helps to
have entry mats, they are frequently too small to pick up dirt unless
everyone is diligent in scraping their shoes and paws. A carpet runner
that is 6' or more in length is necessary to pick up most of the dirt off
shoes and paws.
Removing shoes and wiping paws
This is becoming more and more common in the west and can be
found in many homes where carpeting, pets and children collide. Place
a small shelf near the back door or one in the front hall closet to collect
outdoor shoes and store your indoor clogs, mules, slippers and thick socks.
A
hallway bench with storage underneath or inside the seat makes switching
shoes easy and automatic. Once the habit is formed, it becomes strange
to wear shoes indoors.
This custom is sometimes difficult to explain to friends and neighbors but,
who knows, you can just be at the head of a trend. If you do insist on
visitors following suit, it's best to keep guest slippers in a variety of
sizes on hand.
Self cleaning and professional cleaning
Most spray or foam carpet cleaners have approximately the same
effectiveness. Once you have selected the one you like, try and stay
with the same formulation. Some cleaners can interact with each other
and reduce their overall effectiveness. All of them require some elbow
grease and do the best job on stains that haven't set in yet. Other
than that, most commercial carpet solutions do similarly good jobs.
Pet droppings leave invisible scent markers so, after cleaning the visible
stains, it is important to use a cleaner specially formulated to neutralize
pet odors so that pets can't smell them. Some even come with black
light kits in order to see stains which are not visible in normal light.
There are always new and interesting home carpet cleaners on the market
including one which does the scrubbing on a stain all by itself.
There are also steam cleaners available for rent in
many supermarkets. Steam cleaning large areas of carpeting is hard,
hot work. If you have lots of wall-to-wall carpeting, it's best to
have a professional cleaner come in periodically and do a thorough steam
cleaning.
Installing a high quality, durable, dark brown, textured carpeting
Although a smooth light beige, wheat or ivory carpeting shows off a house to
its best advantage (rooms look large, light and inviting so these are a
favorite for realtors), it is the most
difficult carpeting to maintain. The smooth texture shows up
footprints and vacuum tracks while the color highlights every bit of grime.
A dark brown carpeting with a prominent texture will help hide everyday
wear. It is not the style choice of most homeowners, but it is
practical when living with pets.
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