Should You Have Carpet Tiles In Your Busiest Room?

If you are about to move into a new home, or have lived in one for some time, there may be some rooms where it is apparent that the flooring has passed its best and needs renewing. The question is what your best option may be.

For most rooms in a domestic property, carpets tend to be the material of choice, with the obvious exceptions being the kitchen and bathroom as these are the places where the floor is most likely to get wet.

Elsewhere, you might imagine that carpets are a no-brainer for your living room, dining room, hallway, stairs, bedrooms and workrooms, although, of course, many people prefer the style and appearance of other kinds of floor, from wood to vinyl.

Style is one issue, but what about practicality? In an article on how to choose carpets, Ideal Home listed a plethora of considerations, among which was the need for any carpet in the most heavily-used rooms to be particularly hard-wearing. That may be determined by various characteristics, such as the material the carpet is made from and how it is made.

While Ideal Home focused on what carpets to put where, Home Efficiency Guide raised the question of whether you should choose carpets for any particular room at all. It suggested much depends on the type of room, stating: “Some rooms work well with carpet; others are a nightmare when carpeted.” 

As mentioned above, the latter would tend to apply to bathrooms and kitchens. But in a room that is neither of those things but has a lot of footfall, could carpet tiles be the answer?

There are pros and cons to consider in this regard. The upsides include the fact that by effectively creating a jigsaw of a carpet, if you have some tiles that endure a lot of traffic and become worn, they can be swapped for fresh tiles without you having to replace the entire carpet.

All you have to do is get some extra tiles with the original purchase and you will have spares handy, which means you can solve the problem quickly and easily, since installation is very simple (another pro).

There are some downsides, however. The joins between the tiles are not the most aesthetically pleasing and they can start to show as the carpet takes wear and tear, so in this respect, the biggest strength of tiles can occasionally be a weakness.

Another consideration is that with different tiles you can vary the style and appearance of the floor, rather than having a single style across the whole floor. Whether you prefer to go down this road depends if you fancy yourself as an interior designer or like a consistent look. But it does mean you can make changes with new tiles from time to time.

The other thing to weigh against these is the non-carpet alternatives. For instance, you may like hardwood or laminate for both their practical and aesthetic qualities. However, this will amount to a trade-off against the softer underfoot comfort carpets offer, so you should consider your options carefully.

Don’t forget, you can always chat with us about what might be the best option for your home and household circumstances before you decide what to do.