Good news for the future of vacuums as major home appliances

[electromatik]

After decades of decline in carpet sales and the constant declarations that carpet was "dead" comes a sharp turnaround. Carpeting sales are rising rapidly again. Despite claims to the contrary, carpet retained market share of 50-60% in flooring sales in the U.S. Carpeting began to outstrip hard flooring in growth during the past few years and in 2020 was up by double digits and taking wholesale market share from hard surfaces again.

This should guarantee the need for good quality vacuums in the future. Also, in my opinion, a lot of people now see just how much hard work hard flooring is and miss the relative ease of carpet. Not to mention the comfort factor. Good news!

https://www.fcnews.net/2021/02/residential-carpet-sales-up-10/

 

[huskyvacs]

People must have realized that with no carpet there's no way to enjoy laying on the floor, or kids get hurt easier, your house is colder and more drafty, and vacuuming throw rugs is a pain.

Hopefully this will bring the rise of bagged vacuums again, because those little stick vacs will be dead in the water on several rooms of wall to wall carpeted floor.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Laminate flooring was HUGE

It still is, in some places. Hardwood floors were big in old houses. Wall to wall was the rage a few yrs ago, I always had wood with area rugs. Some love wall to wall in bedrooms, etc.
I prefer a bagged cleaner, always.

 

[dysonman1]

We are definitely finding more people who are covering up the flooring they put in just a few years ago. The constant swiffering. The tearing up of the floor by the claws of dogs and cats in the house. Not to mention the hell of sitting on the sofa with the ceiling fan 'on' and a ball of dirt and dust blows straight across the floor to land under the TV. Carpeting holds down dust. Doesn't let it blow everywhere.

What's interesting is that the people putting in carpeting nowadays come to me wanting to buy a vacuum with a height adjuster. They already bought the Shark, and took it back because it snow plowed through the rug and required two men to push it.

I have had to place two 12 piece orders for Perfect upright vacuums in the past month (August). They are like Sanitaire but better quality. They have a huge height adjustment knob with lots of adjustments. People are buying carpeting that's 'soft' and you need a good vacuum with lots of settings.

Ironic, almost all of these people with new carpets also still have their stick vacs.

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Christopher,

luckily, most of us will never have to worry about having to get new cleaner. There are Hoovers all over this house, at the ready, for any job or type of flooring. I do like to use a canister or Brushvac" for the 2 staircases here.
Whatever the task, I'm ready.
I've seen people cover gorgeous oak flooring with acrylic carpets. I've removed carpeting to discover beautiful (in need of refinishing) floors underneath.

 

[suckolux]

I'm not a big fan of wood flooring, it looks nice if it's good quality laminate or refinished original. Mine is original not refinished yet, it went through a flood in 55 and was redone then, being a rental they were pretty beat up when I moved in. They just to me make for a loud and noisy and dusty house Large area rugs definitely help! I just want some soft and quiet

 

[gottahaveahoove]

the entire upstairs here has (had) pine floors

Apparently, the custom was to put the best, most expensive stuff on the first floor, and the lesser grade upstairs. I've installed parquet floors in all of the bedrooms, except mine. It has that 'infamous' white Karastan, the butt of many nasty comments/jokes.
I got a great deal on that carpet. If it were now, I'd never do it. But, it has absolutely no wear to it at all, 25 yrs after installation.
I have to replace the crown molding and paint that room. Then, I'll steam the Karastan. It is nice , true, on a cold day.
But, I just love intricate oak parquet patterns. I refinished all of the floors downstairs. They are sealed, so, only a damp cloth makes them gleam.

 

[mark40511]

This has always been something I've wondered about. What it would be like to live in a house with no carpet and just hard floors. Part of me thinks it would be EASIER because you don't need a PN or brushroll..Just a hard floor brush for the entire house......but I can see that hard floors could be a total pain too. My favorite carpet type is berber (which is what I have now)

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Living with NO carpets is cold

and loud, very loud. If the floors r equality, at least you have something beautiful to look at. My great aunt had exquisite oak floors. The downstairs had only 3 rugs and a runner. She used a Hoover model 28. The entire upstairs ,etc were bare floors. It was like living in a bowling alley!!

 

[fan-of-fans]

I do like the old homes with hardwood floors.

In many homes I see, the entire house is the same ceramic tile flooring throughout. I wouldn't want a house like that, because there would be little point in collecting vacuums with carpet vacuuming ability. Unless maybe you had a lot of rugs.

 

[suckolux]

Not a fan of the stone or ceramic tile homes there's the cold there's the echo there's the nothing to vacuum as far as carpets and as a person with joint and foot pain ouch! Even just the hardwood floors has a softer feel walking.

 

[fan-of-fans]

It's always interesting to me how loud and echo-y the bathroom is when the rugs and towels are taken out for washing. All that tile makes things loud without any soft materials around.

 

[jo]

For people with pets….hard surfaces rule

Pets notoriously pee and poo and have other accidents on carpet. Despite all the products out there to wash the stains and odors out of carpet…they just don’t cut it for repeat offenders. My in laws have 3 dogs and two of them are not completely house trained. I’ve cleaned up the mess of people who have carpet and multiple pets. It’s disgusting…the houses smell horrid and even though they’ve washed the carpeting with those carpet machines the problem is the pee soaks to the pad and to the subfloor soaking into the wood or concrete subfloor and those retain the odor forever. I just moved my in laws yet again…out of a house with hard floors that they were in for 3 years and there’s no smell compared to the previous home where the carpet was trashed and the place stunk even after removing the carpet because it had soaked to the subfloor of materials.

Yes, the houses are loud with no carpet and honestly dust bunnies only build up after a week or two so swiffering or dusting only needs to be weekly just as vacuuming would be on carpet. Doing anything less with carpet will cause it to wear or get embedded dirt which ruins the investment.

The house my in laws are now in has 2 bedrooms of carpet which will be getting removed and replaced with tile or vinyl wood look plank for a more pet proof environment in the future. The house had carpet in those two rooms.

Furthermore, for allergy and asthma sufferers carpet is a disaster and terribly unhealthy.

If people want something soft to lie on and to deaden sound ….sizable area rugs are a viable option and are relatively inexpensive snd easily replaceable should there be “pet”!issues. Also, believe it or not I’ve reconditioned sizable pet pee damaged area rugs by taking them outside to the driveway and hosing them with the garden hose with a hose nozzle, sprinkling lots of tide or other odor eliminating laundry detergent on them, scrubbing with a scrubber brush on a pole, then rinsing with the hose until all the soap is gone. Then letting dry in the sun. It takes a good hour or so to do the washing process and a day or two to dry the carpet and works best during the summer with the heat of the sun to dry… but it works. In TX where I live the sun is very hot and dry in the summer so drying actually occurs in several hours so the refreshed and cleaned area rug can be replaced at the end of the day.

If people don’t have pets I can certainly see wall to wall carpet being a comfy and nice option. When I was a kid a lot of people had hardwoods but then giant fine rugs in the rooms leaving a foot or two of hardwood border in the room. It gave the nice carpeted look with some decoration and dust under furniture at the perimeter was quickly deleted via a dust mop. With wall to wall carpet that dust builds up under furnishings unless you have a canister with a power nozzle that fits under the furniture or the furniture has to constantly be moved.

Jon

 

[mjhoshaw]

How about two kinds of wood in the same floor?

Adding onto GOTTAHAVEAHOOVE's post, my current house has a floor in the den whose perimeter is oak, and the center is pine. Apparently the builder expected the owner to put an area rug in the center of the room, and the pine wouldn't be seen. Have others seen this? This is my third house, but only the first time seeing it.

Joel

 

[eurekaprince]

I am astonished at how easily these new wood floors scratch. The scratches are especially visible if the wood is a dark brown tone.

I am also amazed that no one has researched whether any of these new cordless stick vacs with the spinning brushes are actually marring or scratching the surfaces of bare floors. Unless it’s a dedicated bare floor machine like a Bissell Crosswave, any other vac with a revolving brush roll that can’t be turned off must really be damaging the surfaces of the bare floors they are supposedly cleaning.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Yes, I have heard of the two species of hardwood floors used in old homes.

And yes, hard floors are nice for allowing easy cleanup. I wonder if having area rugs over hard floors would be a good compromise - you get the warmth for your feet of a carpet, but can be easily removed for cleaning.

 

[electromatik]

Even better news so far this year. Carpet sales are up even more strongly in 2021. Up a whopping 18% in the first quarter. https://www.fcnews.net/2021/06/carpet-resurgence-may-have-lasting-implications/

They cite technology improvements as one major reason. Modern carpet is far better at stain resistance and holding it's color longer than older carpets were. Also, carpet tiles are increasing designs and styles and making it easier to replace "parts" of carpet as the need arises.

@jo:
I've read and heard all those complaints about carpet before. I've also read scientific studies that contradict the claims that carpet is "bad" for allergies and asthma sufferers. Carpet acts as a "sink" that collects and "locks" in dust and allergens which are then mostly removed via vacuum cleaning. Hard surfaces, on the other hand, can't do the same and allergens are constantly becoming airborne and re-circulating during normal activities. Hard surfaces can be disinfected, but so carpet via steam/hot water washing.

I personally love hardwood flooring but I am genuinely happy that carpet is growing again. I like both but I still feel a special thrill when looking at freshly vacuumed carpet.

 

[madman]

Wow it's almost like fashion is cyclical. Who'd've thought?

 

[human]

The house I grew up in until I was about 17 was an early '60s vintage split level that had wood floors on the main floor and the upstairs where the bedroom was and linoleum on the concrete slab floor on the lowest level. Over the years, we systematically installed wall-to-wall carpet in almost all of the house of the wood and linoleum flooring. It made a huge difference on the lowest level. By the time most of the house was carpeted, we were using a 'Brady Bunch' green and tan Hoover Covertible.

The house we moved into when I was in high school had wall-to-wall carpet throughout, except for a marble foyer, which was a real statement piece. Built in the early 1970s, the godawful shag carpet was laid directly over sub-flooring. We still used the aforementioned Hoover in this house but supplemented it with an Electrolux 1205 Dad rescued from a neighbor's trash pile. The non-electric hose was deteriorated to the point that suction severely impaired. It was mainly useful for vacuuming the foyer with the flippy floor tool.

The first house I bought, a townhouse built in 1978, had sculptured pile carpet with about four different shades of brown. It was brilliant because it hid both wear and stains. I was given my grandmother's Eureka Princess during this time and it was the first canister vacuum I'd ever seen with a powered floor nozzle. I loved it and miss it to this day.

The house I have now, built in 1970, only has two rooms with wall-to-wall carpet—the living room and master bedroom. The other two bedrooms have oak parquet flooring and I'd bet that's what under the carpet in the master. I have no idea what's under the carpet in the living room. The hallway and dining room have engineered wood laminate, which was likely installed along with the carpet shortly before the house went on the market when I bought it. The laminate in the hall was slightly damaged last summer when a condensation return line for the air conditioner leaked. I had to replace both the furnace and air conditioner so I was a bit tapped financially and have done nothing about the floor, even though much of the laminate in the hallway is slightly curling at the edges. My thought then and now is just to cover it with carpet rather than rip it up and replace it. My vacuum obsession really took off while living in this house in 2014 and I use whatever strikes my fancy in the moment. My favorite all-arounders, though are my Electrolux uprights and canisters. Both are great on carpet and Persian rugs and the canisters with the flippy floor tools (bristles down) and uprights with the brush roll turned off, are great for the hard floors.