FLOOR ISSUES

Three years ago we replaced our old carpets with new carpets. The new carpet was a light gold color and quite beautiful. Unfortunately, however, it looked like an old carpet in a very short period of time. It showed stains, and those stains would not come out with our very expensive carpet shampooer.

So, we recently considered replacing the floor with hard wood or with laminate once we got our income tax refund. But after getting on a Craigslist home-improvement chat room, I discovered that almost everyone who had laminate floors did not like them. Also, I learned that to install hard wood floors would require removing all the particle-board subflooring and replacing it with plywood. Too expensive and too much work.

Then we considered replacing our now-dingy-looking gold carpets with some kind of carpet that would better camouflage and hide stains. But, after looking at our tax refund amount, we discovered that that, too, would be too expensive and, consequently, would not be happening any time soon.

Realizing that we would be stuck with our existing carpet for a while, Debra opened the Yellow Pages to Carpet Cleaning Services and the first guy who answered the phone came out to check out our floors. He guaranteed Debra that he could make them look new again. Sensing her skepticism, he asked her to show him the dirtiest, worst stained section of carpet that she could find. He then cleaned that section.

I was at work while all this was happening. When I got home that evening, I immediately noticed the like-new-looking section of carpet and asked Debra, “Did you do that?!” I was impressed because I was never able to get the carpet that clean with our very expensive carpet shampooer.

Debra then told me about the visit from the carpet guy. With one or two cleanings per year (at a very reasonable price, by the way), it looks like we will be able to keep and to actually enjoy our gold colored carpeting for a long, long time.

As a side note, totally unrelated to the subject at hand, this is the 100th item I have posted since starting this blog when Ashley graduated from high school in June of last year.

This was the contrast I saw between the cleaned and the uncleaned areas when I got home from work.

Same contrast, different angle.

Yep, the cleaned section definitely looks like new.

With such a stark contrast, we hired the carpet guy to do the rest of the carpeting.

The living room, before and after removing most of the furniture.

The dining room, before and after removing the table and chairs.

The family room, before and after removing the furniture.

The moving crew getting ready for the carpet guy.

The moving crew, slightly exhausted, taking a break with all the furniture that was moved into the covered patio.